Much to Smile About in Malawi

It would be an understatement to call the home Glyceria and Chinzimu Ntoso share with their 6-year-old daughter, Julita, modest. Its straw roof is held down with bricks and sticks, and they have no chairs for guests — just a woven floor mat. Their property doesn't have a wall or fence around it, so their neighbors can readily observe the goings-on at the Ntoso home from the adjacent communal well.

The floor in their home is bare earth. But the floor in their cow shed? That’s a different story. It’s solid cement — speaking volumes about how much this couple values the dairy cow they received from Heifer. It’s just one of the many positive changes they’ve experienced, thanks to your generous monthly gifts as a Friend of Heifer.

Glyceria and Chinzimu are warm, welcoming and friendly. Chinzimu is not quite as chatty as Glyceria, but he is equally eager to recount how much their lives have improved since they became dairy farmers.

The cow they received from Heifer has given birth to two female calves. To fulfill their commitment to Heifer, they passed the first calf on to a neighbor who belongs to their dairy group, the Nsaru Milk Bulking Group. The second calf they kept for themselves.

Now that they have milk to drink and sell, the family eats three meals a day instead of two. They can afford meat several times a week. The four chickens they bought soon became a baker’s dozen; now they have plenty of eggs (more protein!) and can sell a chicken whenever they need extra cash.

Julita, who used to get frequent stomachaches, no longer falls ill. Her parents are determined that she complete secondary school and perhaps become a nurse.

Glyceria and Chinzimu have taken full advantage of Heifer trainings, including livestock, agricultural and business management. They live out the lessons they’ve learned about diversifying income. While milk forms the foundation of their earnings, their chickens are another source of revenue. Since learning how to turn manure into fertilizer, their soybean crop yields have increased.

Investing some of the money they earn selling milk into other businesses gives Glyceria and Chinzimu confidence that they can weather any downturns if their cow gets sick. The additional income streams “form a cushion,” Glyceria notes, “so we can buy medicine for treatment.”

The additional income also enabled them to buy two bicycles for delivering milk and make some home improvements, including installing a small solar panel and a battery, so they can charge their phones and have reliable indoor lighting. They hope someday to build a bigger home with a solid roof.

Thank You

Thanks to your support that provided the Ntosos with their first cow, they established a thriving dairy enterprise augmented by multiple sources of income. They now have a bright vision for their future.