Expelled in 4th Grade

Innocent is 14. He always struggled with understanding and learning at school.

Living in a remote village in rural Tanzania, there aren't many options for children who can't keep up and need extra help at school. For that reason, he was expelled in 4th grade.

His mother, Marietha, applied to join Food for His Children this year. She was thrilled to hear she qualified to be a goat recipient.

Marietha and her husband have 6 children: Innocent (14), Claudia (12), Clement (10), Cornel (7), Irene (4) and Donansia (2). They struggle to provide for their children because they don't own land for a farm. They work hard as seasonal laborers for other people, but it simply isn't enough. They hope to one day have enough money to rent land so they can grow food to eat and to sell.

Marietha joined Food for His Children so that she can earn extra money through dairy goat farming. She wants to send Innocent to a school for kids with special needs. In the meantime, she plans to teach Innocent how to care for their goat when they receive it.

Before getting her goat, Marietha has some homework! She has to attend an initial training to learn how to make a goat shed and about the best foods for dairy goats. And then her first goal with Food for His Children will be to build her goat shed so her goat is safe, dry and kept away from the local meat goats who can spread diseases and ummmm, well things can happen when bucks and does hang around together.........

And if Marietha's dairy goat hangs around with the wrong crowd (aka meat goats), she's more likely to produce cross bred meat/dairy goats which will reduce their milk output and result in a poor lineage.

Marietha will learn about being a dairy goat farmer, how to care for her goat including hoof trimming, deworming, basic medical care, best and worst foods for goats, how to track milk production and important things to look for to determine when it's time to breed her goat. She will also learn about how to tell what makes for a good breeding goat and what doesn't.

For example, one of the goats in the photo above is a polled goat. She doesn't have horns. She should never be bred with a buck who was born without horns because their kids could have a condition that prevents them from breeding. We won't go into detail because children could be reading this!

Food for His Children will walk alongside Marietha and her family to help her to see the resources around her, equip her to solve problems and encourage her as she works her way out of poverty and to achieving her goals and dreams.

If you would like to sponsor Marietha's family or a family like hers to encourage and pray for her regularly, click here. To see some of the families waiting for a sponsor, click here.