Passing on much more than animals!
A central element of Bóthar’s mission is to help families in the developing world to lift themselves out of poverty, permanently. Through their participation in Bóthar projects, families are given hope, dignity and pride. In many cases, families who receive animals and training then go on to help other families in their communities.
Bóthar received the following story from its project office in Kosovo explaining how one community went on to do just that.
In July 2005, Bóthar and their project partner, Heifer International, started work together on a new project in Kosovo. The project, called “Engagement of Roma people in Animal Breeding”, aims to help Roma people to overcome poverty. The Roma families that Bóthar started working with were primarily based in Gadime, in the Pristina area of the country.
As with all Bóthar projects, the Roma families within Gadime were encouraged to form a committee and appoint a community project leader. Following the formation of a committee, the participating families completed their training in animal husbandry and prepared to receive their living gift of a milk & cheese producing dairy cow. Shortly afterwards each family received the living gift of an Irish dairy cow.
In January 2006 the Bóthar field staff held a meeting of all the community project leaders from their projects around Kosovo. The aim of the meeting was to bring all the community project leaders together to discuss how their projects were going, their progress and the challenges they were facing.
When the community project leader from the Gadime Project started his report, he thanked Bóthar and Heifer International for all their help and dedication to the project in his area. He told the assembled group how the project changed the lives of all the families in his community. For the first time in a very long time, they had hope for the future and their children had food on the table. Not only that, but he also outlined how there was greater community spirit and cooperation since the project commenced.
Everyone was listening to this worn looking man who was talking so enthusiastically about his community and the way they help each other. When he finished there was complete silence in the room. Everyone was overwhelmed with the way this small community pulled together to lift themselves out of poverty.
However, the project was facing difficulties. Due to the harsh weather, they were running short of feed and bedding for the animals. All of a sudden the project leader from the Bóthar project in Ferizaj (“Dairy Cattle for Mountain Area of Ferizaji Community”) stood up and said: “Our community can help you with hay. We will bring it to you during the week.” The project leader from Gadime was shocked. He was delighted with what he had just heard. Many other project leaders also stood up and offered their help in distributing hay for the Gadime community. There was a real sense of community between the farmers from various communities. It was great to see farmers helping farmers.
Following this meeting we have decided to bring more community project leaders together so that they too can help each other.
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