When I was a child, I would wake before dawn. I’d sweep the yard while it was still dark I’d bring my bedding outside to clean and dry it, but I would have no breakfast because it took too much time to gather wood, start a fire and cook.
Adults and older children walked about an hour each morning to our village garden where we grew our food. They worked until noon. The younger children like me cared for community goats. When we received better animals from Heifer International, and learned to carry fodder to them, this work became much easier.
Each morning, I fetched my family’s water from the stream. It was an hour’s walk and I would carry a large can or pot on my head. I used banana leaves as a cushion. When I returned with the water, I had to gather firewood for our mid-day meal – plantain mixed with beans.
After lunch I’d go back for more water. This time, we would play a little in the stream. Then, I’d come home, bring the goats back from their grazing and bring my own bed into the house. The evenings were my favorite, when the workday was over and we’d play games – jump rope and dodge ball. We only had one candle in our house, so we didn’t do much after dark. But sometimes, we would hear stories of the past, and I really liked that.
Because of the goat my family received from Heifer International, a sponsor sent me to high school in Kampala. I still got up before dawn, but my life changed completely. I wore a uniform and I was in classes all day long. I worked very hard at school.
Education has a great impact on my life
Hold your books tight.
The opportunity to go to school is a gift from God, so don’t ignore the gift.
Rosalee: I will never forget the experience driving into the village of Kisinga for the first time. We drove on a rough, gravel road. There were small stores and houses connected by walking paths. Women, men and children lined the sides of the road. Many of the children were dressed in simple shorts and tattered T-shirts. The women were in colorful African dresses. Soon they spotted their own “daughter” Beatrice. The visitors were no longer important. They were excited that Beatrice was “coming home.”
When we stopped at the path leading to Beatrice’s home her step-mother Evelyn rushed to the car. Beatrice greeted Evelyn and knelt before her, a custom showing respect. Beatrice’s school uniform was hanging in the back of the car. Evelyn took the jumper and put it over Beatrice’s head, smoothing the skirt. Then she took off her high heels and put them on Beatrice’s feet, a sign of great respect. They walked hand in hand up the path to the small house with the tin roof as children ran behind.
We visited the Kisinga Primary School and we saw the small house with the new tin roof
that had been “home” to Beatrice. We were warmly welcomed and visited many goat farmers and observed a “passing on the gift” ceremony.
In 1997 Beatrice was admitted to Gayaza High School, a prestigious girl’s school in Kampala. Her school fees were paid by sponsors in the U.S.
In 1998 Beatrice made her first trip to the United States to attend Heifer International’s Conference on World Hunger. Film maker Dick Young introduced Beatrice at the luncheon and then showed “The Promise” for the first time.
Beatrice walked into the room to the drum beat of an African song. She had on a new red dress. The room was electric. She greeted people at each table and stopped finally to greet Jo Luck, CEO of Heifer.
I had planned to have a dialogue with Beatrice so that she might feel more relaxed in speaking to an audience of almost a thousand people. She leaned over to me and said: “Aunt Rosalee. Can I do this by myself.” She was a 14 year old Ugandan girl with such charisma and poise that the hall became silent as she rose to speak. He words were clear and every heart beat faster as she told her story.
The book, Beatrice’s Goat was published in December of 2000 and immediately hit the New York Times Children’s Book List. Anne Schwartz of Simon and Schuster asked Beatrice to do a book tour during her January 2001 vacation. She came to the US for the second time. I traveled with her as she made 128 presentations in 13 states during the next six weeks. She signed books and spoke in book stores, in schools, in churches and to Heifer groups. She appeared on local and national television shows, ending with a spot on Good Morning America. Charlie Gibson’s last comment: “Beatrice, I understand you like pizza.” “Yes”, she said, “but I like goat’s milk best.” No one could have written a better sound bite.
In the Spring of 2002, Beatrice graduated from Gayaza High School, in Kampala. We found that Beatrice was eligible to receive a scholarship for a transitional year of study at Northfield Mt. Hermon School in Northfield, Massachusetts.
In September 2002, Oprah Winfrey brought Beatrice to Chicago to surprise actor and Heifer supporter Susan Sarandon on the “Oprah Winfrey Show” and to honor Sarandon for her work ending hunger and poverty.
Beatrice arrived in the US in August of 2003 and completed a successful year at Northfield Mt. Herman.
In the summer CBS “60 Minutes” sent a crew to Uganda to film a segment about Beatrice’s life narrated by Bob Simon.
BeatrIce applied and was accepted by six colleges in the United States. She decided to attend Connecticut College in New London, Connecticut.
Beatrice was a keynote speaker Heifer International’s 60th Anniversary in October of 2004. She was introduced by Actors Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen. The stage was in partial darkness as an image of the earth rose on the horizon and Beatrice walked forward, microphone in hand, to the front of the stage and looked out at more than a thousand people. She had never spoken to this large a group. “Wow,” she said and with the same charm and poise we had come to expect, addressed the audience on behalf of children all over the world who had been helped because of a Heifer animal.
In March of 2006, Beatrice attended the dedication of the new Heifer Headquarters in Little Rock, Arkansas, where she met Jeffrey Sachs. Sachs said after meeting Beatrice “I have a new therom. It is called The Beatrice Therom indicating that a small gift can make a difference. “
In the fall of 2007, she spoke to a group of educators at Clemson University and to a group of donors in Little Rock, Arkansas. In the Arkansas meeting former First Lady Janet Huckabee and the current First Lady Ginger Beebee were both in the audience, along with Dean Skip Rutherford of The Clinton School of Public Service. Beatrice had time before the program started to visit with the first ladies and with Dean Rutherford. She looked striking in brown slacks and a gold jacket, Following her presentation there were many questions. One of them, “What will you do when you finish college.” I think I will need to go on to school – to at least work on a Masters – perhaps a place like The Clinton School.” Dean Rutherford stood quickly – towering over the petite young woman from Africa. “Admission accepted” he said.
In some ways her interest in The Clinton School was predictable. In the summer of 2004 she was an intern in the office of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in Washington, D.C. and in 2007 she interned at The William J. Clinton Foundation in Quincy, Massachusetts.
Beatrice’s journey has been amazing and those who have been touched by her life and her friendship number in the thousands. In many ways Beatrice’s story has made Heifer International a household word. Tens of thousands of school children have read Beatrice’s Goat as a part of Heifer’s “Read to Feed” program and hundreds of them have had the opportunity to meet her in person.
Beatrice graduated from Connecticut College and worked for Millennium Promise in NYC and then worked as an educator for Heifer International.
Beatrice is Mother of Jordan who will be three on September 30.. Beatrice, Jordan and Jjemba, Jordan’s Father, live in Framingham, Massachusetts. Beatrice currently works as a Certified Nursing Assistant.