Carmen and Ramona are from Galindo Adentro, a small village in the province of Azua, in the Dominican Republic. Recently, they each received a piglet from the pig farming program of La Sagrada Familia Parish. One day, while we were talking about the care and maintenance of the animal, they mentioned to us that there is a typical saying in the Dominican culture that refers to pigs as “the moneybox of the poor”.
Many people from the parish territory, that comprises Sabana Yegua and its surroundings, do not have stable work that generates regular income for their family’s support. Therefore, the majority of the families cannot save for moments of crisis or scarcity. Generally, people of the region live frugally from one day to the next, earning their sustenance without being able to create any savings for the future. The idea of initiating the pig project to help families like that of Carmen and Ramona by giving them a pig was an attempt to answer to that situation. We know that for many of these families it is difficult to save and put money in a bank account for a future necessity. We also know that any family of scarce means can have a pig on their backyard that can be fed with leftovers or waste that they get from neighbors and their own home and crops.
The family receives the basic investment, which are the pigs, raises them to later sell them, thus generating a little income for the family. Thus, it fulfills the Dominican saying, and the pigs become the money box of the poor. If they don’t have an emergency that requires them to sell ahead of time, and everything goes well, the funds produce a benefit that the family knows well how to use!
