Fighting Poverty with the Help of Chickens

In Timor-Leste, many residents rely on agriculture to make a living. Unfortunately, due to the changing environment and water scarcity, farming is often not a reliable or stable income. Sebastiana Ximenes Babo, her husband, Jacinto Gonsalves and their four children have struggled with this in the small rural town that they live in.

Despite the long and laborious hours Jacinto puts into his work as a farmer, his income is rarely enough to support his family. Sebastiana shared that she makes an effort to feed her children a stable diet but that their income only permits two small meals each day, often of rice only. While the family has known for a while that maintaining livestock is a way to increase their income, they could never afford to buy livestock.

Fortunately, thanks to our Giving Machine Program, the family was able to receive three chickens at the lowest price possible: free! Jacinto participated in a training on how to care for the chickens, and the family was given materials to make cages for the chickens. Sebastiana shared, “I am very grateful. In the future I promise that I will take good care of the chickens, so they can lay many eggs and they can hatch into chicks. That way my family can not only eat, but also sell the eggs to earn an income which we can use to purchase other goods such as meat, milk and more.”

Thanks to their dedication to their new chickens and commitment to moving out of poverty, Jacinto and Sebastiana are creating a better future for themselves and their chickens.

We are thankful for our partner, the Latter-day Saints Charities  for their generous funding of our Giving Machines Program. Without their support, stories such as Jacinto and Sebastiana’s would not be possible.