Beatrice’s Goat

"Yes, it’s actually based on a non-profit organisation called Heifer International. People donate money and the Heifer project donates livestock animals to people in poor countries, who then use the animals to become self-sufficient. For example, goats and cows – they can sell the milk, or they can sell the wool or make the wool into arts and crafts, or they can use the cattle to plough their fields. The organisation even has a catalogue – you can use it to choose a goat, and have the goat go to a country, and you learn about the family who gets the goat. Sign up here for our newsletter featuring the best children’s and young adult books, as recommended by authors, teachers, librarians and, of course, kids. So, in the case of this book, it’s about a girl named Beatrice who lives in an African country – I think it might be Kenya or Uganda. She has some younger siblings and they’re very poor, and she doesn’t go to school. She has to work to help take care of her siblings and she does some farm work also. But her dream is to go to school. So then they get this donation of a goat, and Beatrice is able to sell the goat’s milk and she gives the money to her mother and it turns out her mother has been saving for Beatrice to go to school as well. So the goat’s milk allows them to buy Beatrice’s uniform and her books. Then, at the end of the story, she’s able to go to school and she is just so happy. The words, the sheer happiness that this girl can finally go to school, it really brings tears to one’s eyes. It’s such a good book. Exactly, and also in this case the richness is coming from investing in oneself. When you get an education you’re investing in your human capital, to use the economics jargon, so Beatrice and her mother are investing in Beatrice as human capital when they send her to school, which is a very good use of one’s savings. Another good thing about this book is that I believe some of the proceeds for every book sold go back to the Heifer Project."