At 28, Beatrice Biira has had experiences that most of us will never have in our entire lives. She’s been on “60 Minutes,” “Good Morning America” and “Oprah.” She was the subject of an award-winning, bestselling 2001 children’s book called “Beatrice’s Goat.” She’s met celebrities and been featured in People magazine and The New York Times.
A goat.
This is the beginning of an article I wrote about poverty in today’s Newsday. Beatrice Biira has garnered all this attention because she has a unique and inspiring story. She grew up in Kisinga, Uganda, a village that is an 8-hour bumpy bus ride from Kampala, the country’s capital. In 1993, her family and several others in her village received goats from international development organization Heifer International. Along with the goats came support, training, and infrastructure-building to help the families create micro-businesses selling the goats’ milk.
Prior to the goats, Biira’s farming family, which included 6 children, worked all day to put just one meal on the table. With all resources devoted to meeting this basic need, there was no time and no money left over for Beatrice and her siblings to go to school, or for her family to save or stockpile for harder times. This was the case for most of the families in her village.
