Goats and Donkeys Transform Lives in Darfur

Quote - Patricia Parker MBE

It has been an extremely difficult year in Darfur, with violence the worst we have known it, followed by a severe drought in the wake of El Nino. When hay has run out, there is nothing for them to eat, and the grass was so poor at the end of last year that families could not collect sufficient to last them through the 'hungry' months - months when humans and animals succumb to starvation. 

To prevent this, we asked you to help provide emergency  fodder for the animals in the worst affected areas.  Thanks to everyone who helped us we made a real difference, and now at last there is grass again as the rains started early.  

After such a hard summer when people walked miles for water for themselves and their animals it was wonderful to hear that at last there was water near at hand.   Poeple rushed to the fields to plant their crops, from the seed they had managed to save so their families could eat next year.   Tragically, the rains did not stop.    Terrible downpours caused massive flash flooding.   This photograph shows the floods at Um Ga’al, our first village, in the far north of Darfur. 

“It is so surprising seeing this rush of water" said Patricia Parker our Founder who started Kids for Kids when she saw small children struggling across what was desert to fetch every drop of water.  " I have only seen Um Ga’al when the region is only arid desert as far as you can see.  The floods this year in Um Ga’al have resulted not only in goats and sheep being drowned but has washed away an entire side of a valley where people had planted their valuable seed.  Without Kids for Kids there would be no help for those families who have lost their crops.  When your only food is from what you grow, this is disaster.  It is hard to think of families facing starvation when predictions are that, because of the rain, 2017 is likely to be the best harvest for a decade in Sudan as a whole.  The families that have lost their animals have lost more than a year's income.  It is disaster.   We are setting up a disaster fund for Um Ga’al and other villages facing the same loss to make sure they have something to get them through next year.”

But it is not all disaster.  Darfur is the size of France, further south our villages are doing well.   Thankfully now the rains have come, the grass is starting to grow, and soon our goat loan animals will be recovering and reproducing!    We need many more goats so that children will drink milk again.   Thank you for your support.   The goats and donkeys you are helping us provide are changing children's lives forever.

Please help us to keep goats and donkeys healthy, to help maintain starving children

$25 buys seed for 2 families

$30 buys a donkey plough to help a family grow more food

$62 will provide one goat to give children nutritious milk

$75 buys 20 fruit tree seedlings to provide food and shade for the animals and families

$95 buys a donkey for transport and to help carry water

$600 pays for a paravet, as there is no veterinary care to look after the animals

$372 will provide 6 goats for a family to give them milk and income from selling excess dairy product.

$7,000 will provide a simple handpump for the whole community, so that children won’t have to walk miles for fresh clean water.

Thank you so much for your support.

Links:

• Kids for Kids Website

Emergency fodder saving lives in 2016

As you know, this is the time of year when I am working with my team in Darfur on new projects, and this year there are more challenges than usual because of the devastating drought and a wave of people who have lost everything because of the continuing violence.  

I am pleased to tell you that I have just signed off an emergency project to deliver supplementary fodder to 523 families in 11 villages in Darfur, to make sure that our Kids for Kids goats and donkeys survive this summer.  From experience we know that if a family's animals look thin, the children are hungry too, but the reverse is also true - a healthy donkey means healthy children!  Darfur families receive animal husbandry traning from us before they receive any animals, and they take good care of them, so if they are doing well, their animals are nice and plump too.  

"The pilot project was a success last year" says our Programme Manager in Darfur, Dr Salim. (one of the few veterinary doctors in Darfur)  "Those animals that received the extra fodder thrived despite difficult conditions and many goats had twin kids.  We are very happy to extend this project this year to help 11 villages to keep their livestock healthy."  

Please will you help us to keep helping families with goats and donkeys this year?  A cup of goat's milk is the difference beween life and death for a little child in Darfur with no other source of protein,  Without protein, children's bones, teeth and even braincells are damaged.  Our Goat Loans provide 6 goats to a family, for immediate milk and the chance of an income for essentials.  After 2 years the flock will have grown and the family will pass on 6 goats to another family.  This is one of the best microfinance schemes in the world.  

Please help us to help more families this year - you are saving lives in Darfur.  

Patricia 

Patricia Parker MBE, CEO and Chairman of Trustees

$62 provides a little goat for milk - precious nutrition for children 

$372 provides 6 goats for a familiy 

$95 provides a little donkey to carry water and firewood for the family - the only transport

$30 provides a donkey plough so they can grow more food

$45 provides training on how to care for the animals 

$73 provides emergency fodder  - supplimentary feed to stop animals from starving

$600 provides a paravet - there is no other animal care

$535 provides veterinary drugs for a revolving fund

$245 provides a strong cross-bred donkey for a midwife / paravet / water cart / school bus

Thank you for your support.   

Links:

• Kids for Kids website for more information
• Join the conversation on Facebook
• Tweet us @KidsforKids