Goats for Rwanda
“I have a reason to smile, this goat you see I am holding, brought me much joy. With this goat, I can see fertilizer for my small crop farming, I can see money and I can see a job for my kids to look after it instead of wasting their time wandering and doing unproductive things. We are truly loved and the only return we can make to our donors is also to love them and to make their donations more productive than they even expect.” (Josiane Mukeshimana)
The “Goats for Rwanda” project is a partnership between North Shore Christian Academy, African Blessing and GSA member Mark Mielbrecht. (African Blessings is a Rwandan non-profit organization that supports vulnerable communities in cooperatives to transform lives in a sustainable way.) Goats are the game-changers in the community that enable the members of these cooperatives to create sustainable business opportunities, while creating a funding source for food, medical care, schooling and care for the future of their family and others.
Our goal with Goats for Rwanda project includes raising the finances necessary to provide 100+ goats for members of the Nyabitekeri Survivors Cooperative. This Cooperative is made up of 102 widows who survived the Genocide that killed over 1 million people in a three month span. They survived along with some of their children and are adopting orphans from their late family members as well, making the cooperative 421 total family members. They are currently growing enough vegetables for their immediate family members, but they want to expand their vegetable business and the goats will provide the fertilizer to make this possible. Furthermore, by having goat babies they can raise them to sell to others which will provide the finances to start other family businesses, enable them to have health insurance, and pay the school fees for their children. These widows and orphans are definitely on God’s heart according to James 1:27 which says, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.’”
Each goat costs $45.00. Students are encouraged to complete chores at home and with trusted family or friends as a way to earn money to contribute to this project. Some students will choose to use their savings. Even the smallest donations count. Every dollar will bring us one step closer to our goal!
Through the “Goats for Rwanda Project” you won’t simply be donating a goat, but you will be providing poor people, who often have little hope, optimism for a brighter future, ongoing food, health care and education. One goat can provide a poor person with an ongoing source of food and also provide food for others. One goat will provide the school fees needed to allow the family’s children an opportunity to realize their dreams. They will also be connected to a ministry/church that is working in the area to bring hope and love to people in great need. Through one goat, joy and happiness, confidence and God’s peace come to a family. Through one goat, offspring can create income for a family to rise out of extreme poverty.