Non Governmental Organisation Send-a-Cow Rwanda has said that at least 6000 families were pulled out of poverty in eight districts of the country as part of its work to reach out to the poor. This was disclosed by Apophia Mukantabana, the project’s Social Development Officer at a function to hand over 38 Friesian cows to residents of Rurenge village in Eastern Province’s Kayonza District yesterday. Send a Cow is a charity working in Rwanda to improve the lives of orphans, widows and families living in poverty. The project works in Kayonza, Rwamagana, Nyanza, Rulindo, Kirehe, Bugesera, Gasabo, and Kicukiro districts. Mukantabana said their organisation gave communities good quality cows, goats and smaller animals, adding that it also trained them in sustainable organic farming and environmental protection techniques. “We are all smiles when we meet families that used to be poor fully equipped with basic needs. Malnutrition is history in families that own cows, they send children to school in good health and well dressed,” she said. Send-a-Cow has also been working with communities to find solutions to poverty related problems. “Our approach has been holistic in nature. We encouraged beneficiaries of our project to pass on the benefits of their work to their neighbours, hence strengthening community ties. So, reconciliation followed economic empowerment of the people,” Mukantabana explained. Norah Mukaturatsinze, Chairperson of Girukuri Farmers’ Cooperative in Kayonza, told The Sunday Times that poverty was no more in their village. “I am a living example of those who were living in perpetual poverty, but with the new farming program implemented by Send-a-Cow, I am in a different economic situation. I have four cows whose milk is enough for all my needs,” she said. Claudette Nyiramana, 48, equally noted that their community’s economic emancipation in recent years has improved. “We used to live in a state of hopelessness before we started owning cows. Today the story is different. Some of us have gone beyond just cows to doing business,” she said, also revealing that she owns a shop to diversify her income.
