Personal Stories
Written by M. who graduated from MENIFA in 2008
"I come from a sick home, my parents are divorced and my father is abroad. I live with my mother and her husband who used to beat me and abuse me verbally and sexually. My mother ignored this bitterly. I was transferred between several schools and could not find my place in any of them. I could not find an emotional answer to my life and distress.
Because I was so burdened emotionally, because I was so unsettled, I could not at the beginning enter any class and actually sit down and study. The coordinator came to me and said" sit outside, drink coffee, smoke a cigarette, talk to me, spill our everything you need and together we will do whatever it takes to get you sitting and studying in the classroom". She did anything she could so I could unload some of my burden.
In MENIFA I always felt sheltered and understood no matter in what condition I was. The coordinators were great – they give everything so that you can find yourself.
MENIFA is not just a "school" it is an extremely unique place. What's important in MENIFA is the mental process you undergo, the strength you get and not the exams themselves. I could find with the coordinators and staff the point that makes me mad and unsettled and not want to get into the class and work on this point with careful attention and a lot of faith.
When I arrived in MENIFA I was wild, I did not know how to have any kind of conversation. I was a nervous and impatient child. I was lost, I was helpless, angry despaired and confused. Thanks to the caring and endless faith in my abilities, slowly my feelings of helplessness decreased, the despair and confusing decreased a little and I could see my horizon. Thanks to the endless love and constant caring I could let go of my feelings of anger, frustration and sorrow.
Thanks to the constant personal treatment and listening I began to build myself and blossom. I always felt I had love and a warm house in MENIFA. It was a place I was always wanted and someone always knew what was going on with me. The fact that some was always keeping tabs on what was going on with me – saved me.
When I came to MENIFA in the morning I usually felt like I was carrying around a heavy load of worries, pain and bitterness – everything was on my shoulders. MENIFA was the house I could enter and put this bag in the side for a few hours. Sometimes I just rested from carrying it, sometimes I put it on the side and took care of it – and in any case I coped with it one way or another.
Today I am studying, working and completing my matriculation exams, I have a terrific boyfriend and we have a healthy and honest relationship. I still live in my mother's house, but I have tools to cope, take care of my younger brothers, and give them the warmth and love MENIFA gave me".
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