Mutamu The Goat - Transforms A Marriage

In Rwanda the gift of a goat can transform and save lives...but little did we know they can save marriages too! Just ask Martha Kabanyana who married her childhood sweetheart, Phenias Twayigire back in 1974. The couple has been blessed with six children - but it has been a painful struggle.

After fleeing the horrors of the genocide in 1994, the couple returned to find they had lost their land, their home and their animals. It was a dark and traumatic time for all of Rwanda. The emotional recovery will take a generations.

Phenias began to drown his sorrows in the local banana beer with many of the other older men in the community. This led to him exhibiting frequent and sometimes violent outbursts toward his wife. The once happy marriage was in ruins; Martha and the family suffered greatly.

Martha had seen the impact goats had made on families around her. She gathered the courage to approach their community representative from the Coffee Co-Op. She knew that goats would be made available again through the revenue Equal World Coffee sends back from our retail sales for reinvestment to build sustainability. She very much wanted to be considered for one. Was it possible?

Venuste, the Co-Op representative knew the difficult family history. He decided to approach Phenias on Martha's behalf with a one time conditional offer. If Phenias would quit drinking the debilitating banana beer and get back to caring for his wife and family - a goat would be granted to them. Phenias accepted the conditions and offer and hasn't looked back!

It has been some time now since Matamu the Goat joined the family - and it is a happy ending. Phineas never returned to the old life and has instead embraced hope for the future of his family. They purchased a small piece of land and grow a little over 50 coffee trees.They hope to earn $500.00 this year and will then plan to purchase a calf for the family and send their 12 year old son to secondary school.

"The goat is part of our family - since it helped to save our marriage!" says Martha with a big smile and laugh. Each morning the family gets up at 5 AM to collect water from the valley and work the land. "The manure from our goat helps us fertilize our crop - and we expect an even greater coffee production this year" says Phenias.

Venuste, the Coffee Co-Op representative and also one of the local community pastors said "It is a remarkable transformation! We praise God!" To further encourage Phenias he decided to give him a baseball cap that was just recently sent over through Equal World Coffee. He was so thrilled over the cap that now he is never seen without it! He has become a source of great joy in the community and is once again a wonderful leader, husband and father.

Equal World Coffee takes our hat off to Martha, Venuste and Mutamu for their courage and vision to save the family and marriage.