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First Person

Photo: OICI

“I’m better off than all of my friends who left for Conakry in search of work and money. Whenever they come back to the village, desperate and hopeless, I teach them how to succeed, as I have.”
- Aboubacar Bailo Diallo

At the age of 25, Aboubacar Bailo Diallo had plans to leave his hometown of Boulliwel in search of work in the Guinean capital of Conakry. Like many other young Guineans, who were forced to drop out of school due to a lack of funds, rural exodus was Aboubacar’s only hope for escaping the poverty in which he grew up. Aboubacar’s father convinced him to enroll in a USAID-funded six-week training program in poultry husbandry, being offered by OICI’s Livestock Farm in Tolo, as an alternative to leaving home. The animal husbandry farm was inaugurated in 1998 with the help of PL 480 Title II funds.

Two years later, Aboubacar says that it’s the best decision he has ever made, and that he no longer has any intention of leaving his hometown and his family in search of a better life. With his new found knowledge of chicken-raising and the installation of his first chicken coop, he was able to create this ‘better life’ at home. Beginning with 300 chicks, he now has 450 egg-laying hens; and with the income from the sale of their eggs, he was able to build a second coop on his own.

Aboubacar is able to contribute greatly to the family’s expenses, particularly by paying for medical fees. The income from the chicken farm also pays for the schooling of nine children in his family. Not only is the improvement in food security obvious in Aboubacar family, where the babies are well-fed and the children rarely become sick, but it is becoming evident in their community. Now, eggs are consumed on a daily basis by each family, whereas just two years ago, eggs were hardly eaten at all. The eggs are even being sold in nearby villages and shipped to the principal regional centers.

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