THE SUFFERING OF ELDERLY WIDOWS ACROSS DEVELOPING NATIONS.

An elderly woman looks on.

Watch Lydia’s interview by clicking here.

The prices of food commodities globally have gone up. This could be directly linked to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russia actively supplies Kenya with 32% of its wheat imports. The impact of this has been felt by low-income households, among them widowed households across rural Kenya.

Lydia is among the majority of widows across Africa who have to care for both their children and grandchildren. Old and nearing retirement, elderly widows have it rough. They have to work twice as harder to ensure their families are well cared for. In the case their children died and are left to care for their grandchildren, the responsibility to put them through school falls on their shoulders.

Elderly widows have been left to inherit debts from their spouses and children. A majority of them have low-literacy levels and entering the job market has often proven difficult. For such women, menial jobs are readily available. But with aging, comes physical changes that do not allow them to undertake strenuous labor.

A solution for elderly widows.

When The Goat Foundation was started, The Founder’s goal was to address global poverty by offering long-term sustainable solutions to wealth creation. Poverty among widowed populations is gendered and the only way to alleviate is to ensure every population has a chance at wealth creation.

Elderly widows across rural Africa like Lydia are benefitting from our initiative. Through the gift of goats, they are able to cater to their immediate and long-term needs. With arable land to shelter these goats, they are to take care of them and ensure they reproduce. This goes on as they equally receive financial education on how best to increase their goat’s output in producing milk and manure.

On top of these, they learn business practices on value addition that ensure additional income. For example, in the comfort of their home, they can easily make butter, ghee, and other dairy products that are high in demand across the markets in Kenya.