IMPACT JANUARY 2016
Sponsored youth Dismas with a new litter of piglets he will raise and sell to help support his educational goals for the future.
BUILDING A FUTURE
TAKING GOOD CARE OF A SPECIAL ‘PIGGY BANK’ For many members of the Unbound community, raising livestock means more than an additional source of income. For Dismas and his family, his pigs represent a lifeline to the future. Dismas is an 18-year-old student in Guatemala who is sponsored through Unbound. He’s the youngest of 10 children in a farming family that struggles to get by. He began raising pigs as a way to earn money while attending school. “I got the idea from Magnolia [a local Unbound social worker],” he
said. “She suggested that we ask for pigs as a sponsorship benefit. I liked the idea and my mother also encouraged me. We decided to get a female pig with the hopes of future baby pigs.” That plan worked out well. The initial investment of about $50 to purchase a sow has resulted in several piglets that Dismas has been able to sell in the market for about $40 each. With additional no-interest loans from Unbound for food and medicine for his animals, Dismas has been able to save some of his profits.
“I see my pigs like a savings account,” he said. “They are literally my ‘piggy bank.’” Raising the pigs has become a labor of love for the young man and a way of learning responsibility that only caring for another living thing can teach. “I enjoy taking care of them,” he said. “They require love and care so they can grow healthy. My favorite thing to do is to feed them. I like to see them enjoy their food.” But for all the experience he’s gaining in agriculture, Dismas hopes his future lies down a different path. (continued)
Dismas and his mother, Orozco, stand outside their home in Guatemala.
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“I dream of going to college and becoming a systems engineer,” he said. “I would like to have my own business, maybe have a computer store and provide computer services.” Dismas understands that reaching his goal will require further schooling and hard work. His current situation is helping prepare him. “I get up at 6 in the morning to finish pending homework and then we have breakfast,” Dismas said. “After, I go to the field to help my father and to get food for my pigs. Then I come back home, take a shower and get ready for school. “I am at school until 6 p.m. I get home at 6:30, we
have dinner and then I help my mother sell at her small store at home, up until 10.” As busy as his life is right now, Dismas is grateful for the opportunities before him because of Unbound. He becomes emotional when he thinks about what his sponsor, Jerry in Pennsylvania, has given him. “[Sponsorship] has helped me so much and I am very grateful because, thanks to my sponsor, I have moved ahead in life. When I got sponsored I became important in the life of my sponsor and my sponsor became important in my life. I am proud that I can go to school, and my village is proud of me, too.”
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STAY UPDATED
This Valentine’s Day, share Unbound with others. Join us for our next Living Unbound Sunday on Feb. 14 by setting up an information table at your place of worship to introduce others to the joys of sponsoring a child. We’ll provide everything you need to talk about Unbound.
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Visit unbound.org/livingunboundsunday to learn more and get started.
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