Why Should You Donate a Cow to a Family in Poverty?
When you give livestock to a family in poverty, you give them a sustainable source of food and income. Milk, eggs and meat can be eaten or sold, all of which provide reliable sources of nutrition for children and their families.
Manure from the animals fertilizes food crops, helping families grow more fruits and vegetables. Livestock offspring can also be sold for ongoing income.
Donating a cow helps combat malnutrition and enhance food security for families around the world. Giving the gift of livestock can mean that a child living in hunger can now live in hope for a better future.
The best part about donating livestock through Compassion is realizing that you’re giving more than an animal; you’re investing in generational hope.
When people like you donate a cow to a family in need, the staff at these churches deliver the animal and offer training in how best to care for it, ensuring the family benefits for years to come.
Turn a Family’s Hunger into Hope
Donating cows, goats, pigs or any other form of livestock offers a new way of life for many families living in poverty. This kind of gift is not only rooted in economic and nutritional development, but also in connection, generosity and prosperity.
“A cow is not only for milk. It is for friendship. When we share cows, we share life.” —Ndikubwimana (Gentil’s Father)
“Apart from using manure in my garden to improve the agricultural production, I sell the rest of the manure to my neighbors to get an income. Each week I can sell one pile of manure, and I can earn between Rwf 7000 (6.50 USD) to Rwf 10,000 (9 USD).” —Jean (Yanick’s Father)
In Rwanda, it’s tradition to exchange cows with neighbors. In fact, the Rwandan President in 2006 implemented a one-cow-per-family program, locally known as the Girinka Munyarwanda. This program was created in an effort to reduce the influx of poverty in Rwanda, combat rising malnutrition rates in children under 5 and integrate livestock and crop farming in communities.
The girinka tradition was adopted by the local Compassion center to support families in need. From this partnership, a cow breeding program was established, and each cow-owning family was invited to donate a calf to a neighboring family when their cow gave birth. This intervention began with gifting 15 cows to separate families, but the fruit of this giving did not stop there.
Because of the communities’ abundant generosity and commitment to upholding the girinka tradition, this Compassion intervention has been able to gift a cow to 75 families in the region. Elia, the local center director, shares a goal that by 2027, “every family will have their own cow.”
“The program has enabled caregivers to access loans, improved nutrition for children, strengthened social cohesion, created employment and created an opportunity to educate family members of program participants. It has also contributed to an improved mindset towards cattle keeping, with participants moving from looking at cattle as a status symbol to a source of income and improved livelihood.” —Director Elia
The girinka tradition, along with the partnership between Compassion and several local churches in the region, has created a bond between neighbors and a hope that transcends the barriers of poverty.
How to Donate a Cow
How can you participate in the girinka tradition and engage in Christ-centered giving?
Compassion has made it easy for you to do so through our charitable gift catalog. By exploring this catalog, you can choose to donate a cow, goat, pig and/or chickens to families in need around the world.
Don’t worry: Our church partners will do the hard work of actually getting the animal to the family!
When you donate a cow to families in poverty, you act as the hands and feet of Jesus. The full impact of this gift reaches beyond economic effects. It’s a tangible form of God’s love, offering an opportunity to develop children and their families' physical health, community relationships and resilience. This kind of generosity will impact generations and help to release children like Gentil and Yanick from poverty.
