Brampton Tanzania Trust

It’s hard to believe that it’s over a year since BTT was asked to consider a ‘Goat Project’ to support women headed households looking after orphans in Uru North.  Your very generous response has meant that we have raised the money asked for – approximately £9000!  
UNCODET were delighted to receive the cash we took out for this project in October.  Immediate meetings were set up with them and the Village Chairmen who whole-heartedly accepted the scheme.  Arrangements were made for us to meet up with and talk to some of the women already identified to participate in the project.
It was a most harrowing experience learning and seeing first hand the hardships these families endure.  One woman had a total of thirteen orphans living in a hut no bigger than our garage, but she said they had nowhere else to go and she just kept taking more in.
Having no income whatsoever, they rely on what nature supplies and handouts from generous neighbours, but their shambas are often in remote areas making it difficult to meet up with other people.  Theirs is a miserable existence; however, the Goat Project has given them so much hope for the future.
Already the four villages taking part have each formed four groups of three women, which will look after the goats.  Each group will receive a goat and shelter, some starter goat food and medication.  You will no doubt remember these goats give up to four litres of milk per day and produce twin kids twice a year.  After the first birthing, one female kid will be given to the second member of the group and the other sold to provide cash to build a shelter for the kid being kept.  The same procedure will take place for the third member of the group at the next birthing.  A male goat is being provided for each village to service the females in the four groups.
The funds raised are being used in the first year to set up the project and it is hoped that it will be self sufficient after that.  Through time, the women will have spare milk and goats to sell, providing them with an income as well as providing a new means of interacting with other members of the community.  From this income the children will receive nutritious food and an opportunity to attend school.
In the time we spent there we saw all of the shelters being erected.  We watched 48 women receive training in group dynamics and animal husbandry and we witnessed the first batch of goats being delivered – all of this happened in less than three weeks.  It was an amazing end to our visit. 
Days before we left the UK for our visit we heard from Judy Rimmer, who had just returned, that a centre for orphans had been opened in Ongoma village in August. (See background given below.) We were able to go along and see it for ourselves since the centre had already been identified by the Village Committee to receive one of the goats.  There were already thirteen children living there and we couldn’t help noticing not only a lack of food and clothing, but that there was not one book or toy in the whole place to stimulate the children.  The giving of a goat will be a valuable addition to this new venture
Report by Susan Wind after a visit to Uru this autumn.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 22nd, 2009 at 6:02 pm and is filed under Goat Project to Help Orphans, Issue 20 November 2009, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.