Goats and Donkeys Transform Lives in Darfur

Thank you for subscribing to our reports and for wanting to help the forgotten children of Darfur.

Sadly, these are ghastly times in Darfur as the region has been completely forgotten by the world. The world's media is focussing on the problems and hunger in South Sudan.  The tragedy is that in the absence of virtually all Aid Agencies and their publicity machines, plus the impossibility of any journalist visiting, the news of Darfur is just not getting out.  People are reporting famine in South Sudan yet ignored UNICEF’s warning that 80,000 children are already severely malnourished in Darfur.  Without medical help, they will die and the chance of a new harvest is not for many months so this is just the beginning

Today, Kids for Kids is transforming the lives of children in 70 villages, in total 310,000 villagers now benefit from our projects. Villagers tell us what will help, and we teach them how to run the projects themselves to ensure they last. Children need long term help if their lives are to be transformed. Your support has enabled us to provide our simple grassroots projects that help give people a chance to survive, and more importantly, a chance for their children in the future.  But even more need our help.  Our donkeys give families a chance of navigating the desert to either reach the markets or to transport water, their children to school (where possible) and the sick to hospital.

Our little goats continue to transform the lives of children.  Just one cup of fresh goats milk gives children the nutrients that they need to survive and can help them to fight malnutrition.  A flock of six goats can transform the lives of a whole family and in two years time, their goats 'kids' can help more families and whole communities over time.  One goat costs just £38 which is small price to pay for a child's life.  If you can help, please give the gift of a goat today.

Thank you.

In 2014 it is hard to believe that children are still staving to death but this is the harsh reality in Darfur.  This year, of all years, the need is enormous.   What is tragic is that conditions are even worse now than they were when we started. The news from South Sudan cannot but affect Darfur where families are already desperately beleaguered.  For months now mothers have not been able to feed their children properly: literally hundreds are now showing the outward physical signs of malnutrition.  What is tragic is that the recent reports that I have been sent from villages asking us to adopt them this year; all reported children dying from malnutrition in 2013.  Our first priority must therefore be to keep children alive and healthy.  

Our goat loan has now been working in Darfur for 13 years.  Our simple loan of a billy goat and 5 nannies continues to be hailed as 'the best micro finance scheme ever' and our multiplying goats are saving lives through their nutritional milk and their ability to help mothers earn a small income, often for the first time.

In just one village, the Kids for Kids Goat Loan has helped 3,083 families who have received 15,671 goats - which have been passed on to a further 3,083 families every two years.  The milk the goats provides to children is crucial, particularly now in Darfur where soaring inflation is causing grave concern as many families have not been able to feed their children protein in any form for many months. Many children face the risk of famine in 2014 according to UN WHO yet Kids for Kids remains the only organisation helping in this forgotten area.

One goat now costs $62 (£38) which is an improvement on last year but soaring inflation for many other items mean that families are surviving on one pitiful meal a day.  One goat can save a life and goes on saving for years to come through our simple yet innovative scheme.  Our donkeys continue to be the stalwart 4X4 of the desert.  As well as providing families with an option of transport in the harsh desert they are now being used to pull the 'school bus' to our kindergarten in Abu Nahla!  Our midwives continue to call on their strong cross-bred donkeys to help mothers who need to go to hospital during child-birth too.  Thank you for supporting this vital life-line in Darfur.

Thank you for choosing to support our project.  Goats and donkeys remain the staple help that families in Darfur need.  Mothers still beg us to help educate their children, and we are delighted that our first Kindergarten is now open in Abu Nahla, BUT with warnings of famine already being talked about, it is hunger that must remain our number one priority.

Your little goat is changing lives.  Last year, in one village, more than half of families lost at least one child because of malnutrition.    However, becuase of your help,  we have now adopted that village (Kindro) and our goats are already turning around the effects of starvation.  Children's hair is returning to its natural colour, eyes are brigher and bones are growing stronger.  This is fantastic news and gives us further evidence that our simple help transforms, and even SAVES, lives.

In 2013, due to a drop in donations, perhaps caused by the effect of more visible world problems elsewhere, we have only been able to adopt 3 new villages.  Next year we aim to adopt at least 5 but there are still hundreds more that need our help.  Darfur reamins out of the news yet the children are still starving so how can the world ignore them?   By donating a goat or donkey, you have shown them that they are not forgotten. 

Six months ago, we were paying £28/$45 per goat but becuase of the terrifying increase in inflation in Sudan, we now pay £60/$95 per animal.  The cost of everything is rising and the basic cost of living now far outweighes the annual income that villagers can earn. 

As we reach the time of giving during Thanksgiving and Christmas, please think of those that have nothing and consider donating to give them a gift this festive season too.

This project is vital to the very existence of children in rural Darfur.  Thank you for supporting us in our endeavours to supply goats and donkeys to prolong the lives of the little ones who need our help so much. 

In the twelve years since Kids for Kids was founded, I have never been more worried for the children of Darfur.  You may know that I started Kids for Kids because of what I perceived as the inexcusable and inconceivable hardship of their lives.  The violence that erupted in 2002/3 made things even worse. But now, in the wake of the creation of South Sudan, the absence of aid workers from the large agencies in Darfur, and the disasters elsewhere in the world, Darfur has been left as a forgotten region.   Violence has been worsening by the month, with hundreds of thousands of people fleeing their villages since January.  You will know that our remit has been to help families to stay in their homes and to give them a chance of a better future.  Tragically, the indirect effects of all that has happened in recent months has meant soaring inflation in Sudan and in Darfur, it is the highest in the entire country

Our goats and donkeys remain vital to the villagers.  You will know that we lend 6 goats to a family to give them milk and the opportunity of a small income, then in two years time they pass 6 kids to another family and then another.  This is micro finance at its best and just one goat can change many lives.

We do however, have a problem.  This time of year when people are often forced to sell their animals to get themselves over the hungry months before the next harvest, twelve years ago I could have bought a goat for £5, a year ago just £28  but now they are £60 each, and the price will rise even more.    Everything is costing more, at the same time as our donations sink and the world's media remains silent on Darfur.  Children are continuing to die, but not in Kids for Kids villages.  That is why we need your help so much, as requests for help from new villages pour in each month.  One of our Village Leaders recently told me, "there is no malnutrition in Kids for Kids villages".  We are making a huge difference to those that we can help but funds are needed to support even more.  Please tell your friends about the impact we are having and help us to increase our help and sponsor more communities. 

In April we held our twice yearly programme meeting with our team who work on the ground in Darfur.  For the first time, we were able to invite our Chairman of the Volunteer Village Leaders to find out how much impact we were having in a still tragic region and to find out what more can be done.  We were delighted to be given a really fantastic and positive briefing from the Chairman who gave us incontestable proof that our simple long term help really is changing lives.

In the villages of Darfur, malnutrition continues to be at epidemic proportions.  But not in Kids for Kids villages.  We were told the amazing story of Azargarfa which was adopted by Kids for Kids in 2004.  Our original goat loans have now been passed on every two years and the four rotations that have taken place have not only transformed the lives of the poorest families but have also had a positive impact on the whole community.  Our other help such as a handpumps, donkey loans, midwives, paravets, first aid training and the rest have lifted the whole village. 

Before Azargarfa was adopted by Kids for Kids in 2004, up to 50 children died from malnutrition died each year.  Last year just 2 little ones lost their lives, none of them due to malnutrition.  There is no longer any malnutrition in our villages.  This is an incredible outcome that shows just how a simple goat loan, along with our other sustainable help can transform the lives of those most at risk. 

Finally, please take a look at the attached photographs.  The first shows a little girl who has lost all colour from her hair due to the effects of prolonged malnutrition.  However, because we were able to lend the family six goats, the little girl and her brothers and sisters now have a cup of milk each day.  The second picture, of the same girl, was taken 11 months later - the transformation is clear.  Thank you for your help and please share Afaf's picture in the hope that more people will feel compelled to buy a goat to help a child just like her and change her life forever.