Four Outstanding Women Selected as WiLD Awards 2009 Winners

Four extraordinary women have earned the 2009 WiLD (Women in Livestock Development) Award from Heifer International for their outstanding achievements in improving the lives of their families. The recipients are Teresa Aoko Otiep of Kenya, Carol T. Balisong of the Philippines, lafteri Jongari of Albania and Ngo My dung of Vietnam.

AFRICA:
Teresa Otiep of Kenya was selected as a winner in the Grassroots Achievement category. In the traditional Africa, women waited for marching orders from their husbands. Teresa broke that tradition by taking an initiative to join a self-help group and working with Heifer Kenya. “I could not afford to buy anything on my own, not even a matchbox. I had to beg from my husband, and this at times brought tension in the family,” Teresa said.

With a gift of one dairy goat Teresa started her life journey, which was not very supported by her husband; he didn’t see much value in milking a goat, but was wishing for a cow. In less than a year, the goat was able to bring a cow home, with Teresa’s outstanding commitment and management. In two years, Teresa was able to move from owning one sheep (all they had before Heifer) to owning and managing 14 animals (a cow and a calf, three goats and nine chickens), and from an annual family income of Kenyan Shillings 4,500 (equivalent to $60) to 25,916 (equivalent to $346), a growth of over five and a half times. She also managed to improve her family’s food and nutrition significantly and to pay school fees for her children. She even provided for her husband’s education, which eventually made him to be a well-paid teacher by the local standards.

“I owned nothing just two years ago; it is amazing how much I have now, and life is a lot different. My husband values and respects me. Owning a cow has earned me lots of respect from this village,” Teresa said. She is committed to give back to this community. Teresa opened up her farm for others to learn from, and she receives 15 visitors on average every month, mainly women, with whom she shares her success stories and encourages them to take action. In addition Teresa pays visits to and mentors about three women farmers a month. Today, she has not only gained respect from her husband, who attested by saying, “I will forever respect women,” but also from other men in the community, who invite her to speak at public forums to inspire fellow women. Teresa is a true role model for many fellow women in her community.


ASIA/SOUTH PACIFIC:
Carol Balisong of the Philippines was selected as a winner in the Grassroots Achievements category. A degree holder full of promise and pride, she looked forward to realize her dreams of helping herself and her family out of poverty. Nevertheless, the road was not so smooth for Carol to get a job and pursue her dream.

“I looked at myself as nothing, no worth at all,” Carol said. Coming from a poor family with not much support, Carol had to find her way out, both to help her parental family and her own four children. She joined the women’s association and partnered with Heifer Philippines. She began her farming with Cornerstones training and a couple of piglets. She says this was by far better than my degree training, because it earned me and my family a living. “The Cornerstones training opened up a whole new vision for me and brought my mind and my heart together. That gave me confidence, courage and power to move forward and be successful.”

Carol is able to feed her family, send her children to school, and even built a water tank to solve her family’s water problem. She is currently in the middle of building a new and improved house for living. Carol continues to give back to the community by way of giving away some of her piglets and passing on the Cornerstones training to her fellow women. Carol today moved up the ladder and became one of her community leaders, president of the women’s organization.


Ngo My Dung from Vietnam was selected as a winner in the Meritorious Award category. With 16 years of working with Heifer, Ms. Dung helped many poor farmers like herself. Ngo devoted her time and energy to help others establish themselves. She has put the Heifer model into practice and made significant improvements in project planning, proposal writing, grant procedures, monitoring and evaluation, communication, and overall project management among Heifer partners. She advocated and implemented shared leadership approach for effective management.

Ngo took several initiatives to help the community, including raising funds to support a project for poor and at-risk women; working with the women’s association to raise awareness of the role of women in community development by way of organizing events on International Women’s Day, at the community level. She advocates for empowering small scale women and men farmers and fighting against animal diseases.

Ngo does all of these tasks on top of her official duties with her organization. She gained the support of not only her family (husband and her two sons), but also that of her community. Ngo is committed to Heifer’s values and internalized and lived the Cornerstones, which she demonstrated in her service as a provincial-level project holder, managing 15 projects of poultry, swine, dairy, and beef cows.


CENTRAL/EASTERN EUROPE:
Lefteri Jongari from Albania was selected as a winner in the Grassroots Achievement category. In the brink of the collapse of the communist system in Albania, both Lefteri and her husband were left without jobs and no option except a small piece of land where they can grow vegetables, which was even not enough to feed a family of five. Milk and animal products became a luxury which they could not afford anymore.

Lefteri and her husband gave another look at life and joined a dairy development project with Heifer Albania. Beginning with one Holstein heifer, they both worked their way out of poverty. Today, they have 10 cows, selling 200 liters of milk a day. From not being able to feed themselves to investing in their children’s education and improving their housing conditions and buying furniture is a huge success they are proud of. Lefteri says we have everything we needed, but looking back the biggest investment and success is our daughters’ education; two have graduated and one in is her third year. Determined to give back to their community, Lefteri and her husband changed their farm to a model farm and devoted their time to educate other women farmers based on their own path and success stories.

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