Mt Kilimanjaro, TZ – Eliza finishes cow loan repayments, turns attention to home improvement – 17 Nov 2017

Eliza and her family have completed loan repayments on their dairy cow loan. After two years the family has finally fully paid off the loan they received for the cow and the cow shed. During those two years their cow one calf and is pregnant with another. Now that the family has a consistent source of income they are turning their attention to improving their home and providing educational opportunities for their children.

Eliza received a dairy cow loan in November 2015. By June 2016 the cow had given birth to a male calf. The calf can be fattened and sold for meat or it can be used as a stud to mate with other cows. Eliza’s cow is a hybrid cow that combines a hearty local breed with a more productive foreign breed. This mix means that her new bull may be very valuable a stud.

Another benefit of giving birth for dairy cows is an increase in productivity. Directly after giving birth Eliza’s cow was producing around 20 liters of milk per day. Since then the cow has maintained a rate of roughly 6 liters per day. The family can choose whether they want their children to drink the milk, or they want to sell it for 1,000 TZS (US $0.46) per liter.

Eliza is excited that she has repaid her loan and established a second reliable source of income. Now she is planning to improve the small 3-room home she shares with her husband and 8 children and grand-children. They built the house themselves years ago and it needs constant maintenance. They would like to build a new house out of cement blocks or some other more permanent material.

Eliza also dreams of being able to send her youngest son Dennis to carpentry school. Dennis had to stop attending school when he was 14 because the family could not afford school fees. He has shown an interest and aptitude for carpentry and he has a goal of opening his own workshop someday. The local vocational school offers a carpentry course for 400,000 TZS (US $186) per year for 2 years.