Gifts of Goats Assist AIDS-Affected People in Rwanda

DECEMBER 2008 — Generous donations by Anne Duffy and Randy and Rochelle Jensen have enabled FHI/Rwanda to buy more than 100 goats. The donations help leverage the USAID-funded food support that FHI manages for vulnerable patients receiving HIV care at selected rural health centers.

The centers work closely with associations of people living with HIV (PLHA) and provide nutrition support for AIDS-affected individuals and families, including education in nutrition, food preparation, and animal husbandry. The associations and the health centers worked together to distribute the goats to those most in need. The gifts are of enduring value: the goats provide good sources of protein as well as opportunities to generate income.

The Kirambi Health Center distributed 54 goats to members of three PLWA associations in May 2008. Sixteen goats will soon deliver kids, and two have given birth. Pelagie Uwizeyimana, assistant director of the center, says the project is going well and that staff make regular visits to the homes of PLHA and know the realities of their everyday lives. The center enlists the services of a vet who comes by regularly, and training sessions in animal husbandry have been organized.

Members of the Dushyigikirane Association received goats from the center. They plan to open a bank account for proceeds of the sale of any goats. To ensure transparency, the process requires permission of all 18 members. Immaculée Musabyimana is among the donation's beneficiaries. After she lost her husband and a child to AIDS, she could not afford to buy food and the center provided her therapeutic feeding and home-based care for herself and two surviving children. She is glad to have received a goat: "I have manure, and that enables me to cultivate vegetables, but in the future, I hope to be able to purchase clothing for my children or pay school fees without having to beg."

The Gihara Health Center and the 136-member Tuzamurane Association are among the other beneficiaries. In addition to looking after the donated goats, association members work as a team to grow cassava, vegetables, and coffee. Nicodem Twagirarurema, association president, attests, "We are no longer suffering from malnutrition. We have learned to be self-sufficient in producing well-balanced food. Together, we will improve our condition."

FHI/Rwanda's biannual newsletter, "Makuru ki. FHI?," inspired by the private donations, focused its latest issue on nutrition. Produced in English and Kinyarwanda, it is distributed to 60 health centers that FHI supports.

PHOTOS: (Top) The members of the Abadacogora, Dushyikirane, and Abahuje associations receive goats as part of a new initiative. (Middle) Immaculée Musabyimana poses at home with her goat. (Bottom) Members of the Tuzamurane Association prepare the soil for cassava planting. (FHI/Rwanda)