It was dark when Angela Kieffer heard a knock on her door. She went to the door of her mud hut and found a man from the village holding a chicken. He offered it to her, saying, “Thank you. He is gone.”

Kieffer knew he was referring to his toddler son, Annis. Just days before, Kieffer had gone with the parents to the bush clinic with the severely malnourished little boy who no longer cried. The doctor gave them pre-mixed food and sent them home. When no progress was made, the family returned a few days later. The same response.

That night, the father woke Kieffer to say 2-year-old Annis was dead.

Ten years later and thousands of miles away that same little boy is pushing Kieffer to make a difference in the desert land of Niger. Kieffer started an organization called Seeds of Hope Africa to help give her former neighbors a sustainable future and to reduce the number of children facing Annis’ fate.

“To me, that’s what started everything. By him, that’s where I started to say, ‘we can do something,’” said Kieffer, a 1992 Litchfield High School graduate and retired Peace Corps volunteer.

Seeds of Hope is currently working on a goat loan project in which donations from the United States will purchase goats for African women. A woman, identified by village leadership, receives a goat on loan with the understanding that the first offspring will go to the next mother in line. Any future offspring may be kept to provide milk, protein and income to the family.

Next week, Kieffer will head to Niger for a three-week trip where she will implement the program and meet with village leaders and local Peace Corps volunteers. She will also make the initial purchase of 200 goats.

Read more about the organization and how you can help by getting a hair cut in the Jan. 24 Independent Review.