She Bore Witness — With Her Camera and Her Heart
| This blog post is part of “20 Years, 20 Stories,” a series celebrating the 20th anniversary of the 60 Million Girls Foundation. Over the next eight months, we will share the stories of the people who have shaped our journey — volunteers, partners, donors, and the girls at the heart of our mission. We hope their voices inspire you as much as they inspire us. |
A Friend We Lost Too Soon
In February 2025, the 60 million girls Foundation lost a wonderful friend and ally. Martine Michaud had supported 60 million girls in countless ways for over a decade. Even at the very end of her life, she found a way to give one last, extraordinary gift.
Martine was diagnosed with cancer in August 2024 and was told she had less than a year to live. She passed just six months later. In that short, difficult window of time — a period most of us can scarcely imagine navigating — she took the time to think of 60 million girls and to plan a significant legacy donation to the Foundation.
We are deeply, profoundly touched. In one of the hardest moments a person can face, Martine’s instinct was still to think of others — of girls she had never met, in communities far from her own. That says everything about who she was.
A coffee, a conversation, and the beginning of something special
Martine came into the 60 million girls’ family the way so many good things do—through a friend.
It was Lucienne Losier, one of the Foundation’s long-time volunteers, who brought Martine and 60 million girls founder Wanda Bedard together. Over coffee, the two women discovered they had more in common than either might have expected. Martine was a multi-disciplinary artist and award-winning photographer who had published two stunning photography books documenting her travels to Bhutan — a remote, extraordinary country that Wanda herself had recently visited.
From that coffee date, a friendship and a partnership were born.
Boots on the ground — and ants in the bed
In 2015, Martine offered the Foundation something invaluable: her eye. She joined Wanda on a field visit to Uganda and Kenya to photograph the primary and secondary school children whose education 60 million girls was helping to support.
Photographer Martine Michaud at work during the field visit in Uganda and Kenya, in 2015.
What she brought back was extraordinary. Her portraits and scenes of daily life did what only the best photography can do — they captured not just faces, but stories and emotions. The images Martine took that year remain a cornerstone of how 60 million girls shares the reality of its work with the world, putting a human face on communities that are too often reduced to statistics.
Photo credit: Martine Michaud, Kenya, 2015
Photo credit: Martine Michaud, Uganda, 2015
Martine threw herself into the experience with characteristic fearlessness. There were no complaints about the unfamiliar conditions, or the lack of creature comforts. There was, however, one memorable incident involving ants.
The team had been warned: in the communities they were visiting, you always wore your shoes — even at night. Martine forgot. When she got up in the night and put her bare feet on the floor, the ants were waiting. They attached themselves to her socks and made their way swiftly into her bed. Wanda recalls hearing Martine’s colourful commentary drifting through the walls as a kind security guard came to fumigate her room.
It is the kind of bittersweet memory that makes you laugh and miss your friend at the same time.
A legacy written in light
Martine Michaud’s artist catalog describes her work as being “dedicated to bearing witness to the beauty and the challenges of our world.” It is a phrase that captures her perfectly — as a photographer, as a traveler, and as a human being.
She bore witness to the beauty of Bhutan. She bore witness to the resilience and joy of schoolchildren in Uganda and Kenya. And through her legacy donation to the 60 million girls Foundation, she continues to bear witness to what is possible when we refuse to look away from the challenges girls face around the world.
We will carry Martine’s generosity — and her photographs — forward.
The 60 million girls Foundation is grateful for every act of generosity that keeps our mission alive. If you would like to explore how you can support girls’ education — including through a legacy gift — please visit Give now – 60 million girls.