Where pigs fly and cows do too!!
Photo by Geoff Oliver Bugbee, July 2007 |
Bóthar sent an airlift of 46 in-calf heifers and 50 breeding sows from Shannon Airport to Kigali, Rwanda at 9.00pm Wednesday the 5th of March. After months of preparation in the central African country of Rwanda, ninety - six families are today receiving a living gift of an Irish animal each which has been promised to them by Bóthar.
Bóthar assists needy families around the world, helping them overcome hunger, malnutrition and poverty in a simple, sustainable manner. The living gift of a farm animal gives a poor family an opportunity to improve their circumstances and, by working with their animal, in time, raise themselves up to a position of relative comfort.
This was the eleventh airlift that Bóthar has sent to Rwanda over the last couple of years. Pictured here are a few of the Rwandan families that have received dairy heifers from Bóthar.
Anastasia Nyirabihogo, 32, is the president of the Muhazi Women's Dairy and Horticulture Group, in Nsinda village in the Kibungo District of Rwanda. She posed with some members of her family and their Friesian cow, which she received from Bóthar in December 2006. The cow produces 20 liters (more than four gallons) of milk per day for her family of 7 children, including 3 orphaned from the genocide of 1994.
Photo by Geoff Oliver Bugbee, July 2007Chantal Batamuliza, 9 years old, holds a bucket of fresh milk minutes after the evening milking. Her family is a member in the Muhazi Women's Dairy and Horticulture Development Project in Nsinda village in the Kibungo District of Rwanda. She is a member of the Muhazi Women's Group Collective. Her mother's name is Gorreti Murekeyisoni, 43. Her father, Cyril Kanamugire was a soldier in the RPF during the genocide years and was permanently crippled. The family received a Friesian cow in December 2006, and in April 2007, it gave birth to a healthy calf.
Photo by Geoff Oliver Bugbee, July 2007
Donata Mukeshimana, 28, feeds elephant grass to her cow. She and her children became the beneficiaries of an in-calf Friesian from Bóthar in December 2006. They belong to the Muhazi Women's Dairy and Horticulture Development Project in Nsinda Village in the Kibungo District of Rwanda. The cow’s milk helps nourish the 7 children under her care (5 biological and 2 genocide/HIV family orphans). The cow has changed her life and others in her village dramatically. "These cows have helped (us) build togetherness, some of us have been orphans, and some widows, but now we are able to put our lives together," she said.
Bóthar could not do this much needed work without all the people who donated money and heifers towards this airlift to Rwanda. Dozens of Rwandan families can look forward to a brighter future thanks to the efforts and kindness of people from all over Ireland.
If you would like to donate an animal for an up coming airlifts or if you would like any further information on Bothars gifts of livestock and training please contact
Maria McCormack,
Airlift Co-ordinator
061-414142
email: maria@bothar.ie
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