(From left): Marline, Justine, Huguette, Lucienne, Celine, Fenosoa. The six new women forest rangers are helping Fanamby Organization preserve Madagascar’s biodiversity.
Thanks to your support, six women have been trained and employed by Fanamby Organization to carry out essential community patrols. The women are part of the Committee called KMMFA which stands for Komity Miaro sy Manara Maso ny Faritra Arovana in Malagasy or the Committee for the Protection and the Monitoring of the Protected Area in English.
The six women rangers are forest rangers, homemakers and most of them are single mothers, widows, and heads of their families. Many of their husbands are currently unemployed due to drought in the Menabe region. The women now receive a per diem salary of 10,000 ariary which is crucial to their ability to provide for their families and children. Continue reading below to read about their stories.
Now Women for Conservation urgently seeks $1000 to provide uniforms and bicycles to support these six women rangers protecting Madagascar’s Giant Baobab trees. Click here to read our urgent appeal.
⇨ $126 provides one woman ranger with a bicycle
⇨ $40 provides a woman with a ranger uniform and gear
Donate today to empower women protecting endangered Baobabs!
https://www.womenforconservation.org/donate/
Marline Rasoanirina is 29 years old, married, and is raising 4 school-age children (2 girls and 2 boys) and is also the head of her household.
FENOSOA is 36 years old, married, and has 7 children (1 girl and 6 boys). She is the head of the household and currently is the only breadwinner in the family because her husband is unemployed. Though her three children are of school age, due to lack of income, only one of them is able to attend school.
LUCIENNE is 30 years old, and is a single mother raising 4 children (3 girls and 1 boy). She is the head of her household and only one of her daughters goes to school due to a lack of income.
Huguette Hermine Raharimalala is 20 years old and is the youngest of the 6 women rangers. She is a single mother of a 5-year-old daughter who does not yet attend school.
Justine Sevasoa is 32 years old, married, and has a 3-year-old daughter. She is currently the sole breadwinner of her family because her husband is a farmer and is unemployed during the rainy season.
Celine Hovagno is 23 years old and a single mother raising an 8-year-old girl and a newborn boy. Thanks to the additional income from the community patrol, her daughter is able to attend school.
Huguette and Justine carry young Baobab saplings to the nursery.
From left: Marline, Huguette, and Justine carry the heavy young Baobabs.
