Charity gift card catalogues are fun. They’re often filled with images of cute farmyard animals, and better yet, they promise to help fight poverty. Gifting a goat or toilet card will no doubt bring chuckles to the Christmas lunch table, and you’ll likely also feel warm and fuzzy having given a gift that helps someone, somewhere. But how?  

The Problem Of Poverty

Poverty is a complex issue that goes beyond a basic lack of income and resources. The United Nations defines extreme poverty as surviving on less than AU$3.20 per day. Many factors contribute to a person or community’s vulnerability to poverty, including: 

  • Lack of income or means to ensure sustainable livelihood 
  • Lack of education opportunities 
  • Disability or social discrimination and exclusion.

But How Do Chickens Help Families In Poverty?

Not only do eggs and chicken meat provide nutritious food for families, but poultry can also be a wonderful source of primary or additional income.  

By selling eggs and breeding chicks, people living in poverty can diversify their income stream and not be solely reliant on wages or income that are dependent on changing seasons or conditions. Families are also able to afford necessities that they previously had to forego, such as school costs or lighting in their homes. 

By selling eggs and breeding chicks, people living in poverty can diversify their income stream.

The best part is that Better World Gifts help our Partners provide support by building on existing resources through new or improved knowledge and techniques. Most importantly, they provide skills training in these areas. People can multiply the small amount they have to create big change for their families and set the next generation up for a brighter future. 

Meet Veronica

Here’s a real-life example. Veronica grew up in poverty, her parents struggled to put food on the table, and she could not continue her education past primary school because they couldn’t afford the associated costs. 

Because of her lack of education, Veronica struggled to find work and earn a sufficient income. Even after marrying and having children, Veronica and her family were surviving on just one meal per day.

‘The biggest challenges for the family were lack of food for children, lack of school fees and lack of water thus everything was a problem for the family.’ Veronica said. 

Veronica worried that her children would experience the same hardship she had growing up, and she prayed for a breakthrough in this terrible cycle.  

Help arrived from our local Partner, supported by funds raised through our Better World Gift Chicken card.  

Veronica and her husband received training on poultry production, poultry vaccination, poultry feed formulation, and growing crops for making poultry feed. The family now have one donkey, three cows, two geese and ten chickens! 

Using the money made through poultry and farming, Veronica purchased a solar panel for the family home. Now they have lighting, and her children can study in the evenings. 

‘Initially they did not have good grades in school for they could only study over the day,’ Veronica said. ‘Nowadays they can study and revise at night, and they have great improvement in school performance.’  

The family also saved enough money to finish building their house, and they can now afford to eat three meals a day.  

‘I can say that God has really worked wonders in our lives,’ Veronica said. 

More Than A Chicken

Because of the agricultural and poultry training Veronica received, many areas of her life and family have changed for the better, including her children’s education. And it’s not just chickens that create this incredible flow-on effect.  

All Better World Gifts support programs that are carefully designed to bring about sustainable solutions to poverty. 

Whether it’s the Chicken card that provides livestock training so families can raise poultry and generate an income, the Veggie Patch card that helps farms and gardens thrive thanks to agricultural training, or the Clean Water card that helps communities access safe water and provides education around safe water practices, every Better World Gift helps put an end to poverty. 

So, next time you’re looking to buy a present or let someone know you’re thinking of them, remember that Better World Gifts provide real solutions, practical support, and help to build brighter futures for families facing poverty.