7.5.2025 4pm IST
The best way to beat mental disabilities is Agricultural activities & Livestock farming.
We have hard core proof with documented evidence. So read slowly.
And this is going to be our next big project in GOA.
The man in this picture Mr Bahadur who was on the streets of Panjim exactly 4 years back in horrible & terrible conditions.
Alcohol, tobacco, etc drained him of his strength making him loose control over his bowel movements and lived on the streets.
IPHB administered him psychiatric medication.
Slowly he was given physiotherapy which took about 6 months to get his confidence back & started walking by himself although first 2 months he was on a wheel chair.
Bahadur developed a feeling for dogs , chickens , goats ie live stock and agriculture.
About 7 years back we started rearing local chickens & my wife and younger 2 children developed a snack of hatching young chicks.
3 years back I started rearing a pair of goats and
we took time to taste success.
About 3 years back Bahadur to be kept occupied would daily be brought to my house to keep him going as he can't sit quietly.
See God's plan – 3 years back we got our goats & 3 years back Bahadur was back on his feat.
☆☆☆ BAHADUR is a HERDSMAN & A MAN WITH GREEN FINGERS. Which I never knew when I picked him up myself.
Win win situation.
Slowly he took over caring for my dogs , my cat , our numerous chickens , our pair of goats , our fishes in the pond and started growing plants and fruit bearing trees.
His ability to get off alcohol & tobacco automatically reduced his psychiatric medication which ultimately stopped and he was back to his physical strength.
Today because of BAHADUR , last 5 months we are able to drink goats milk as our goat delivered a baby and Bahadur was the mid wife .
He exactly knew when the baby will be born and when the baby was born he was there cleaning the blood and other stuff right in front of our eyes
I always wanted to grow a vegetable garden and last few months Bahadur has been preparing the soil.
He crushed the dropping of the goats made it powder and dried it completely.
Daily the extra grass of the goats whixh is not consumed is dried & then he burns and collects ash.
This ash, dropping of the goats and dried cow dung he mixed up and sprinkled in the soil where we grew our small vegetable garden.
Within 1 month flat in this summer heat the vegetable is growing very fast and one thing is he waters it faithfully.
Lush green garden in this scorching heat.
Today my family eats local grown eggs and drink goats milk along with local vegetable and fruits like papaya and bananas which Bahadur grows in our compound.
Bahadur named in his language all my dogs , the cat , all the chickens, the goats a separate name
Like I said at the start ” to beat mental disabilities one requires to do Livestock farming & agriculture and today BAHADUR is totally without any psychiatric medication”.
Our biggest set back in our 11 shelter homes in Goa is ” we don't have any excess land to implement this goat rearing, chicken breeding and agriculture as all our Homes are rented and water is an issue “.
But very soon our NGO will be replicating this model through poor families in rural Goa who are having family members suffering from disabilities as well as rural widows.
We will be providing Free Livestock to both the above section of society & we will buy back the produce to sustain the project.
To cut mental disabilities – live stock farming & agriculture activities is the fastest and the best way.
Even old aged or people living alone, a little of live stock & small agriculture is one of the best ways to keep mental health under control along with one being active.
The good news is Minister of Animal husbandry department, Government of Goa has understood this need of the hour and we are expecting to get this project up and running very soon.
Who would ever imagined that this old unclean man Mr Bahadur about 4 years back would teach me practically about live stock & agricultural activities and today I have a full proof model directly connected to reducing mental disabilities along with livelihood opportunities.
I would like to repeat ” the good you do to others will always come back to you and your family”.
Writing such testimonies is easier said than actually caring for such homeless people in our homes and too many are there on the streets of Goa waiting for a chance to start life again.
All our Homes are overcrowded and without more homes we are not able to take in more homeless people.
All communications strictly through whatsapp messages only on 8380087564
God bless you all
Donald Fernandes
8380097564/ 7020314848
