GFA World’s Charitable Christmas Gift Ideas

Taden’s Story: A Cow That Changed Everything

One person who knows this firsthand is Taden. Taden’s father died when he was young, creating a hole in the family and plunging them into financial crisis. The boy and his mother cultivated their land, leaving Taden no time to attend school. Survival depended on working hard. Taden’s childhood consisted of trying to make ends meet, but sometimes crops wouldn’t produce enough, causing more financial tragedy for the family.

Taden grew up and got married, and the couple was blessed with two children. He continued to work in the fields around his village, as well as working multiple other jobs, but he earned very little for his backbreaking labor. Even though Taden was doing all he could, it was never enough to pull the family out of poverty. Eventually, the family had to make the difficult decision to travel to a neighboring country for six months of the year to work in sugarcane fields. This meant his two children could not attend school, and it began to look like their future lives would be much like Taden’s.

Then one day, in the off months of the sugarcane fields, the family found a glimmer of hope. GFA Pastor Naimish visited Taden’s family, asking if they needed prayer and offering encouraging words. Taden shared his life story with the pastor, who, in turn, shared about the love and hope of God. The following year, they would see that love in action. Pastor Naimish invited Taden to attend a GFA World Christmas gift distribution program where he and his family received a cow. As the cow grew, it provided more than four liters of milk a day, which the family made into ghee and sold each month. The profit from this was enough to lift them out of the harsh grip of poverty. Taden’s children were able to attend school, opening up many doors for their future through education. The cow later gave birth to a calf, and the income from two cows lifted them even further from poverty.[3]

One cow, given through a gift guide most people would never think to open, rewrote the future for an entire family. Taden’s children now sit in classrooms instead of sugarcane fields. The ghee they sell each month means the next crisis will not send them back to a neighboring country for work. Behind that single gift stood Pastor Naimish — a national missionary who knew Taden’s language, understood his struggles, and stayed present in his life long after the cow was delivered. These are the quiet, steady stories that unfold when a gift is placed in the hands of someone who knows the family by name.