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<\/a>Meet Christine a grandmother who gardens for change in central Madagascar <\/a><\/p>\n When ADRA technicians visited Mahasoabe, a village deep in the rolling hills of central Madagascar, they were looking for a strong mother to model positive changes for the women in the community. What they found was a devoted grandmother with a heart for service.<\/p>\n \u201cThe ADRA technicians came and asked if any woman was willing to be a Lead Mother, so I volunteered to become one,\u201d said Christine, a 56-year-old mother, grandmother, and community leader. \u201cI wanted to teach the mothers and pregnant women of my village to provide healthy diets for their children.\u201d<\/p>\n As a Lead Mother, the official ADRA title assigned to role model mothers, it is Christine\u2019s responsibility to support the women of her community. She teaches them which crops to plant and how to plant them, what foods to give to children under the age of five, and how to monitor the weight and health of a child.<\/p>\n The Lead Mother can see change under her own roof.<\/p>\n \u201cThe most meaningful thing for me is the garden. We garden every day, and we don\u2019t have to buy everything in the market anymore,\u201d she said. \u201cIt has changed the way I feed my grandchild. Now, I feed him a healthy and diversified diet.\u201d<\/p>\n Though the little boy misses his mother, who is pursuing her career in the capital city many hours away, he is lucky to have a grandma who continues to work hard to give him the happy life he deserves.<\/p>\n Meet Fatima, a Syrian refugee who advocates for refugee education in Lebanon<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Fatima has two children and an entire community of Syrian Refugees to care for. A refugee herself, the 31-year-old mother makes time every day to send her kids off to school, then she goes to work to convince countless refugee parents to send their kids to school, too.<\/p>\n As an ADRA Community Mobilizer, Fatima thinks of the whole refugee community as her family.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I go to family visits and I see children, they feel like my children,\u201d she said. \u201cThe people open their hearts and their minds, because they know we are Syrians just like them. I feel what they say. I feel every word. I want to do everything I can for them.\u201d<\/p>\n And what she does is immense: she points families in the direction of the ADRA Learning Center, a program that welcomes Syrian children who would otherwise be overlooked in the public-school system.<\/p>\n The center provides small classrooms, one-on-one tutors, language support, and a safe space with fellow Syrians. Most importantly, it gives children an opportunity to learn, instead of falling through the cracks.<\/p>\n \u201cEducation is very important for everyone, especially children,\u201d Fatima said. \u201cIf we let the child learn, he or she will become a good person. When we return to Syria, we need engineers, we need doctors, we need teachers, we need people who are good for our country, who will make it better than before.\u201d<\/p>\n Fatima herself is on track to give Syria a brighter future, and to inspire her children and her whole Syrian community to do the same.<\/p>\n \u201cTo have a good life, you have to have a goal for you and for your family,\u201d she said. \u201cFor me, I want to learn more in everything\u2014computer, teaching, education, taking care of my children, in cooking, as a woman, as a mother, as a student, as a worker in my job. All the time I have to know more. Maybe I don\u2019t have the chance to continue studying, but I can make more things good for myself and for my children.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>