Livestock for Orphaned Children in Congo

Her name is Nikki and she’s a 40 year old widow raising three biological children and four adopted children. By 19 years old, she’d had her three children and by 20, she was a widow! Matthew, Michael, Tashi, and Dezi came into her family when her brother and sister in law died, leaving the children in her care. With seven children to raise, Nikki was overjoyed to have been selected as an AFCA family. In 2016, the family received seeds, four sheep, a solar light, a water filter, and training.  When we visited this past week to do a check up on the animals and the children, the sheep were walking around, eating and looking healthy. A couple of them are clearly pregnant, which is only going to help the family do better, allowing them to sell some for much-needed funds and food. Nikki is so grateful for AFCA, because she knows that the children are able to get an education thanks to the sale of extra vegetables, corn, peanuts, and beans from the garden.

Everyone here at the American Foundation for Children with AIDS, and our partners in Africa, thank you for your continued support of this important project.  If you would like to learn even more about this project and others, please contact Tanya Weaver at tweaver@AFCAids.org. 

Norma sends appreciation to the American Foundation for Children with AIDS and all its donors for giving me the chance to be a beneficiary of this livestock project.  My family was living a difficult life because of the lack of money, not being able to send my children to school, no food and frequent diseases.  As soon as I entered the project, I received 4 sheep, tools, seeds and a water filter.  I started working according to the standards of the training I received from the project manager. Now my crops are sown and weeded.  I produce corn, peanuts and cowpea.

Because of this training and the vegetables from my garden, I am able give tithing to the church, we eat healthy, my children receive schooling and we receive medical care.  We have seeds for the next few seasons.  My income has allowed me to rent land that I continue to cultivate.  I also bought a bike which helps us in our business.  The water we drink from the filter has decreased our illnesses.  In any case, I say thank you to the AFCA because my family's life is gradually changing for the better.

Everyone here at the American Foundation for Children with AIDS, and our partners in Africa, thank you for your continued support of this important project.  If you would like to learn even more about this project and others, please contact Tanya Weaver at tweaver@AFCAids.org. 

Before being selected for the livestock project, Genny’s family was walking through a difficult time in their life.  Their lack of medical care and food was a serious problem.  Genny tells us she was only doing gardening small fields, which did not meet the needs of her family.  I asked myself what will the future of my children and the orphans I raise be?

Genny and her family received training in agriculture.  She did not understand the agricultural calendar and the ideal time to sow, or the cultivation techniques.  After the training, the family was equipped with improved seeds, food crops, vegetables and 4 sheep.

Putting these gifts into practice, Genny’s family produce quantitatively and qualitatively.  Field products are consumed by the family, and income is used for school fees, clothing and medical care.  They have returned the multiplication center’s share in sheep, and now sell them to earn money.

Genny adds that the future looks bright because of the education of her children. In addition, she has purchased a plot and started buying sheet metal to construct a home.  We are blessed beyond words by your generosity.

Everyone here at the American Foundation for Children with AIDS, and our partners in Africa, thank you for your continued support of this important project.  If you would like to learn even more about this project and others, please contact Tanya Weaver at tweaver@AFCAids.org. 

Wilma tells us that her family's situation was very unfortunate.  She was not interested in country work and they had no animals.  The family's diet was so precarious, the children regularly fell ill.  And she lacked the money to care for them or send them to school on a regular schedule. 

Wilma’s main activity was to buy some cassava in small markets in villages to make chikwangues and sell, but the income did not cover the family burden.  The AFCA livestock project came at a desperate time.  The family received training in agriculture, livestock, gardening and so much more.  Having received the seeds of food crops, vegetable, rabbits and a water filter brought the joy of work for the entire family.  Field products help Wilma’s family in consumption, school, dresses, caring for the children and housing.

Having returned their rabbits to the Breeding Centre, the rabbits help in consumption, selling to such an extent that children study normally.  The health of the family is well.  Combining field products and animals, they built a sustainable house that is in the finishing stage.  Wilma says her family's life has changed and she is thankful that her family was selected for the project. 

Everyone here at the American Foundation for Children with AIDS, and our partners in Africa. thank you for your continued support of this important project.  If you would like to learn even more about this project and others, please contact Tanya Weaver at tweaver@AFCAids.org. 

A small woman with a wide smile greets us on the other side of an arch made of fronds. Her children, all holding flowers, shyly shake my hand as I enter their small plot of land and greet them one by one. Smiling gently, her husband stands back a little, letting her talk and entertain, gifting us with a plate of chicken eggs to take home. We are led to the seats they’ve set out in the open air for us, backed by a streamer entwined between trees and I feel like royalty in my cargo pants and hiking boots. I ask questions regarding the training they’ve received, the animals they are raising, and the garden they grow. They answer correctly, showing me that their training has been excellent. As with other families AFCA supports, they no longer need to purchase eggplant, onions, spinach, beans, corn, or peanuts, as they have enough for themselves and to sell.

Again, we look at their animals – goats this time – and find them healthy and cared for. Two are pregnant, moving this family closer to more stability in their lives. We check out the goat housing and with the brightest smile, Seraphine shows us corn stored for the winter. This, THIS, is a miracle. Something so small as stored corn is a symbol of a job well done, both by the trainers and by the families. This moment, standing in a dark little mud room, looking up at a wooden structure where the corn lays in a sack, is the moment when my heart breaks. I know it because my eyes fill with tears and my throat closes up, a lump forming so that it is hard to swallow. The father of the family comes up to me and asks earnestly that we continue this project so that others can benefit. He explains that his and his family’s lives have been changed and that he wants others to know the same joy. I can’t talk. I honestly can’t say a word because the lump in my throat won’t allow me to make a sound. I am glad for the darkness, as I am afraid I am about to cry. He is waiting for an answer, but I have no words.

Instead, I nod.

As we say that it is time for us to go, the family presents us with bananas and smiling, Seraphine points to her husband, who is tying the legs of a rooster. I look on, not quite understanding what is going on until he laughs out loud and hands the rooster to me, saying over and over again, “Merci Mingi (thank you very much)” with a huge smile on his face. Smiling back, I thank him profusely and learn how to say “my chicken” in Lingala. They all laugh as I point at the rooster on the motorcycle and declare him mine. It is a fantastic feeling, this giving and taking, this smiling and laughing. This breaking of my heart.

The team here at the American Foundation for Children with AIDS thanks you for supporting this project and the work we do for the children in Africa.  As you start to make decisions regarding your end of year giving, please keep us in mind so we can continue our good work into 2020 and beyond.  We wish you a new year full of many blessings and as much hope as you have shared with us.  If you would like to learn even more about what we do or how you can meet some of the children you have helped, please contact Tanya Weaver at tweaver@AFCAids.org.