Seeing hope through goats

Goats are undoubtedly the most troublesome of livestock. And any herdsperson should voluntarily testify to this. Once loose, goats will not let you sit down and rest. They could lie down one minute and convince you it’s time to rest. But the next minute, the same would be wreaking havoc in people’s gardens or kitchens. That is why they are often on the leash.

But for the people of Kalanga Village in Traditional Authority (TA) Lundu’s area, goats mirror hope. Hope that would take them out of their problems. Hope that would bail them out of poverty. And slightly over a year ago, they vowed that they would not rest until they landed their hands on goats.

“There is a woman in this village whose life has completely changed because of goats. She started with two goats, but they multiplied significantly,” says Thomas Chiphwanya, Malawi Council for the Handicapped (Macoha) community rehabilitation worker for the area.

“She sold some and was able to buy fertiliser for both her tobacco and maize gardens. She has built a very big house from proceeds realised from tobacco sales.”

The said woman is among a group of people who received goats under a pass-on programme a few years ago. The programme falls under Macoha’s Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) in which those in the villages are assisted with the things found in their areas. Goats are some of these things.

Under the programme, each individual receives two nanny or female goats. A billy or male goat rotates among these recipients. After they multiply, some of the kids or young goats are passed on to other beneficiaries.

Benefits of such a programme are what sent a number of people with physical disabilities and guardians of children with physical disabilities in the area itching to be part of it. They did not want to be begging for help each and every day. They wanted to be self reliant.

But for some time, their calls landed on deaf ears. And these deaf ears were very deliberate. Many, including Macoha community rehabilitation worker Chiphwanya, thought that they were a joke. They wanted to test the people’s seriousness.

“We initially wanted to gauge their seriousness on the issue. After observing that they were serious enough, we set up groups in January last year (2008),” says Chiphwanya.

“However, they did not receive the goats there and then because they lacked expertise on goat husbandry. Unfortunately, there was none who was prepared enough to fund their training.”

As such, the groups waited until early this month when Chiphwanya got into contact with the Disabled Women in Development (Diwode). The organisation sourced funding to aid training in goat husbandry for members of the groups.

The funding came from the Royal Norwegian Embassy through the Non-Governmental Organisation Gender Coordination Network (NGO-GCN’s) agricultural and economic empowerment programme. As such, the groups finally attended a five-day training at Linjidzi Court in the area from Monday to Friday last week.

“We feel farming is wealth. So work very hard and take full use of the expertise you have acquired in the five days to enjoy full benefits of farming,” Diwode Executive Director Sigere Kasasi told the participants when she officially closed the training.

Among others, the training focused on how to properly care for the goats with the view of reaping maximum benefits from the animals. Participants also went through a demonstration on how to build a good kraal (khola) for their share of the animals.

As the participants walked out of the court after another session of the training on Thursday, hope shone all over their faces for all to see. They were seeing a new world through the goats.

“With this training we can now see an end to poverty and hunger and our lives completely changed,” said Mustapha Mtendere, chairperson of the Namisu Goat Club which was among the participants to the training. He has a physical disability.

“After some time, we will sell the goats. We will use the money to buy whatever we want at our homes including fertiliser for our gardens. But while we wait to start selling the goats, we will use manure from these goats to maximise harvests in our gardens.”

This gentle song of hope did not come from the mouth of Mtendere only. He just started it. Afterwards, it was repeated by every one of the twenty participants to the training.

Falida Msosa, a guardian to a child with a disability was one of those that attended the training and reflected this song. She said in the goats she saw hope for a rich generation from her household.

“When the goats multiply, we will sell some of them and pay school fees for our children. When these children get educated, they will secure good jobs for themselves. As such, they will be independent and self reliant. They will not be ridiculed for going here and there begging,” she said.

“That aside, we will also use the money to eliminate poverty in our households. With the money realised from the goat sales we will buy whatever we like including subsidised fertiliser.”

Fortunately, the programme is well coordinated such that talk of its failure could only get one who is in dreamland.

Chiphwanya said veterinary experts and officials from the Blantyre Agricultural Development Division (ADD) are well aware of the programme and ready to assist with expertise wherever it is needed.

“Those who receive the goats under the programme are advised to quickly rush to these officials whenever they see something wrong with the goats. It could be a disease, therefore, the earlier they report it to veterinary officials the more the chances of that disease being cured,” said Chiphwanya.

Kasasi said although her organisation was formed basically to fight for the rights of women with varying degrees of disability, who – according to her – were not accepted even by fellow women, it feels obliged to assist all those that need help. The bottom line is that they should be organised like the groups in TA Lundu’s area. That is why the likes of Mtendere had a chance to benefit from the training.

At the moment, a number of herdspersons may keep looking at their goats as the most troublesome of livestock. But the story of people in TA Lundu’s area is presents enough a dimension to tell us that there is more than trouble from the goats.