Kilifi widows get goats to generate income

A hundred poor widows in Kilifi received 200 goats, one male and one female, from a US firm on Thursday.

Financially Fit Africa through its Goat Foundation aims to give 10 million poor widows in East Africa, 20 million goats.

Each widow shall get two goats, a he and she-goat, which can help them get milk, manure and generate income.

The programme, Giving Hope by Giving Goats, aims to help widows, many of them kicked out of households and living in poverty.

Goats will help them transform their lives.

CEO and founder Steve Down said they are introducing financial education in Africa to change the way people think and feel about money.

He spoke during the fifth distribution of goats at Majajani, Mnarani ward, Kilifi.

“A better future for Kenya and Africa lies in empowering the cash flow of low-income and middle-income households," he said.

"We have partnered with The Goat Foundation, our non-profit partner, to give hope to the people of Kilifi," Down said.

The CEO said through climate-smart agriculture, the initiative offers goats and goat rearing training in ASAL.

Goats, he said, are strong, drought-resistant, have relatively short gestation periods and low maintenance costs.

Kache Karisa said the husband died in 2018 and left her with eight children.

She said two girls and one boy completed primary but could not go on with their studies for lack of funds. 

One child scored 313 marks in KCPE but she cannot afford fees.

“These goats will help end hunger because we shall get milk. When the goats reproduce, we shall sell them to get money for fees,” Karisa said.

Beneficiary Kache Charo said the goats will transform their lives.

“I am very happy for the donation because I am physically challenged. My husband died and left me to fend for our children. One dropped out because I am jobless,” she said.

Down said the programme seeks to introduce the principle of cause capitalism in Africa, in which a for-profit organisation chooses a non-profit as a sustainable partner.

“Cause capitalism is the new capitalism. It's a kinder, gentler and a more compassionate kind of capitalism that even our children and our grandchildren will embrace,” he said.

“Through cause capitalism, the future is safeguarded in community development. This is why our operations not only focuses on promoting financial literacy but also on being cause champions,” he said.

The CEO was accompanied by his elder brother Dave Down, Financially Fit director Anne Musau and the secretary general of the United Clergy Alliance Kenya Bishop Joel Nzomo.

Musau said in Kenya food security is part of the Big Four Agenda.

She said nonprofit groups or the church are used to identify those in need.

“The value for this project is very high and has a ripple effect because goat milk improves the nutrition of children," she said.

"It may look like a small thing but just imagine 20 million goats to 10 million families in a very short time,” she said.

To her, cause capitalism is "a light to the world".

“We are saying  you should be able to ingrain cause capitalism in business plans, so it becomes part of the operations. You need to get it right from the word go, you don’t wait to make a profit,” Musau said.

Nzomo said if many companies, factories and businesses in Kenya embrace cause capitalism, no one will die of hunger.

“When we come to a village like this, it's not because we have the goats. We want to inspire a neighbor who has 10 goats to help one who is going without food,” he said.

Chief financial officer Shem Oluchiri said the project trains widows on how to feed goats and breed them to produce milk. Goats can give birth twice a year.

(Edited by Bilha Makokha)