As a traveler she has visited this unique green island and was tremendously touched by the poverty of the local people. After twenty years of commercial business she has sold her successful company and donated part of her profit into building an elementary school in the local village Antoby Est. The school has been operating since 2017 and has 230 students. Anežka Boriová wants to continue to help in Madagascar – currently organizing a charity fundraising to build a drinking water pipeline for the school and neighboring villages. Last year’s successful project was collecting and delivering 120 functioning bicycles, which were not needed in Slovakia, to the students, teachers and doctors in Madagascar.
Which moment do you consider was crucial, in other words what has led you to start this project you’re working on?
I’m an active woman and I try to make best use of my time, so after the revolution, with great enthusiasm, I started my own business. After certain time it became liberating to sell my successful company and by traveling I was fulfilling this desire for freedom. It was right there in Madagascar that I realized that travelling across the world is not going to completely fill my desires, that I yearn for something else and I found it right there. I realized that my mission is to help, that is what is fulfilling to me. The knowledge that I can and really want to help was my driving force. This part of the world has caught my heart and I knew I would come back and that I wanted to do something here but I didn’t know what it would be just yet.
What sort of issues or problems have you had to overcome until you were successful??
Life doesn’t make it easy on us. When I was young I lost my two small children, whom I heavily cried over. It was long after that I realized what huge strength and energy this loss has given me in business, where ultimately I wasn’t afraid of anybody. It was only a game to me because nothing worse than losing your children could happen to me. I was driven by anger of how unfair life is, I was driven by desire to laugh to the face of life, through business it was my way of healing.
Who or what is do you reply on when you don’t succeed or when you feel down?
When I feel down I want to be alone and I deal with my problems at night. Then I have the right thoughts, I get up and write down everything, what I feel and what lies in my head. You won’t believe how that helps. I always stick to my intuition, to my inner voice.
What brings you most joy in your work?
I’m happy when I see specificly who I helped, when I see those happy and smiling kids in their classrooms. That beautifull feeling of happiness in my heart tells me that it all makes sense, that’s how I understood what it really means to be a really wealthy person. You’re wealthy when you can share! Money brings us power and it is up to us how we use that power.
What do you consider your biggest achievement so far (both professionally and personally)?
The decision to start my own business, construct a building, tie myself to a bank and by that risking everything we had. We could have lost it all or gain a lot. Another achievement was the decision to sell the company and everything that went with it, and use that money to share it with people who live very modestly, without brighter future or hope. I won over the business before it absorbed me, I stopped at the right time and took back time for myself.
Something about family, free time, hobbies
I’ve been married for 36 year and have an only son Michal, who has a huge regard for nature, animals and so for several years my family is accompanied by our beloved dogs. His love for nature has lead us to Madagascar after all. My family is sport oriented, playing tennis, skiing, we like hiking, cycling and also swimming, which has led us to not so small achievements. In family we always stick together and we use it as our strength on how to overcome all obstacles in life.
What has this work given you in life and what has been taken away from you, what did you learn?
Madagascar has given me great many things, it has taught me both humility and happiness, never in my life have I felt so satisfied and peaceful with life and it’s mission as the moment I stepped onto this island. The life I live there is that of my ancestors, my grandparenst who lived their life cherrishing every single thing, enjoying every single morning, running around dusty roads and being afraid of ghosts at night. They we so beautifully intertwined with nature which is something that we have lost here in Europe long time ago.
