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Feature Stories
Swaziland: Raising Chickens, Supporting Orphans
Like many people in southern Africa, the Nyandeni family of Lavumisa has been dramatically affected by AIDS. Losing both parents in the past 10 years, the nine Nyandeni children have been left to raise themselves. When their parents died, the five oldest children—at the time aged 14 to 18—had to leave school in order to support their four younger siblings, as well as several nieces and nephews.
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| Nomsa Nyandeni and daughter. |
In a country where roughly 26 percent of the population is infected with HIV, they are not alone. There are more than 70,000 orphans in Swaziland, and an additional 120,000 children are considered vulnerable; this in a country of only 1 million people.
When children are left to raise children, survival is a constant struggle. Limited education makes good job opportunities very hard to come by.
"Life was very difficult; there was not any income," said 25-year-old Nomsa Nyandeni. "Even when we had part-time jobs, it didn't help."
A small vegetable garden helped supplement the family's diet, and selling the surplus occasionally brought in money, but since droughts plagued the region for years, it was never enough.
There was some assistance from within the community, but it wasn't until the Bantwana Initiative gave the Nyandeni children an opportunity to start a small business raising chickens, that they were able to provide for themselves.
In September 2007, Bantwana—a joint initiative of World Education and John Snow, Inc.—started a small grants program in Swaziland to help implement the programs of community-based organizations and NGOs providing critically needed services to children orphaned and made vulnerable by HIV and AIDS (OVC).
Caritas Swaziland is one local NGO selected by Bantwana to receive support. At that time, Caritas was managing a network of community volunteers who make outreach and home visits in targeted communities. In many cases, these services were enough to make a difference. For some families, however, this is not enough.
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| The Nyandeni homestead in Lavumisa. |
Such was the case with the Nyandeni siblings: With a significant shortage of food, and no steady income, they were barely getting by.
"The community volunteer who recommended that they receive Bantwana support realized that this was a desperate situation," said Joseph Mamba, Caritas program manager.
Caritas came up with the idea of starting poultry projects—which are sustainable and relatively easy to manage—to generate income for families of OVC to meet their basic needs.
Initial investment was needed for building chicken coops, and to purchase feed, vaccines, and chicks for the first round. But despite their sound business plan, Caritas was unable to find donors to fund this initiative.
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| The coop where the Nyandeni children raise their chickens. |
Realizing the potential of this program for families like the Nyandeni, Bantwana decided to help. Initially supplying all the materials needed, Bantwana also purchased 200 baby chicks to get the business going. The older children were trained to raise and feed chickens, as well as the basics of selling practices and money management. Their progress was monitored, and a push was made to teach the younger kids how the business works, so that the knowledge and skills are passed along.
To ensure that the local chicken market was not flooded, no other beneficiaries were chosen near the Nyandeni family homestead. Bantwana also worked with the family to create an informal agreement with their neighbors who sold chickens, to prevent them from maturing at the same time.
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| Some of the baby chicks the
Nyandeni siblings are raising. |
After six weeks, the Nyandeni children sold 182 chickens as "broilers" for about $680 (with some stock loss due to disease). It would have taken them more than five months to earn as much selling vegetables from their garden. With this profit, the family has been able to buy food and supplies for the home, and pay for some school fees and uniforms. The remaining money has been reinvested to buy the next round of chicks and supplies.
"This business has helped us a lot," said Nomsa Nyandeni. "We have money to do some things that otherwise we would not have been able to do."