PAULA ATCHIA
Géraldine Aliphon was a special person. On meeting her, one was immediately impressed by her sincerity, enthusiasm and determination. She inspired everyone she met, and her social action, generated by selfless maternal love, will have lasting consequences for Mauritian society. In a field where basic human rights are still so often inadequately respected, she almost single-handedly managed to bring the cause of these special children to the forefront, and organised help from abroad where it was lacking at home. Her work must continue! 
Every parent with an autistic child owes her a great debt, and (here I speak as a grandparent of one of these special children) should support a public initiative to give her name to one of the institutions scheduled to be established by the Special Education Needs Authority (SENA), whenever it takes off.
Mauritius cannot afford the loss of someone of her calibre – she will be sorely missed.