Bazamile Shange (37) and Senzo Shange (42) have seen their family change since Bazamile joined Heifer's Injabula Ka Noah Project located in John's Dale village in St. Faith's area, KwaZulu Natal, in 2008. The family has access to fresh, healthy vegetables from their vegetable garden and their goats provide income. "My family is proud in the community because Heifer has changed our lives and given us a chance to own livestock, something we never owned before," says Bazamile.
Heifer International South Africa (Heifer) is a community development organisation that partners with rural communities to end hunger and poverty in South Africa and care for the Earth. Heifer provides poor families with intensive training, on-going support and the seeds, trees & livestock they need to become small-scale farmers.
Bazamile Shange (37) with one of her goat
The Injabula Ka Noah Project is one of Heifer's projects. Bazamile received her goats through Heifer's Passing on the Gift® process. Passing on the Gift® means every family that receives livestock, seeds and training from Heifer agrees to pass on the same gifts and opportunities to another family nearby. Bazamile has already, in turn, passed on two goats.
Bazamile and Senzo are also passing on something very important to their children. All the members of the family help out in the garden and help to take care of the animals. And through this project and their hard work, Bazamile and Senzo are making sure that their children get a good education. Their first-born, Kwazi, started studying at a Further Education and Training (FET) College last year. Another child, Sneziwe, hopes to become a police officer. Mzwandile (15) has even bigger dreams. He hopes, once he finishes school, to go to university and become a doctor.
Even the relationship between Bazamile and Senzo has improved thanks to this project. "My husband is proud of me," Bazamile said, "because we now own goats and the relationship is good".
Help families like Bazamile and Senzo's by supporting Heifer International South Africa.
