By: Enid Nabumati, Content & Communications Officer

“Before the project, I faced a lot of challenges. My husband and I had inadequate food to feed the family. Raiders had stolen all our livestock, and we did not even have a kitchen garden. We had to buy vegetables from the town center.” Munyes says.

In November 2021, Munyes received two gala goats from the GOATS project. While one goat fell sick and died, the other survived, bearing one female kid. “I am happy because I was able to pass on the kid to the next beneficiary in July 2023. The goat is pregnant again.”

Munyes gets one liter of milk every day from the goat. “My young children are well nourished because goat milk is very nutritious,” she adds. As part of the GOATS project intervention, beneficiaries are given vegetable seeds to enable them to establish kitchen and demonstration gardens. They are also equipped with agronomy skills.

In October 2023, Ochamakinos, the care group that Munyes belongs to, received 20 kilograms of cowpeas seeds which they divided amongst themselves, each planting on assigned one-by-five-meter ridges.

Munyes was assigned 13 ridges to plant her seeds and got a bumper harvest. Using the knowledge that she gained from training sessions conducted by the project on post-harvest handling, she is preserving her vegetables for future use.

“I have harvested a lot of greens this season but will not be selling yet. Instead, I am preserving it for sale during times of scarcity when the dry season returns, and food is inadequate.” Munyes says growing vegetables has sustained her family on several occasions.

“Last season, I sold my vegetables and got 40,000 shillings which I used to buy scholastic materials for my school-going children, treating goats, and buying food. She also makes local brew and operates a retail shop, businesses that helped her keep her children in school. She also saves in the Village Savings & Loans Association.

“Save the Children’s work in my community has transformed my life for the better. My family has a decent livelihood and is living as a model household. I used to buy vegetables but now I sell them for a living.”