Goats and Donkeys Transform Lives in Darfur

Cases of COVID-19 are being reported in Darfur now, in towns very close to our villages. In Sudan, the official report is that as of 19 June 2020, there were 8,698 people confirmed to have COVID-19 in Sudan, including 533 fatalities, according to The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). However, the real figure is far higher – there is no testing and therefore few cases are officially confirmed.  The truth will never be known, but the dangers are.

Providing goats right now will mean milk for children who are weak and malnourished – milk that will help to strengthen their immune systems, helping to fight the virus. And our goats do so much more than just improve children's health – goats improve the lives of families long-term. In 2015 we adopted Um Keddada village, and Fatinya was one of the poorest women in the village, with two young children. She received five goats and the share of a billy goat with two other families from the Animal Loan Committee - along with a donkey, two blankets, and two mosquito nets. In 2017 when the Goat Rotation took place, Fatinya had 24 goats and passed five of these along to another family in the village. Today she has 27 goats in total – goats who have enabled her to feed her children and keep them healthy, as well as sell surplus milk at market, and make yoghurt and ghee to sell too! The ability to earn an income is incomparable – especially now as inflation is soaring as COVID-19 ravages the country. 

If you are not yet aware of the Urgent COVID-19 Appeal for Soap we have launched as a GlobalGiving Microproject, please check it out. This appeal is the only hope people can have to prevent the virus from spreading. Just $25/£20 provides five bars of soap each to 10 families, along with an illustrated instruction leaflet teaching people how to properly wash hands (so important when water is scarce). £380 is enough to provide soap to a whole village. The way of life in Darfur means social distancing and isolation are impossible. People live in small huts, crowded, in dire conditions of poverty. Children are malnourished with weak immune systems so will be unable to fight the virus. Soap is the only hope of saving lives.

Please donate if you are able and share the link with anyone you can think of!  And do continue to donate goats as their milk is hugely important in maintaining people's health.

Thank you all so much.  Your help is the key to our successful projects, as we do not spend money on advertising, and because, as you can imagine, our donations have dropped significantly since February.  Anything you can do to help us will save lives.

Links:

• News and Updates about COVID-19 in Sudan
• Full Soap Appeal on GlobalGiving

We are excited to tell you that the Inception Meetings in our new Kids for Kids villages have finished up, and all the beneficiaries and committee members have been selected. Paravets are in training, and as soon as they are finished, it will be time for Goats and Donkeys to be purchased and brought to our eight new villages!  As you know, we will not bring animals into a village until there are fully trained paravets at hand.  Together, we build everything for long-term, sustainable change.

I thought you might be interested in learning more about the Animal Loan Committee (ALC), the key to ensuring the success and sustainability of our goat loan.

The Animal Loan Committee

Kids for Kids creates many committees when adopting a village, but the key committee in charge of our Goat Loan and our Donkeys is the Animal Loan Committee (ALC). The ALC is selected democratically by the community at the 2nd Inception Meeting in any village we adopt.  It is formed of 15-20 members at a ratio of 40% - 60% (men to women) so that we can ensure that women get an equal voice. The members of the ALC should include the paravets, two beneficiaries, one Village Development Committee (VDC) member and a teacher.  The chairman is preferably female because the beneficiaries of our goat loan and basic essential projects are mainly female.

Once selected, the ALC is trained in Bookeeping and Accountability and commit in the first meeting to provide regular reports back to our Project Leader and Programme Manager in Darfur. The ALC are responsible for identifying the women and families who should be considered as 1st generation beneficiaries. Then their main job is to support beneficiaries and ensure they are caring correctly for their animals in order to keep our projects sustainable. 

The ALC is responsible for ensuring that no beneficiary will sell or kill a goat, or its offspring, during the course of the loan. This ensures that the family builds up a flock which will help them as a long-term investment and that they will be able to hand on five healthy fertile offspring to the next generation after two years.

Key Responsibilities: 

1- Selection of Beneficiaries

2- Purchase and Distribution of Goats and Donkeys

3- Monitoring and Supervision of Goats and Beneficiaries (every ALC member will be responsible for 3-4 beneficiaries)

4- Monitoring and Supervision of Billy Goats

5- Meeting at least once a month and submission of reports to the Kids for Kids Team 

6- Responsibility of Revolving Veterinary Drug Fund.

7- Replacement of Goats if a Beneficiary wants to change nonproductive goats

8- Keeping written records about meetings and all the financial aspects of the animal purchases and loans

9- Keeping records of all programme assets

10- Holding regular quarterly meetings with beneficiaries to discuss projects to help them

11- Submitting regular monthly reports to the programme manager and the Village Development Committee.

Everything you help Kids for Kids do is designed to create sustainable independence--empowering people to help themselves now and breaking the cycle of poverty forever.

We do not spend anything on advertising so anything that you can do to help spread the word about our efficient and effective work will truly save lives and change lives.  

Here is a link you can pass on to friends:  
https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/darfur-goats-and-donkeys/

Thank you for all that you do!

What a Tuesday!   

We do not  have enough words to thank you for your immense generosity over last week's Giving Tuesday. What we'd like to do however is give you the facts, so you can really understand the impact you've made.

Last week on Tuesday December 3rd Kids for Kids received donations via GlobalGiving from 105 different people!  Over all our projects together, you donated a massive $18,500 (roughly £14,184) to Kids for Kids. GlobalGiving added $5,398 (roughly £4,139) to that total, in their campaign to proportionally match the funds our projects raised in comparison with all other projects on the site.

All together, this means $23,898 (roughly £18,392) for Kids for Kids - from one single day of fundraising!  With the matching from our anonymous donor of $5,000, that brings our total to $28,898 (just over £22,000!)

We were so proud of our Goats and Donkeys project as it came in 13th place out of all the projects on GlobalGiving because of the amount of funds you donated! And it is such a testament to how small donations add up.  Everyone who donated played a part in this achievement and we could not be more grateful. 

We want to wish you a most wonderful holiday season with friends and family, and remember if you're still in need of a few gifts we make a mean(ingful) gift certificate for anything you donate! Just get in touch.  GlobalGiving also lets you print out a Certificate too so you can donate on behalf of your loved one right here.

Until 2020,

The Kids for Kids Team

At 21 years old, Naima was selected to be a Kids for Kids Beneficiary, bcause she was one of the poorest in her village. Naima and her husband have three children to support and were in desperate need of help. Naima received five goats from the Animal Loan Committee, a donkey, mosquito nets, blankets and more.  With these possessions, which she could not have dreamt of owning before, she is able to help take control of her family’s future. The first year Naima had six kid goats born, and last year she had a further 11! Today, after two years of hard work, 23-year-old Naima has the biggest flock in Aefin Village - 22 Goats!

Naima has benefitted hugely from her goats, gaining milk for her children, making yoghurt to sell at the market, and distributing milk to help even her neighbours in need. Everyone needs a helping hand.  After improving her own family's situation, it only felt right to do what she can for her neighbors also in need. What's more is that Naima has used her donkey to help plough her farm, where she is cultivating Mellit and Watermelon. After the last rainy season there was a very good harvest and alongside selling surplus milk at market, Naima has vastly improved her family's income.

We are so glad that our goats have helped Naima so much. And we are thrilled that the rotation of goats took place in Aefin village last month and six of Naima's younger goats have gone on to benefit another family in the village!

Good news like this is so welcome at a time when times are so difficult in Sudan. Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said in early September that some 6.3 million people - or 14 percent of the Sudan's population - are experiencing crisis or worse levels of food insecurity, the highest on record since the introduction of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification in Sudan in 2007. Basic essentials like bread are currently unaffordable, and so many young ones are going without food. 

The more people you can tell about our life changing work in Darfur, the more donations we might get, and therefore the more children we can help to have a better future. Thank you for supporting our work.

With all that is happening in Sudan right now, at least there is finally rain. The heat in Europe we've all heard about has come from the Sahara in Africa. It may be pleasant for us, but can you imagine what the temperature of 50 C means where there is no electricity, no air conditioning and no way to cool down?

Rain is an absolute necessity, but not reliable, in Darfur where families rely on what they can grow for food. Luckily for our Goats and Donkeys, grass is the first thing to grow, which will provide nutrients for the animals. If the rains continue then animals will flourish and hopefully have twins!! Can you imagine how lucky that would be for families with growing flocks?  In bad years nanny goats will have only one kid, or sometimes none at all.

When communities choose beneficiary families, a part of the training in animal husbandry includes training to collect grass once it is long enough and store it correctly so it is sufficient for the next hungry season. We must always think ahead in terms of everything Kids for Kids does because of the harsh and changing climate in Darfur, where each year brings new challenges.

We thank you all for your generous support, and encourage you to give more goats (and donkeys!) so families will have a better chance. Every goat you give plays an instrumental part in changing the life of a child who has no other hope.