The Difference A Simple Sheep Can Make For A Community

Twenty families in Bonjisnthiang received sheep from Heifer International in February 2012. Working in concert with Heifer, partner organizations addressed agriculture, irrigation, and education, and provided a market model to connect farmers to the local economy.

Kumba Daranjaay, the president of the farmers association, spearheaded her community’s efforts to become part of the Usaid feed the future project, working with the group for five years before the delivery of the sheep.

“When you are poor,” she said, you will never neglect the sheep because they are a way to move forward. You know how bad poverty is, and you don’t want to go back. The sheep will help us feed our children and take care of their health.”

By the end of the project, 5,500 families will receive animals and training from Heifer, with thousands more benefitting when those families pass on the gift of their livestock’s offspring.

Before the sheep arrived in bonjisnthiang, a technician from the project worked with local farmers to train them on growing methods and give them seeds for new vegetable varieties. “In the past,” said local farmer Fatou Mata Julde Ba, “many families didn’t eat vegetables because they could not buy them. But now, we produce them ourselves. We even have enough to sell, sometimes.”

Lots were drawn to distribute the sheep fairly among families, and with the lessons on how to care for their new sheep fresh in their minds, the recipients led the animals home to already-assembled pens, stores of dried grass, and new lives.