Goats and Donkeys Transform Lives in Darfur

Darfur, in the west of Sudan, is one of the most isolated regions of the world.  There are few reasons to visit, and virtually no infrastructure outside the regional capital,  El Fasher. Even people in Khartoum have no understanding of the struggle to survive which every family in the remote villages faces every single day.   The only transport a family can hope for is a little donkey - without that, you walk.  Few villages have accessible water and it can be miles away across the desert.   A donkey is a life line, but people's incomes have collapsed.   Inflation is out of control and if your donkey dies there is no hope of replacing him.

Please help us to provide a donkey for the poorest families in the five villages we are adopting this year.   The importance of a donkey in indescribable - not just for collecting water, but for going to market, pulling a cart, carrying the sick to hospital, ploughing the fields, and much more.  If we can provide a female donkey a family can breed from her.

The goats we lend to families for two years give desperately needed milk - the only source of protein for countless children. If you could help provide a donkey and a nanny goat you will be helping to transform a family's life.    Incomes are now as low as less than $20 a year - the gift of a donkey and a goat is beyond a mother's dream.   No other organisation is helping these families who are out of sight.  What Kids for Kids is doing with your help is hugely important.  We are determined to turn life around for five new villages in 2022 - yes there are many more - but every child we help, means real hope for the future. 

Thank you.

MAAGLA to receive goats at last.  Helping the poorest of the poor not just to survive, but to have a better future.

Maagla is a large village for North Darfur, Sudan, with a population of 2,280. It was adopted by Kids for Kids this year and, as in all our villages, the community as a whole democratically selects the poorest families to benefit first from our projects.  Key is the goat loan - Hawa age 35, was one of the first to be chosen and to receive five nanny goats. She is divorced, with 10 children, two of them under 5 years old. Her elderly mother lives with her in their straw hut. Her eldest son has had to leave school in order to search for work to help the family. For months now they have survived on one meagre meal a day. There is just one single bed made of wood and rope and virtually nothing else - just two cooking pots and three dishes.  Hawa has no farmland of her own - so the family cannot grow their own crops.  She owns no animals.  Without help, the family could not survive.   Other villagers do their best to help, but they too have very little and have virtually nothing to spare. 

The difference goats can make to Hawa's life is huge. The Kids for Kids' goat loan is providing five nanny goats to Hawa, and a local donkey.   As soon as the goats give birth there will be milk for the children.   As the flock grows Hawa will be able to slowly build up an income.  Due to the lack of seed, her children may starve, the goat's milk provides vital nutrients to children in desperate need. Hawa will be able to earn a living by selling excess milk, this income can be used to send her children to school. The donkey Kids for Kids provides will help to lighten the burden of water collection and enable her to collect firewood which she can also sell.    If a donkey dies there is no chance of a family affording to replace it so to be given a donkey is life changing.   Donkeys are the only means of transport.  If you don't have a donkey, the only alternative is to walk, often many miles across the desert for every drop of water - imagine the effect a donkey would have on Hawa. Kids for Kids also provides two blankets for the children, and two large mosquito nets.  Malaria is still the biggest killer in Sudan.  We also provide farm tools so that Hawa can get work on neighbours farms until she can get land of her own, and jerry cans.   Where necessary we will provide emergency food and basic cooking utensils.

Without this help Hawa's life, and that of all her children, would be precarious indeed.   Your help is enabling Kids for Kids to turn her life around.   Hawa will be helped to care for her animals, our paravets will provide veterinary care whenever necessary and our first aid workers will provide basic health care.   These are small initiatives but, combined, they lift families like Hawa's out of abject poverty and give a chance of a better future.  

Reports like this from Darfur highlight the desperate need for goats and donkeys - with the help of our supporters, Kids for Kids can continue to provide sustainable aid to women like Hawa and her family. Goats and Donkeys change lives. 

May is the start of the ‘hungry months’ in Darfur. With the heat of summer, all surface water has dried, and villages are devoid of all plants, grass and other greenery.

The families are scraping by on what food they have whilst they wait for the rains to come in July – only then can they think about planting their seeds, if they haven't had to eat them already. Then they have to wait for the harvest.

Families rely now more than ever on their goats for their children. Goats have evolved to survive in the arid climate – finding enough food to eat amongst the sand. Their milk is crucial for the health of the children. 

We need to provide goats to more families to help see them through these hardest of months before new hope arrives with the rains.

Can you donate a goat to a family in need?

Kids for Kids turns 20 on the 8th March, and we are so humbled by the number of goats and donkeys that you helped to provide, that have been supporting thousands of families across the years. Not just from the initial goat loan but from the subsequent rotations after two years, in which 5 goats from the original flock are given to another family in need.

However, the need for goats and donkeys is greater than ever in Darfur. In the grip of an economic crisis, inflation is still increasing in Sudan - at last count, it was over 250%.  As many families are surviving on just a single meal a day malnutrition and starvation are a very real threat. 

By providing 5 nanny goats to a family a mother is able to feed her children the milk, turning their health around. Mothers are able to earn a living by selling excess milk, this income can be used to send her children to school. A donkey given to a family helps to lighten the burden of water collection which usually falls to women and children - allowing a child time to gain an education. If a donkey dies there is no chance of a family affording to replace it.   Donkeys are the only means of transport.  If you don't have a donkey, the only alternative is to walk, often many miles across the desert for every drop of water.

The difference these animals can make in someone's life is extraordinary!

Because conditions in Darfur were rapidly deteriorating, in 2020 we made the decision to adopt eight, instead of five, communities. We were only able to do this because of the generosity of supporters like you. Because of you, last year 270 families received a donkey to help carry water, take children to school, allow mothers and fathers to provide for their children.

These same families were given 1,375 nanny goats to give hungry children nutritious milk and 90 billy goats to help grow the flocks and livelihoods.

We are so very grateful for your help during these trying times, but whilst we should be celebrating good news like this, it is also a reminder that there are so many more families who deserve the same opportunity to determine their own future.

For the people of Darfur, a goat can mean the difference between life or death, a goat can be a beacon of hope and the possibility of a brighter future.

Every parent should be able to sleep at night knowing her children are well-fed and healthy - will you help us provide more goats and donkeys to more families in need?

Donkeys are a vital lifeline to the people of Darfur at the best of times. The harsh environmental conditions people and families have to live with every day make life a struggle. The relentless heat of the sun, droughts in some areas, flooding in others. This is why we provide goats and donkeys to families. They provide necessary sustenance to hungry children in the form of goats milk, donkeys helping with everyday tasks such as collecting water or firewood. These animals help to lighten the load.

However, times have never been harder for the people of Darfur. Sudan has declared an economic emergency as inflation soars, reaching a staggering 167% in August and is still rising. The price of basic staples has gone through the roof. Everyone in Sudan is struggling but when disasters like this happen, it is often the most in need that are the ones hit the hardest.

In the midst of the disaster Kids for Kids has some happy news. Two of the recently adopted villages in Darfur, Abu Sinait, and Um Ajaja have just received their lifelines, new goats for the most in need! Smiling faces of the mothers and excitement of the children expresses their delight and what must be relief! This is what we accomplished with your help. So on behalf of the people who have already received their goats and donkeys, we thank you.

However, we must provide more goats to feed more starving children, we must provide more donkeys to share the hard work. Families have never been more in need. There are thousands more still waiting for help. We can not turn our backs on the people of Darfur - Kids for Kids is there for these people in the darkest of times - will you?

For $70 you can provide a single goat to a family or provide a little donkey that will help a family collect water for $95 but any amount no matter how small will go to the greatest need for the people of Darfur.