Growing family, growing herd – promising future through loan & hard work
When the state-owned wood processing factory in Ferizaj/Urosevac closed some years ago along with the majority of factories in Kosovo, 60-year-old Xhevat Shabani was forced to farewell the carpentry trade he loved and turn to the small flock of sheep and goats that his now 49-year-old wife Fatushe had managed to keep to help support their growing family.
It is not an easy life but it is worth being able to provide more for the childrenLack of employment in the area of Ferizaj/ Urosevac, located 45 km south of Kosovo’s capital Prishtina, has left many families, like the Shabani family, struggling to make ends meet.
Xhevat and Fatushe have raised six children on minimal income and now they are helping to raise their grandchildren in the same three-room home in Luboc neighbourhood in Koshare village.
The dirt road from Koshare to the Shabani family home is prone to floods. Mud, rather than water, causes the greatest challenges here, with a growing herd of sheep and goats carrying the sticky mud into the house yard.
While the family laments over the mud, it is rejoicing over their growing herd, made possible in part by a loan from KosInvest; World Vision’s microfinance partner in Kosovo.
“Without finance we are able to maintain a flock of only 100 sheep, but with the loan we can scale up to 400 every year”, explains Fatushe’s son Selim who quit a job in Ferizaj in order to join the family business and help scale up the sheep keeping. “It turned out to be a good move”, he adds.
Fatushe and Xhevat have borrowed 2,000 € (US$2,600) from KosInvest over an 18-month period. With the loan, livestock sales, savings and some government subsidies, the family has been able to scale up the flock to generate a better income. It hopes to take out another loan in the future in order to increase their resources.
“It makes a difference in income if you can sell up to 700 lambs and sheep per year. We have started to buy land, agricultural machinery, a pick up car, and a trailer truck that we also use for our accommodation in remote pastures. This year we have rented the facilities of a state-owned farm which are to be privatised in the future. I dream so much to buy it. With God’s will, this would enable the business to grow further”, says Selim, who believes the area is perfect for animal breeding with widely available pastures and access to markets.
While all of Fatushe and Xhevat’s three daughters have married and moved into the homes of their parents-in-law as per the tradition, their sons Betim (19), Jakup (24) and Selim (29) still live at home. Selim and his wife Zymrije (28) live in the family home with their three children - Elton (6) who attends preschool classes, Blendion (7), who is in the first grade and daughter Blerta (8), who is in the third grade.
Fatushe and Xhevat still consider themselves responsible for the wellbeing of their grandchildren, which means they are already investing in their education.
Although the school is located just 1.5 km from the family home, Fatushe pays 25€/month for transportation for her grandchildren to and from school. According to Fatushe it is safer and more convenient - especially during the rainy season.
“It is not an easy life but it is worth being able to provide more for the children. I want them to be well educated,” says Fatushe, explaining the milking routine and how they sell the goat’s milk at the market.
I believe that without microfinance, people would end up in deeper poverty, including usMeat sales are also crucial to the family, which relies on two days in particular during the year to sell their meat - Saint George’s day in early may and the sacrifice ceremony tied to the lunar calendar – this year in November. “These times are when we have the greatest purchasing power and when it suits us to pay back what is left of the loan that is taken to buy lambs in bulk”.
Xhevat acknowledges the government’s renewed attention to agriculture and appreciates the farming subsidies.
“Although this year we have benefited from a respectable subsidy, we would appreciate even more if more opportunities are open for people to work harder”, he says.
“I believe that without microfinance, people would end up in deeper poverty, including us”.
Asked about his wishes for his grandchildren, Xhevat emphasises, “good behaviour, good education and nurture of good relations with everyone”.
Meanwhile six-year-old Elton says he very much likes to play with the lambs and wants to become a police officer when he grows up.
Around them the hustle and bustle of farm life goes on. The shell of a two story building that can’t shelter all the sheep and feed stands watch over the goings-on in the Shabani yard while two dogs guard the surplus of animals kept in a make-shift structure along with the old tractor and the pick-up car that were proudly bought with the added income.
-Ends-
It is not an easy life but it is worth being able to provide more for the childrenLack of employment in the area of Ferizaj/ Urosevac, located 45 km south of Kosovo’s capital Prishtina, has left many families, like the Shabani family, struggling to make ends meet.
Xhevat and Fatushe have raised six children on minimal income and now they are helping to raise their grandchildren in the same three-room home in Luboc neighbourhood in Koshare village.
The dirt road from Koshare to the Shabani family home is prone to floods. Mud, rather than water, causes the greatest challenges here, with a growing herd of sheep and goats carrying the sticky mud into the house yard.
While the family laments over the mud, it is rejoicing over their growing herd, made possible in part by a loan from KosInvest; World Vision’s microfinance partner in Kosovo.
“Without finance we are able to maintain a flock of only 100 sheep, but with the loan we can scale up to 400 every year”, explains Fatushe’s son Selim who quit a job in Ferizaj in order to join the family business and help scale up the sheep keeping. “It turned out to be a good move”, he adds.
Fatushe and Xhevat have borrowed 2,000 € (US$2,600) from KosInvest over an 18-month period. With the loan, livestock sales, savings and some government subsidies, the family has been able to scale up the flock to generate a better income. It hopes to take out another loan in the future in order to increase their resources.
“It makes a difference in income if you can sell up to 700 lambs and sheep per year. We have started to buy land, agricultural machinery, a pick up car, and a trailer truck that we also use for our accommodation in remote pastures. This year we have rented the facilities of a state-owned farm which are to be privatised in the future. I dream so much to buy it. With God’s will, this would enable the business to grow further”, says Selim, who believes the area is perfect for animal breeding with widely available pastures and access to markets.
While all of Fatushe and Xhevat’s three daughters have married and moved into the homes of their parents-in-law as per the tradition, their sons Betim (19), Jakup (24) and Selim (29) still live at home. Selim and his wife Zymrije (28) live in the family home with their three children - Elton (6) who attends preschool classes, Blendion (7), who is in the first grade and daughter Blerta (8), who is in the third grade.
Fatushe and Xhevat still consider themselves responsible for the wellbeing of their grandchildren, which means they are already investing in their education.
Although the school is located just 1.5 km from the family home, Fatushe pays 25€/month for transportation for her grandchildren to and from school. According to Fatushe it is safer and more convenient - especially during the rainy season.
“It is not an easy life but it is worth being able to provide more for the children. I want them to be well educated,” says Fatushe, explaining the milking routine and how they sell the goat’s milk at the market.
I believe that without microfinance, people would end up in deeper poverty, including usMeat sales are also crucial to the family, which relies on two days in particular during the year to sell their meat - Saint George’s day in early may and the sacrifice ceremony tied to the lunar calendar – this year in November. “These times are when we have the greatest purchasing power and when it suits us to pay back what is left of the loan that is taken to buy lambs in bulk”.
Xhevat acknowledges the government’s renewed attention to agriculture and appreciates the farming subsidies.
“Although this year we have benefited from a respectable subsidy, we would appreciate even more if more opportunities are open for people to work harder”, he says.
“I believe that without microfinance, people would end up in deeper poverty, including us”.
Asked about his wishes for his grandchildren, Xhevat emphasises, “good behaviour, good education and nurture of good relations with everyone”.
Meanwhile six-year-old Elton says he very much likes to play with the lambs and wants to become a police officer when he grows up.
Around them the hustle and bustle of farm life goes on. The shell of a two story building that can’t shelter all the sheep and feed stands watch over the goings-on in the Shabani yard while two dogs guard the surplus of animals kept in a make-shift structure along with the old tractor and the pick-up car that were proudly bought with the added income.
-Ends-
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