Nofy i Androy “The Dream of the Androy” Girls
In early 2020, there was an article in the Lutheran Magazine “I am a Lutheran” about Mahareta Paubert Kaurin or Meta for short, and her life as a child mother. She then formed Nofy i Androy after coming to the USA. This organization helps keep young girls in school and help the parents and community understand the importance of girls receiving an education and a career.
As a result of this article, Friends of Madagascar Mission adopted this as one of our programs to support with a small gift at the end of 2021. One of the agreements with adopting this as a sponsored program is that an evangelist in Ambovombe Androy Synod would be assigned to provide ministry in teaching, counseling and working with parents of the girls.
The Androy region, located in south-western Madagascar, is one of the poorest regions of the country. The region suffers from periodic drought, famine, and harmful cultural practices. The local tribe has been a male-dominated culture which has limited the value of women and girls to baby production and raising a family. As a result, the Androy region has alarmingly high rates of child marriage and child pregnancies making the adolescent girls much more likely to drop out of school and often harming their health. Parents trapped in desperate poverty have been documented to marry off their daughters as young as ten years old as a quick fix to their financial problems, and often much older husbands frequently prevent the girls from attending school and reaching their highest potentials.
Meta Paubert Kaurin saw the need for Nofy i Androy as a result of being one of these teen moms, a high school dropout, and also enduring harassment. It took her years to go back to school and find the courage to finish university and get back on her feet.
Meta Paubert Kaurin
Founder and Director of Nofy i Androy
The Nofy i Androy program tutors and mentors students from public schools. The students receive scholarship support through middle school, high school, and onto university if they so choose. The teacher/student ratio is kept low for the best results and incorporates a curriculum and atmosphere of female empowerment, individual motivation, and self-confidence. The program also has a female evangelist of the Malagasy Lutheran Church who teaches and gives Christian guidance to the students, parents, and staff.
Nofy i Androy continues to stand against the unhelpful traditions of early marriage and pregnancy which continue the cycle of poverty and dependence.
Francine’s parents were killed by bandits in 2020. She and her younger siblings were taken in by her aunt’s family. At 14 years of age she was being forced to marry a 45-year-old man who already has a wife with children.
Inspired by her education at Nofy i Androy, she refused, telling them she wanted to finish school, go to university, and secure a job that would allow her to care for her siblings.
Her aunt’s family kicked her out as an embarrassment. Francine was homeless and was sheltered by classmates since October of 2022. Nofy i Androy discovered her situation in early 2023, and hosted her at the center, providing food, water, electricity, moral support (for her and her siblings) -everything she needed to rise above her situation. She is in her senior year of high school and has been the top of her class. We are confident that Francine will be able to use her gifts, skills, and experience to go very far. And, we are grateful that Nofy i Androy was there to help her do that!
This is precisely why Nofy i Androy exists.
Amount of Request
The annual cost of support for a girl is $200.00 a year. A donor may support the same girl through their complete educational time. Renewal time will be at the anniversary of the donor’s original gift of support.
A donor will receive:
- A photo
- A biography
- A letter twice a year informing the donor of their progress.