At 42, Christine is one of the most successful poultry farmers in Buranga Cluster, located in the Northern Province of Rwanda. She is married and a mother to three children. For Christine, it all started with fifteen thousand Rwandan francs ($15 USD), which she borrowed from her savings group.
In 2018, through World Vision’s THRIVE (Transforming Household Resilience in Vulnerable Environments) program, Christine and her husband were trained on celebrating families as one of World Vision’s Empowered World View tools. This marked a turning point in their lives; Christine gained excellent poultry farming skills, which helped her family to thrive. She kicked off her poultry farm with 50 chicks, which has now grown to over 250 chickens today. The chickens provide eggs for selling, collecting over 90 eggs per day.
“When we were gathered by World Vision and community leaders, we were encouraged and empowered on economic resilience. We formed saving groups in which I got fifteen thousand Rwandan francs as a loan. I took the money to buy 50 chicks. From this in-vestment, I earned up to one hundred thousand francs ($100 USD). This is how it started,” says Christine.
Convinced that it was an excellent business opportunity, Christine decided to continue growing her investment. She used the profit from the chicks, added her earnings from the savings group and put it all into her budding aviculture endeavor. Christine has managed to build her business and create other opportunities that serve as side income, like supplying vegetables to a near-by school with the capital from the egg sales.
Thanks to the THRIVE project, Christine is able to build a solid employment opportunity and learned a great deal about the business. It has helped her expand and diversify her activities. “Thanks to the program, I have built a network that spans the whole community. I learned to manage my business better, using modern farming skills and tools,” she says.
Today, Christine provides chicken eggs to hotels, restaurants, and retails them in her community market. She cares for her children’s needs as she and her husband provide for the family. Thanks to her business, she now feels fit to inspire other people in her community to enjoy similar financial security.
“I make a living by working hard. I feel I am contributing to the growth of the economy of my country. I feel proud when I visit a restaurant and see customers consuming eggs from my chickens,” says Christine. “I hope to do better in 2022. I want to expand and become bigger,” she adds.
