A Goat to Prosperity

Today was once again a complete eye opener for me. RDIS brought a goat for each of the three poorest children attending the Youth at Risk programme, and we went with them to deliver the goats to their homes. Here are their stories in short.

Jacqueline
Jacqueline and her mother were overwhelmed with this luxurious gift. They live alone in their small house (built with the help of people from their church) and have the piece of land, about 4m radius around the house, as their only possession. Jacqueline has four sisters, all married and living with their husbands now, and one brother. Her brother is living as a street child in the town as he chose to no longer be stuck with their limited resources at home. They don’t see him much. Their father died over 15 years ago, even before the genocide. I asked them what they cultivate and whether they are able to sell some of it to the market. They replied smiling broadly: we have potatoes, beans and sometimes sorghum. I (the mother) am the only one working in our land and am able to produce just about enough for us two to eat. Jacqueline goes to the Youth at Risk vocational school during the day, walking 1 hour each way and therefore don’t have much time to help her mother. But in the rainy season when the climate is good for agriculture, she stays at home to help. I was thinking about this and then dared to ask the question: do you have any other food than potatoes and beans to eat then? And the answer was ‘no’.

Being somewhat overly health and nutrition conscious sometimes myself, I actually didn’t think that the body can survive on mainly potatoes, beans and sorghum, for breakfast, lunch and dinner, for more than 15 years! Well I was wrong, here is the proof. It amazes me how God made the human body to be able to adapt to such little nutrients in order to survive. But it is still only survival. Jacqueline’s mother often gets sick because of malnutrition and then Jacqueline needs to stay home to work the crops. The trades she is learning at school will hopefully provide her with the ability to earn an income soon so that she don’t need to follow the same cycle of those before her.

Christine
I thought that it can’t really get much worse than Jacqueline’s story, but Christine proved otherwise. We drove as close as the road could take us to Christine’s home, and then took a small pathway down the hill to reach her remote house. Christine walks 2.5 hours every day to the Youth at Risk vocational school, and then the same journey back in the afternoon again. Christine’s parents were killed in the genocide and she has since been living with her aunt. They are the only two people living together since her aunt’s husband died a few years ago. Her aunt is terminally ill with HIV/AIDS and now needs special care and nutrition. Every day, Christine is torn between going to school to learn a trade that might free her from poverty, and staying home to look at their aunt and cultivate their piece of land. Here, having food to eat is up to Christine’s ability and time to work in the land. And to add to their dilemma, the government is implementing a re-settling strategy in her area whereby they need to move to an area close to the road. This implies physically building a new house and starting afresh.

Amidst all of this, Christine was very excited about the goat, because now she’ll have manure for her land and the possibility to earn money when the goat bares babies. Rwandans don’t drink goat milk, but I attempted to explain the nutritional value and she said she’ll even try to give the milk a go!

Bertine
Bertine is 15 years old. On the way to Bertine’s home, the Youth at Risk manager explained to us that Bertine has been taken in by a woman as a four day old baby during the genocide. Bertine doesn’t know that the woman is not her real mother, so we were asked to keep this confidential. When reaching their home, Bertine proudly introduce her mother to us. The lady, probably in her 60’s, was sitting outside in the dust pealing corn-cops to sell as maize. She jumped with joy when she heard the goat is now theirs and immediately said: this will give me a cow! We looked a little puzzled, and then our interpreter explained. With the goat, they will be able to obtain kids, which they can sell to buy pigs, to produce piglets, which sells for more than goats and eventually they would have earned enough to buy a cow (the most prized and agricultural beneficial animal you can have). As you might have read from my previous stories, a cow can release a family from poverty with all the benefits it brings. Now I realized that actually, a goat can release a family from poverty. And this only for as little as £15!

Today gave me a clearer understanding of what rural life is really like. I just wish that the answer was always as simple as the giving of a goat.