Goats for the Whole Family

20 April 2009

KAWASOTI, Nepal—Binkimaya Mahato looks at the goats with eyes full of tears. Despite her partial paralysis, she has made her way to the edge of the yard to watch the Passing on the Gift ceremony in the village. Sita, Binkimaya’s daughter-in-law, hurries home with the goats as soon as her donor passes them on to her. She knows that somebody at home awaits the hope and joy these goats will bring.

Binkimaya and her husband Buddiram, both in their 80s, are very poor. For years they have wanted to raise goats. Because they did not have the money to buy goats, they requested their well-off neighbors to lease them some but to no avail. “Poor people have no place in this world," Bikinimaya tearfully recalls. "We are insulted often and looked upon with disgust. Poverty is not our choice or the result of our deeds. For a long time I have wanted to raise goats. I made many requests but no one took pity on us."      

Her daughter-in-law Sita received two goats as a member of the Shanti Women’s Group. “I am so happy that I could make my old mother-in-law’s dream come true,” says Sita. The whole family is excited. The goats do not only fulfill the elderly couple’s dream, they also allows their grandchildren to dream dreams of their own future.