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Poverty is a part of life in remote regions of Kenya, Burundi, and elsewhere in Africa. It is not that people do not want to work, the problem is there is little to no industry and thus families struggle just to put food on the table.
The hardest hit group in this population of survivors are the Widows and Orphans. Left alone and often with no way to care for themselves, these women and children struggle to survive and protect themselves from those around them.
While family lands may be available for farming, this land is often not enough and families need to take whatever jobs they can to survive; usually working in the tea fields or other large managed farms. With a day spent walking to and from work, gathering water at the local stream or spring, and then long hours in the fields, these workers have little time spend with families and neighbors. Many families are run by widows who have only a home and a hope.
This daily struggle does not need to continue! Grow Missions started our initiative to provide dairy cows for these families in need in 2007. By providing not only a means of daily work and food supply, but also an income for the family we create industry and a future.
Grow Missions helps to provide the resources to build the required shelters and then we provide a healthy dairy cow and several months of feed supply to each family. This changes the lives of a family and the community for eternity!
To help manage the increased demand for fresh water required for the cows and for the family, we also provide the resources to construct water collection systems as part of our package. Using this approach, we can create a new life style for these families and allow them to “go forth” and answer the call to serve the Lord and the community in new ways. In addition, we promote the concept of zero-grazing, so that these families do not require large amounts of land to care for the animal and have an increased probability to maintaining a healthy and productive cow.
Each cow will produce between 10 and 20 pints of milk every day. This milk is used for both family consumption and for sale to market to generate income for the family that provides for care and feeding of the animal as well as for the personal needs of the family. Families are also required to maintain records of tithe and offerings in accordance with biblical practices. While some families may just be blessed with a new lifestyle, others utilize this new means of financial and welfare freedom as a springboard to launch into full time ministry work in the community. We have had several of our cow recipients start work as full time bible workers or evangelists after the gift of a “cow for life”. What a blessing to see a person serve in such a powerful way.
Our support projects are only approved for families or individuals that qualify as capable and caring parents for these dairy cows. After an inspection of the family’s home, our resident veterinary trains the family on what the care and feeding of these cows will require. If we reach an agreement and in prayerful consideration believe the family will honor the care commitments, we move forward with the construction of the shelter for the cow and training with another previous cow farmer. Once the shelter and training are completed, our local coordinator and the veterinary inspect the shelter for safe conditions and practices. If approved, we then provide the gift of a cow and feed to the selected family.
Since we started this program in 2007, we have provided more than 32 families with Cows. These Elders or Widows were selected based on strict criteria and recommendations from our Ministry team in Kenya. To date the majority of the cows (and families) are healthy and providing milk to the community. 11 of the cows are in calf now and the donated funds from others have provided 3 additional cows for other people in the region.
Please help sponsor a Cow for a poor family today! Once your family receives the Cow we will provide you the details from the family and a picture of the family with the new cow.
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