How Goat for milk transformed Tereza’s life.

After speaking with DDS-NK ICAN personnel about goat for milk, Tereza Keno, the wife of Ere leader Lodio Paul, put the techniques she learned into practise and put them to use. As a result, she now has a story to share both inside and outside of her community.

Tereza Keno, a 33-year-old lead mother, and Paul Lodio, a 42-year-old Model Ere leader in Toroi Village, have five children—four boys and one girl—all of whom are enrolled in school.

Currently, two of the children are enrolled in a home-based learning programme run by DDS- NK USAID ICAN. Toroi is currently one of North Division’s model communities. In her testimony, Teresa discusses her participation in the goat for milk practise and good goat management that DDS-NK ICAN emphasises to combat malnutrition.

Teresa has been providing her children with goat’s milk for the past 10 months with the help of her husband, who gave her a goat specifically so that she would have access to milk for the kids. The fact that this initiative has improved the nutritional quality of their children and the community as a whole has made Lodio’s family quite proud of it.

As a lead mother who has experienced the benefits of goat’s milk for herself, Tereza decided to train other moms in her Toroi neighbourhood and community. As a result of learning from her, other lead mothers joined the training.

She describes how she cared for three formerly undernourished neighbourhood kids who were fed with goat milk. She swears that all three of the kids have recovered from their malnutrition and are doing fine, if not getting even healthier. Tereza’s knowledge has been continuously passed on to the other lead mothers as a result of her experience with the goat milk “gospel” and practise with the BSPs and VHTS.

According to Teresa, “one can distinguish and recognise youngsters drinking goat’s milk from the rest of the children due to the advantages children obtain from consuming goat’s milk.” In addition to learning the following skills, Teresa has demonstrated the nutritional value of goat milk, milking safely and using proper storage techniques, promotion of goat for milk during lean period, trainings on mineral lick making, goat housing construction and maintenance, continuous back stopping by DDS-NK ICAN team and adoptions and value addition using goat for milk in promoting diet diversification.

According to Tereza, “my children no longer get sick as often as other kids do after I started giving them goat’s milk because of the value addition on milk.” She claimed that by making a commitment to put into practise and regularly adopt the knowledge gained from the trainings provided by VHTs on goat milk, she and her children’s lives were changed, which decreased malnutrition and increased referrals in her community. She also claimed that her children now appear to be healthier and stronger than they did in the past.

Teresa continues by explaining the advantages of feeding her goats mineral leak, which has improved their health and increased the amount of milk the goats produce. Teresa is proud to say that her home is now a centre of attraction for other families, visitors, and communities. Teresa has gained financial value through the sale of mineral lick and goat’s milk to her neighbouring communities, and as a result, her home was chosen as a model village where other families could learn from. Teresa’s goal is to continue serving as an example for other communities that have little or no understanding of the advantages of goat’s milk and to educate families outside of her own to help reduce childhood malnutrition in the same way she has. She also pledged to serve as an example for the local North Division community.

Additionally, she imparts the DDS-NK ICAN lessons she has learned about milk safety, hygiene, and value enhancements to other women outside of North Division.