In the wake of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide , Betsy Kain unexpectedly found herself flying across the world to put her social work skills to use. Throughout nine trips to Rwanda, Kain became known as “Mama Cow” and the “Silverback,” nicknames she treasures as signs that she earned the local people’s respect.
In 2011, the Independent named Kain and her husband David one of our Local Heroes for their nonprofit work to help Rwandans. With the help of teams in both the U.S. and Rwanda, Kain started Goats for Life, a nonprofit that provided families with goats for food, fertilizer, and economic benefits. Now in her eighties, Kain is no longer able to travel to Rwanda but she hopes to share her story to a wider audience with her new book, My Days of Sorrow and Joy in Rwanda.
Before her first trip to Rwanda in 2006, Kain worked in the U.S. with women who had suffered from abuse. This gave her the necessary experience to aid the genocide survivors, most of whom were women. But she soon realized that the trauma they endured was unlike any she’d seen before.