“There are things that happen to me and give me courage that one day, my family and my Children will be happy,” Jane told us, leaning against the wall of her home, in the Wakiso District of Uganda.

“I continuously tell my children that ‘I am suffering because I never went to school, and for you, who has a chance, to please use it and use it well.’”

When we walked through Jane’s yard, the soil was wet from a heavy rain the previous night. We could hear the noise from the School next door – a private school, which Jane could not afford to send her children to.

It is in this home that she has raised her five children – including Josephine, a 12-year-old girl who loves to sing and go to school.

But it wasn’t always that way. Jane tried to enroll Josephine in a nearby nursery school when she was younger but she had been chased back home because she wasn’t keeping up with the fees. She couldn’t afford to send Josephine and keep her two eldest daughters in school too, and so she was forced to pull her out.

Jane worked hard doing laundry for other families and helping out at a small catering business run by a woman in her community to earn an income. But it was never enough.

Then a message of good news came from Canadian Feed The Children’s local partner organization HUYSLINCI, which Jane now warmly refers to as “our HUYSLINCI.” HUYSLINCI told her that Josephine could start primary school.

For Jane, it was life-changing: “At that time, I felt that my heart was blown away. I just broke down in tears, just because of the unstoppable joy that I experienced at that moment!”

With all of her children in school, HUYLINCI staff worked with Jane to learn new skills so she could better support her family.

Jane was provided with a piglet from another woman in her community through a pay-it-forward program, where community members pass on livestock to the next family in-need.

She also received training on how to feed the pig, detect signs of sickness, provide the proper sanitation, how to spot a pig “in heat”, and the importance of paying forward the gift of a pig to the next family once she successfully bred hers.

Today, she is about to do just that. Jane is going to give four pigs to four other women in her community this year, so they can start a piggery project just like her.

The rest of the pigs are hers to keep, to breed, and to use as assets for her family. She plans on using the proceeds from the pigs to fund Josephine’s university education and to keep the rest of her children in school.

“I feel rich already,” Jane joked, thinking about the proceeds she will soon have from her piggery project. “It is very good to pass on animals to other families, because imagine, if someone had not passed a piglet onto me, I would not have what I have now.”

“Passing on pigs builds solidarity among community members – this is something that used to be in our society, when we shared our harvest with others, and so much more,” she explained.

Jane shares the same dream as many parents around the world – that her children will attend school, get a good job to take care of their family, and live a healthy, happy life. And, thanks to the piggery project, she is helping other parents achieve that dream too.

Jane also has big plans for herself. Once she earns enough profit from her pigs, she plans on starting a poultry business and a goat project too.

“I want to see a number of projects that I take care of, occupying me fully and that can sustain our household needs – and, I want to construct my own house.”

When we support parents like Jane, we can help strengthen communities, provide women with new opportunities, and give children around the world a brighter future.

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