Before the Positive Change Project was fully in place, Aura Cacia helped the mothers picking our organic ylang ylang flowers in the village of Ambohimena, Madagascar, by building a preschool for their children. The nearest school to Ambohimena is over seven miles away, and the main means of transportation for the villagers is walking — making it impractical for working parents to get their children to school. Aura Caica funded the building of a two-room schoolhouse within sight of the trees where the parents pick ylang ylang flowers. The school has about 50 two- to five-year-olds enrolled, with the capacity for 60 children.

Helping a Partner

The school is in the community of our Well Earth partner for organic ylang ylang in the northern part of the island of Madagascar. This is an area of Madagascar where single parents are common (over half of the children at the school live in single-parent homes), and the disparity between social classes is significant. Although they don't live in extreme poverty, the ylang ylang pickers live in huts in the village and wash their clothes in the river. They work very hard to provide for their children.

Ambohimena obviously needed an affordable option for early childhood education — we worked with local educators and social workers to develop the plan for a simple, local facility where the pickers children can learn — and learn to love to learn — helping them to better lives in the future.