Names and personal details have been modified to protect children’s identities.
Altervitam began with two sisters, Lala and Vero. They were eleven and thirteen when their father died. Their mother, living in a rural area where income depended on seasonal and uncertain work, struggled to provide for them on her own. Daily survival required careful management of limited resources, and school expenses quickly became impossible to sustain.
After some time, the girls were sent to live with their aunt in another village. The decision was shaped by economic necessity rather than indifference. In their aunt’s household, food could be shared and the girls would not be alone. Yet the family that received them was also living with constraints. There was no additional money for school fees, uniforms or supplies.
Lala and Vero gradually assumed domestic responsibilities. They fetched water, prepared meals, cared for younger children and contributed to agricultural tasks when required. Their days were full, but no longer structured around lessons or exams. As months passed, the prospect of returning to school became increasingly remote. In many rural communities in Madagascar, when girls remain outside the education system, early marriage becomes an expected progression. Without schooling, their options narrow quietly and steadily.
When we met them, what stood out was the normalisation of this trajectory. They had adapted to the idea that education was no longer part of their lives. Their situation reflected that of many vulnerable girls in similar contexts, where the loss of a parent reshapes educational prospects almost immediately.
Supporting Lala and Vero to return to school required modest financial means but consistent engagement with the family to ensure continuity. What began as a response to their circumstances became the starting point of a longer commitment. From that encounter emerged the work that would later take the name Altervitam: a sustained effort to ensure that the interruption of schooling does not become a permanent exclusion.