By Mauro Tartaglia | Project Leader
Doña Fidelia Brito lives in Guatemala's Highlands, in a small rural village. A successful experience with Save the Children's goat program has inspired Doña Fidelia to fight chronic malnutrition in her community.
In 2008 Doña Fidelia and her husband Leonel Cruz took their only child Felipe Josué to a growth monitoring event. They worried about his low weight and looked for ways to help provide him with moer nutritious food. With guidance from the local health worker, they registered for Save the Children' goat raising program in order to produce goat milk at home for Felipe Josué.
After just a few months began to see a remarkable improvement in Felipe Josué's growth. When the goat had two kids, they kept them and gave the mother to another family. Later on, Doña Fidelia's own health improved by drinking goat milk, with no more hair loss and the headaches she used to have.
Early in 2012 Doña Fidelia adopted two more goats. Through best practices in animal husbandry, she now has four adult goats, and more on the way as two are pregnant. Thanks to the training received in goat management she has reached a daily production of a half gallon a day which she distributes among the young children of her village.
Other mothers are following her example, like Doña Maria Magdalena Alvarez whose goat now produces 1/2 quart of milk per day, just enough for her two-year-old daughter Catarina.
Doña Fidelia's dream is coming true, and other goat-related benefits for home gardening (manure) and meat production represent further contributions to her isolated rural community food security.
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