In 2017 livestock farmer Bakang Botswang and his wife applied for a Youth Development Fund (YDF) grant, an affirmative-action initiative by the Botswana government aimed at mitigating the country’s high youth unemployment numbers.
Through the programme, the government funds youth businesses with the obligation to pay back half of the capital.
The unemployed couple acquired 73 goats later in the year through the initiative. Their small integrated farm is located just outside the small settlement of Karukubis, 141 km from the town of Ghanzi along the A2 highway (Trans-Kalahari Highway) towards the Botswana, Namibia border.
Barely two weeks after acquiring the livestock tragedy hit. The couple lost almost half (30) of their goats to predators including cheetahs, hyenas, and the black-backed jackal over a couple of days.
“We were crushed,” he tells The Telegraph. “We almost lost hope.” Botswang says it was not until he shared the bad news with his brother in law that he was introduced to the local NGO Cheetah Conservation Botswana (CCB).
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