When you choose a gift like goats, chickens, or bees, you really are giving the Best.Gift.Ever. These symbolic gifts are fun gift-giving ideas for your loved ones - and are life changing for children and families around the world. Here’s how:
Deborah in Uganda has been working hard to support her grandchildren, including 8-year-old Irene. She has a family garden but struggles to find enough time to focus on her farming while also preparing meals and caring for her grandchildren.
Deborah's family isn't the only one facing nutrition challenges. Uganda has one of the highest rates of food insecurity in the world. Three out of every 10 children face stunted growth, which impacts their overall health and ability to do well in school. Deborah: "Children need to be fed well. They cannot stay in the school without food."
Thankfully, donor supported school feeding programs are providing nutritious meals to children for breakfast and lunch in schools across Uganda. Now, Irene and her siblings have access to fresh and nutritious meals right at school, which gives them more energy to study and play.
Not only is her performance at school improving, but Irene shares the things she has learned in the school garden with her grandma at home. This advice from her grandchildren, coupled with donor funded business support, has improved both Deborah's home garden output and family income!
By buying a Best.Gift.Ever you are helping children like Irene get the nutrition they need now, while setting them up for success in the future by ensuring they stay in school and receive a quality education.
Irene enjoying school
Sheyla is a vendor who sells her nutritional confectionaries in her local market. Business is booming and it's all because she received a greatest need gift that helped lift her from poverty and flourish. Before Sheyla received this crucial gift, she was living paycheque to paycheque, struggling to make enough money to support her children. She would travel long ways to shop and spend what little money she had there. But since she was gifted gastronomy and pastry training, she's selling her baked goods and making great profits. Sheyla now has enough to buy all the school supplies her daughters were lacking and even has extra money to treat them to gifts.
Ezekia and her children in Uganda depended entirely on her husband's income. Work would take him away from home for long periods of time, which often left Ezekia and her children without enough food. She tried to scrape together enough for her family's basic needs by doing odd jobs, but it wasn't sufficient. The gift of goats finally gave her the opportunity to be self-sufficient. After successfully putting the training she received into practice, she has increased her herd to five goats and is generating income from a thriving livestock business. In addition to ensuring her children don't go to bed hungry, she is saving for their education. When you give the gift of goats, you give families a stable income and a path to a brighter future for their children.
With food insecurity being significantly higher than the Canadian average, families in Natoageneg (Eel Ground First Nation) have struggled to provide their children with fresh, healthy food. The gift of a greenhouse is now helping the New Brunswick community to grow healthy food all year round. The 30- by 40-foot heated structure contains raised beds and mini-greenhouses to provide fresh fruits, herbs and vegetables. It also gives students a hands-on opportunity to learn about growing, planting, tending, and harvesting food. As the greenhouse's produce output grows, it will support the school's breakfast and lunch program as well. When you give the gift of a greenhouse, you not only give families access to food all year long, but you also give children an opportunity to learn about nutrition by reconnecting with the land.
Girls need to stay in school. Period. Often when girls are menstruating, they cannot attend classes because of an absence of sanitary pads. Girls tend to fall behind in their studies during menstruation, which can lead to them dropping out altogether. Mary from Uganda was one of these girls who was missing classes while menstruating and quickly falling behind at school. The gift of a period kit changed everything. Mary now has the reusable sanitary pads she needs during menstruation and is able to continue going to school. Girls deserve their education and thanks to period kids, they're able to stay in school during menstruation.
School meals are the heart and soul of our Canadian programming and ensure children in First Nations communities are nourished in their bodies, minds and spirits. All of CFTC's Canadian school food programs - like this one here at Elsipogtog First Nation in Elsipogtog FN, NB - provide well-balanced, breakfasts, lunches and snacks. School food programs increasingly include a nutrition education component, to create a long-term impact on food security, nutrition and health for children and parents alike.
Nayeti's sweet smile says it all; she's a happy, thriving 12-year-old growing up in Ghana. Thanks to donor support, her mother Linda recently began a beekeeping business that she knows will bring her family success.
Beekeeping was an affordable option to help Linda and her fellow female group members earn more income. Her group has set up 30 beehives and is looking forward to their first harvest. Linda says that being part of the beekeeping group has already improved her social life, and the income will pay for school fees, clothes and other needs for her children.
As for Nayeti, she couldn't be happier about her mother's new business – especially when she gets to eat the honey.
For seven-year-old Wendy in Bolivia, fresh produce can be difficult to access due to large peri-urban areas where poverty levels are high and produce can be quite expensive. That's why the gift of school and vegetable gardens is crucial to providing fresh and nutritious vegetables to children and families. Wendy's school received supplies to build a garden, and the children are harvesting their crops for their school lunches, increasing access to healthy food. As well, Wendy's family received materials to create their own garden, which allows Wendy to enjoy fresh, delicious vegetables at home. Wendy loves picking her homegrown produce for her mother to make her favourite food - a big hearty salad. When you give the gift of school and vegetable gardens, children and families receive delicious and nutritious produce both at school and in their homes.
Families in Asana's community in Ghana struggle to provide basic school supplies like exercise books, writing utensils, and school bags to the children. Often this means children cannot attend classes without having the appropriate supplies, stunting their educational journey. That's why the gift of school supplies is vital in providing the necessary materials for students to attend class and work towards a good education. When Asana's school received new supplies like exercise books and textbooks, classroom scores soared, and the students felt more confident in class. The gift of school supplies gives primary school students the essential items they need for a successful year of learning.
In CFTC's communities, such as Bidima, Ghana pictured above, the Best Gift Ever is a clean, private, easily-accessible and gender-segregated latrine. Having to defecate openly infringes on human safety and dignity. Women and girls risk rape and abuse as they wait until night falls to gain some privacy. Even where toilets do exist, they generally remain inadequate for those with special needs and women and girls requiring facilities to manage menstrual hygiene. That is why latrines are so critical to be built near to schools. Where they exist, the drop-out rate for girls at puberty declines.
Unfortunately, due to ongoing stigma, it is believed girls do not need to receive a quality education and are often kept at home or sent away to neighbouring cities for domestic work. This puts girls and young women at risk of trafficking, assault, child marriage, and poverty. That's why the gift of girls' education is imperative. Meko, a mother to a young daughter, attended parental workshops on keeping girls in school. She now has a better understanding of the dangers of early marriage for girls, why gender equality education is successful, and how girls' and women's economic empowerment boosts community wealth. As a result, her young daughter remains in school. "The workshop is very important for both children and parents' well-being. Before, the community attitude was that ECCE, especially for girls, wasn't important, but now we all see that it is important." Local schools in Meko's community also have sexual health and reproductive rights clubs that coach girls on how to advocate for their rights.
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