How Useful Gifts are helping change lives
Every Useful Gift in TEAR's Gift Catalogue is part of a long-term program designed to give communities the resources they need to address their problems in appropriate, sustainable ways. Here you can read about three popular gifts in action.
Goat
Shanana Begum lives in a village about 100km south-west of Dhaka, Bangladesh. She's a member of a women's savings group set up by TEAR's local partner.
Shanana Begum started with one goat. Today she has seven. The twins she is holding were born on 21 October, 2009 - the day this picture was taken.
Thanks to the goats, Shanana and her family have milk to drink and sell, which earns them a basic income. There is even the occasional meal of goat's meat to supplement their diet. And as her herd increases in size, Shanana is also able to sell offspring to her neighbours so other families can benefit too.
Fish Farming
The Rajanigondha savings group is one of 11 men's self-help groups established in this part of Bangladesh by the same partner organisation.
The members invested 5,000 Taka ($83) into a fish farm. They began by purchasing 20kg of fingerlings and digging a 3.5 metre deep pond on some land belonging to Delwah, one of the group members.
The group contributes to the stocking of fingerlings, feeding and harvesting. Fish are sold locally and the profits returned to the group, so they can continue to develop their business and earn an income. Delwah is pictured here with his group and the catch of the day!
School Supplies
Many children in Zambia miss out on school because they live in remote areas, or there are not enough places in their local school, or their families are too poor to send them. So communities often start their own 'informal schools' to educate their children.
TEAR's partner works to support these communities in many ways, including training parents in school management, educating volunteer teachers, helping construct classrooms and toilets, and ensuring a safe water supply.
Many schools rely on our partner to provide students with exercise books, pencils and perhaps a ruler. They supplement what they can access this way with their own fundraising, but it is a struggle as students' families also have to provide the chalk, blackboards and desks!