Ah, Shoats!
Ethiopian Family Thrives through Training
Gebre and his family lived in a war zone. Caught in the crossfire between the military and the rebels, they used to lie awake at night listening for the sounds of armed men approaching their home.
More often though, Gebre heard his children crying. They were hungry. They went to bed without eating.
The 45-year-old father from Sahila Woreda, in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia, lives with his wife, Adanach, 35, and their six children, three boys and three girls, ranging in age from 5 to 19 years old. The children were constantly ill, a consequence of malnutrition. But there was no money to buy food, let alone seek medical care.
Then in 2022, Food for the Hungry came to the area with the food the family needed to survive. Their plan was to help the family in the immediate term while building greater resilience for the future.
Gebre and Adanach jumped at the opportunity. They received training on new farming techniques and animal rearing. To help them get started, Food for the Hungry gave them their first shoats, a crossbreed of sheep and goats.
The couple not only thrived, they worked hard to expand their farm, adding chickens to eat and sell at the local market.
With new skills in agriculture and business finances, Gebre’s annual income quickly grew 11 times! The family now makes more than they had ever earned before.
With their profits, Adanach can feed her family and send her children to school. Every day, she prepares nutritious meals she learned at Food for Hungry workshops. She is proud that her family is now a role model for their neighbors.
What’s next for Gebre and Adanach? They plan to build a new, much safer house for their children. They have big dreams for the future.
*Stories like that of Gebre and Adanach were possible thanks to support from U.S. Foreign Aid.
