A new cow brings joy to a family affected by civil war

Jean Eloge Ruhumuriza, 14, is an orphan. His father was killed in the recent Burundi civil war. More than 20 cows were stolen by the killers. His mother and three other siblings took refuge in an IDP camp. They recently came back home, and Anne, his mother, found it difficult to feed her children while exploiting a barren land. Through a GIK distribution, World Vision recently supported the family with a new cow. The family hopes to be enjoying soon all the benefits that can offer a cow.

“God knows how to take care of widows and orphans; God is using World Vision in our community. I do not know how they knew that I need a cow, because a widow’s life is a mystery,” says Anne Ninteretse, 43, and the mother of Eloge. 

This was one day after she has been supported with a new cow from World Vision Burundi. It was early in the morning around 8:00.

 “Here is where the war left us,” she says, pointing out holes in the roof of her humble home.

While at the stable where she keeps the cow, Anne fastens a loincloth around her waist and adjusts her foulard on her head. She is getting ready to take care of a calf, an offspring of the borrowed cow.

“This is a calf of a cow I keep for manure. When I came back from exile, a neighbor lent me a cow to get manure from it; otherwise I wouldn’t have survived with my orphans. Our land is barren, without fertilizers we can’t harvest enough,” she says.

Her son Eloge, woke up early that morning. He was very excited to see a new cow in their household, Anne explains.

Eloge is quietly sitting under a eucalyptus tree around 500 metres away from the house, watching over the cow a neighbor lent them for manure.

“He is over there,” Anne says. “If you see him you can’t believe he is already 14; he is of short size. It is because he was born when there was no longer milk. The cow we keep is for manure only, the milk belongs to the owner,” she says, walking out in the field.

The new cow iss being kept in a different place at home. It is not accustomed to the people in the compound yet and would run away if let out. Eloge hopes to be taking care of it soon – a cow he could drink milk from.

“I am very happy to hear that the new cow is ours,” he says, smiling and leaning on the old cow.

The crisis that took away all the cows they owned significantly affected Anne.

“Do not think that I have always been of a thin size like this. Before the disaster I was well off. Due to the many concerns of life caused by the crisis, I even developed a stomach disease,” she recounts.

Anne finds it hard to forget what happened a morning she became a widow. They were still sleeping when a mob of unknown people knocked on their door; they tied up her husband with a rope they used to milk cows. They took him with them, some minutes later gun shots were heard. He was killed, Anne explains.

The United Nations states that the massacres that took place during that period made the country lose around 300,000 lives.

“I am very grateful for what World Vision is doing for me. My children will be able to drink milk again,” Anne says. “World Vision’s support is helping me to forget what I went through.”