When you give farm animals like  through the World Vision Gift Catalogue, you also provide animal husbandry training. The right know-how can create an entire flock or herd, helping lift families like Debby’s out of poverty.

Debby never met her elder brother. He died before she was born, of a waterborne illness from a polluted stream. The little boy was just six. The whole village mourned his passing.

At that time, clean water was one of the basic essentials Debby’s family did without in their region of Zambia. They scraped by, living in a grass-thatched hut that leaked when it rained. Neighbors begged neighbours for food. Misery flourished.

“We lived more or less like animals,” says Debby’s father, Obby, with sadness in his eyes. “We never had resources. We never had knowledge in the way World Vision has brought [about practices like animal husbandry].”

Meat, milk and income

Then, everything started to change. World Vision provided the family with goats: one male and two females. They were a larger breed  had raised before, yielding plenty of milk and meat to nourish the family’s children. It also meant greater income when he sold baby goats at market.

With their increased income, the family’s future has taken a positive turn. They’ve built a sturdier house, are nourishing their children with delicious meals, and sending them to school.

“My father buys me books for school,” says Debby, who is dreaming of becoming a teacher. “And we laugh together.” Joy has replaced tears in a family that lost too much to poverty.

Families like Debby’s are hardworking, determined people, eager to learn and help others in their communities. The gift of livestock, along with training, can be the first step to transforming lives and futures. 

This is an example of the kind of change that’s possible when you give a gift like ‘Goats, Hens and Roosters’  through the World Vision Gift Catalogue.