BEATRICE’S GOAT

BEATRICE’S GOAT

It may be hard to imagine that a goat changed someone’s life, but it’s true. In fact, the story of Beatrice Biira shows that a gift can help change the world!

Beatrice was a child living in Kisinga, a poor village in the west of Uganda, when the goat arrived. The animal was a gift from Heifer International, an aid agency that provides animals to help struggling families like Beatrice’s in many countries. Owning a goat completely changed the world for Beatrice and her family, who were desperately poor. Suddenly, they had milk to drink and improve their health, extra milk to sell and provide urgently needed money, goat droppings to use as fertilizer for growing food, and a sense of hope for the future.

The extra money also meant that her family could afford to pay for school fees, books, and a uniform, so Beatrice was able to get the most powerful possession in the world – an education.

Meanwhile, Heifer International saw what a huge difference their help had made and decided to use Beatrice Biira’s story to encourage people to support their program. They created a book entitled Beatrice’s Goat to explain how just one goat, cow, or other farm animal can rescue a family from poverty. The book was so popular that they invited Biira to go to the United States and tell her story to the public and the media. Wherever she went, she touched people’s hearts and earned their admiration.

With the support of a scholarship, Beatrice Biira went on to attend Connecticut College, earning a BA in International Development and Social Change. She mobilizes and energizes communities on behalf of global campaigns to end extreme poverty in our lifetime, and to educate girls and boys through high-tech platforms. Beatrice Biira’s life was transformed by her opportunity to get an education, and that was made possible by the gift of a goat. She is now changing the lives of others in poverty.

~ “For it is in giving that we receive. We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give!”.…. ~