1. Janvier’s harvest

2. Food we eat . . . Chips Bacon Burgers Stir Fry Sausages Ice-cream
Salad
Cheese
Crisps
Apples
Pizza
Peas
Biscuits
Bananas
Milk
Sweets
Soup
Kebabs
Chocolate
This slide is on a timer, the foods come up at 4 second intervals. Click to exit the slide at the end (the word Biscuits).
Pasta
Yoghurts
Beans
Chicken
Curry
Tomatoes

3. Janvier lives in Rwanda
Map to show where Rwanda is in relation to other African countries that Send a Cow works in. These may be known by the pupils and so the labels only appear on the mouse click. Rwanda is a tiny country of about 8.5 million people. It is partly famous for its mountain gorillas. Most people have heard of it though, because of the genocide of 1994 when 800,000 people were massacred. This is when Janvier lost his parents.

4. His household grow their own food.
Janvier lives with his brothers and sisters. Like 80% of Rwandans, they grow their own food. They have small plots of land in their back garden where they grow a variety of fruit and vegetables. The two main harvests in the year are very important and so if they can get their garden growing well, then they know that they will be healthy for a season.

5. The cow they were given helps them to grow their harvest.
Send a Cow gave Janvier and his siblings a cow two years ago. This meant that they had an instant ‘harvest’ of milk form the cow and after a couple of months they also had manure that was ready to put on the soil as fertiliser. Using the manure fertiliser and other organic farming methods that they learnt from Send a Cow, they are able to grow much more from their land – in fact two or three times as much!
The cow they were given helps them to grow their harvest.

6. Janvier chops grass to feed the cow to get milk and manure.
To get a more milk from their cow they need to look after it really well. Chopping up elephant grass (called that because it is so tall) helps the cow to digest it better. They also give the cow a mixture of leaves to keep it healthy and producing lots of milk. A local Rwandan cow would give them about 1-2 litres of milk per day, whereas their cow gives them from litres a day! They can use this milk ‘harvest’ to stay healthy and then sell any extra at the market so that they can buy other foods like rice, sugar and flour.
Janvier chops grass to feed the cow to get milk and manure.

7. His 14 year old sister, Clemantine, also works hard on their land.
To get the most from their plot of land, the children have to work hard. If they want a good harvest then they have to dig the soil properly, water the plants well and make pesticides from cow urine and chillies (called plant tea). All of the children help to do this.

8. They have new crops growing, like these nutritious peppers.
They try to grow different crops so that they have a balanced diet, this helps to keep them free from sickness. Peppers like these will give them all the vitamin C that they could need.

9. Bananas give them energy and vitamins.
Bananas are commonly grown in many African countries, but to grow them into large plants giving plenty of bananas can be difficult. Using manure and organic feed, Janvier is able to grow much better plants so that they can eat this great energy food.

10. One of their main crops is sweetcorn, coming from maize
One of their main crops is sweetcorn, coming from maize. They eat this as corn or dry it out and crush it to use as a staple food like rice or potato. Adding manure to the soil gives them much taller plants and more sweetcorn.
Maize is another common food in Rwanda. Many people eat it with little else. Janvier’s family are able to grow it alongside other valuable crops (intercropping) like sweet potato, making the most of their land.

11. Avocadoes give vitamins and fibre in the children’s diets.
Even their avocadoes are producing a better crop now – another good source of nutrition.

12. Their harvest of healthy foods and milk not only helps the children, but can also be shared with their neighbours. Another major way that they can help is by giving the cow’s first female calf away to another family in the community. This is something that they agreed to do when they received their cow and then that calf’s first female will also be given away and so on. Giving all of the benefits to a whole community over the years! Send a Cow calls this ‘passing on the gift’.
They can also help the children from next door with their large harvest of food and milk.

13. Your school could choose to support Send a Cow this harvest
Your school could choose to support Send a Cow this harvest. Money raised will mean Send a Cow can help more families like Janvier’s to grow a food secure future for themselves. Visit our website to find out more: