Two years back, when Mrs. Samira Baki, 53, was receiving a sheep as a part of the MCC-funded project, “Improving Livelihood and Providing Food Security for Vulnerable Families,” she was only thinking of a way to secure a constant source of healthy food for her six children. However, it looks like God was offering her much more!
The financial vulnerability of the family qualified them to be among the beneficiaries in the project that the Lebanese Organization of Studies and Training (LOST) was managing. The main point of interest was to have the Zainab, Roba, Ali, Heba, Khodor, and Ibrahim well-fed in the light of the possible malnutrition that might overwhelm them as a normal result of their scant resources.
The rosy wishes of the family pushed them not only to welcome the sheep as a part of their life, but also to extremely take care of it as a potential cause of change in their miserable life. Every single detail in relation to the well-being of the sheep was well considered; health, hay, and hygiene.
For the good fortune of the family, the sheep got pregnant, and delivered them a new gift; a male lamb! The new-born lamb was, as his mother, well-taken care of. Every member in the family was offering his own contribution to guarantee a proper growth for the new guest.
A year later, the adult lamb flourished new dreams for the family. It framed a new hope; “Let’s sell it, and its money will enable us to launch a productive project,” every member was thinking. The idea was the mother’s; a food-processing machine for a very Lebanese traditional food- keshek. The machine is a need for almost all the villagers who highly rely on keshek as a special winter meal. In other words, a new service is being offered to match the villagers’ needs and generate income for the family who can earn about 15$ per day in consequence.
Now let’s reconsider the situation; a sheep has provided food for a family. The family has taken care of the sheep which gave birth to a lamb. The male lamb was raised up and sold later in the market. The lamb’s money capacitated the family and allowed them to buy a machine. The machine is a perfect match for what the villagers need to process a special winter food. Every time a villager needs the machine, he can head towards the family, pay them, and use the machine. Our family has now got a new source to make a living; isn’t it an amazing chain?!
Now the family doesn’t have to only wait for a sporadic source of income that relies on the father, Ramez Zaeiter, who is works as a manual labor; a new spring is there to quench the increasing needs.
