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Miracle cows in Rwanda

CHRISTINE Makahumure lost everything in the genocidal war that ravaged Rwanda in 1994. When her family tried to flee the fighting, they were caught in crossfire, and Christine watched in horror as her husband and son were shot down before her eyes. For years afterwards, Christine, her daughter Catherine, and her parents lived a life of bare subsistence. The family would shut themselves indoors from sunset to late morning the following day, due to lack of money, activity or friends. They never dared to hope for anything more in life.

By chance, Christine heard about an organisation that helped struggling families by giving them the gift of livestock. She knew that an animal had the potential to change her family’s life. She applied to become a member of the project. After an intense period of training in animal husbandry, Christine received an in-calf dairy heifer from Bóthar. Christine's humble home quickly became the centre of the village's attention, with a steady stream of neighbours and local officials coming by to see her cow. Her cow was treated so royally, in fact, that Christine named her "Royal Bride."

Thanks to the nutritious milk Royal Bride provided, the health of Christine's daughter and parents improved dramatically. With the money she is saving from selling the milk, Christine hopes to be able to buy her parents a small home of their own. Christine passed on her first female calf to a neighbour.

But she didn't stop there. She helped another one of her neighbours to build a zero-grazing unit, so that they too could apply for a cow from Bóthar. Christine is living proof of the lifechanging difference an animal from Bóthar can make in a community in desperate need of healing. This ‘Cows for Peace Project’ in Rwanda does more than just bring cows to the area. Bóthar’s field staff introduce zero-grazing technology, so that participants can learn how to protect their land while managing their new livestock.

But perhaps most importantly, the cows have become rallying points of communal togetherness. As with Christine's neighbours, different population groups now work together in "Family-Cow Cooperatives" that foster understanding and share knowledge. In Rwanda, where only a decade ago neighbours were killing each other, this is a miraculous achievement.

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