Goats for children affected by HIV/AIDS

Hope can be defined as “a feeling or expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen” or a desire for something to happen, a wish for things to change for the better or a particular dream or aspiration “to become reality “.

Think about it – such a small word – four letters – HOPE – it means so much to so many – all 7 something billion of us!!

Our overriding mission at Morning Star Camp is to bring people hope, in particular the children and youth in our surrounding rural village and communities.

We are located in Matabeleland South which is a drought prone, generally marginalised Province in Zimbabwe. There are very few employment opportunities for the youth who upon leaving school find themselves stranded and caught up in seemingly endless cycle of just being able to eke out the most basic of an existence.  HIV/AIDS is prevalent and on the rise again which further complicates and compounds problems for people. The number of families rendered vulnerable is increasing. The American Foundation for Children with AIDS (AFCA) has for many years partnered with Morning Star to engineer and implement uplifting and empowering interventions into people’s lives.

Our successful AFCA Goat Project contracts with struggling families to deliver to them 3 pregnant female goats to enable them to establish and grow their own herds. The families have a 3 year period in which to repay the project with 3 young female goats which are raised at Morning Star and when old enough are impregnated and passed on to another vulnerable family. Goats can be sold to raise money for school fees or emergency family situations. Goat milk is more easily digestible containing highly-soluble less-allergenic proteins than normal dairy milk for HIV positive people. Goats can be traded for other commodities. We train the youth in the family the methods of raising goats and with this knowledge they can start animal husbandry projects of their own.

Hope is the belief that our future can be better than our past and that we have a role to play in making that future a reality.  Join with us in bringing hope into real life situations in Zimbabwe.  Hope above all else is the most important determinant of success for all of our youth.

Everyone here at the American Foundation for Children with AIDS, and our partners in Africa, thank you for your continued support of this important project.  If you would like to learn even more about this project and others, please contact Tanya Weaver at tweaver@AFCAids.org. 

This story is about a man named Nathan and his family, beneficiaries of AFCA’s Livelihoods Program in Gemena, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Nathan entered the project because of a child named Bennett whose father passed away due to complications of AIDS. Bennett was adopted by Nathan's family, joining a rather large family of 5 other children, some adopted and some biological.

According to Nathan, before being a beneficiary of this project, they had approximately 75 cents for food for the entire family per day. They obviously couldn’t eat well and the children were to weak to go to school. When he has been selected to be part of the project, he was trained in agriculture, in animal breeding and in financial management. AFCA gave him peanut, beans and corn seeds for a field, vegetable seeds for the house garden and three rabbits to breed in order to allow them to live well.

With the knowledge that he has acquired from AFCA, he has been able to change his way of feeding his family - his field productivity was good and helped him to well live.

After one year, he gave back three full grown rabbits to AFCA (for another family) and he traded a bunch of rabbits for two goats. Before long, he kept trading up and now has seven large, healthy goats. Some rabbits were sold for cash, allowing him to send his children to school. When somebody in his family is sick, he is able to bring him or her at the health clinic.  This was all unheard of in the past and Nathan is so happy to know that his life is different now.

According to his calculations, from the 3 rabbits that AFCA originally gave him, he returned three to the program, he has sold approximately 180 other rabbits and the family has eaten many more. Now he is living well with his family because, while before they consumed 1300 FC per day but now they consume 6000 FC ($3) and all the children are doing well in school.

Nathan thanks AFCA’s project because it has changed his life and he asks for AFCA to continue with its good work to help those who are vulnerable in his community.  “May Lord bless all the people who contributed to the evolution of my family.”

Everyone here at the American Foundation for Children with AIDS, and our partners in Africa, thank you for your continued support of this important project.  If you would like to learn even more about this project and others, please contact Tanya Weaver at tweaver@AFCAids.org. 

AFCA is very happy to welcome Guy Likonza to our staff in Congo! Guy is an agronomist who has taken his new role as Manager of AFCA’s office in Gemena eagerly, learning at rapid speed and integrating himself with our families well. Guy has hit the ground running and already, he has been:

1. Has set up a training for the next 70 families who will benefit from our livelihoods projects,
2. Has distributed goats to other trained families,
3. Has hired a new man to oversee the grinder project (where families can take corn and cassava to be ground into flour),
4. Helped move our solar vaccine fridge from Tandala to Gemena, to be used in a local clinic

These are some of the tasks he has done in the past four weeks and we are grateful to have found Guy, who has taken each job with a smile and willingness to do well. His plate will be full, we know! He is a willing servant of his people, smiling as he asks questions to learn their stories, their needs, their hopes, and their dreams. I liked the way he sat with families, seemingly at ease while asking questions and letting them get to know him a bit, as well. I liked the way he asked me many questions, learning as much as he could in the two weeks I was in town. As my French grew weaker after a day of work and tiredness crept in, he’d give English a shaky try and kept vowing that he’ll learn it better soon. Somehow, I don’t doubt he’ll make that happen!

We have great plans to accomplish much more in northwest Congo and it will be great to do them with this man leading the charge from Gemena.

Everyone here at the American Foundation for Children with AIDS, and our partners in Africa, thank you for your continued support of this important project.  If you would like to learn even more about this project and others, please contact Tanya Weaver at tweaver@AFCAids.org. 

As we begin a new year, our goat project is doing well.  

All the animals are happy and looking good.  We have had close to 50mm of rain to date and the farm is beginning to turn different shades of green.  The grass is sprouting where it was burnt a few months ago which the goats are thoroughly enjoying.  

I took Thomas to the local kids club a few weeks ago and we both decided that it wasn’t the right tool to use to meet and identify beneficiary families in the community.  I will introduce Thomas to another young pastor that I know who is already doing door to door visits in the community so he can tag along and start meeting different families.

We’ve started our breeding cycle for the year with the ladies being grouped together with two of the bucks, so hopefully we will have another good crop of kids in May.  After having trouble with jackal, we have made sure the pens are strong and secure so that the goats are safer at night.  We're always learning and making changes ... a growing experience!

Everyone here at the American Foundation for Children with AIDS, and our partners in Africa, thank you for your continued support of this important project.  If you would like to learn even more about this project and others, please contact Tanya Weaver at tweaver@AFCAids.org. 

In March, 40 of the Morning Star goats were moved across to Providence to develop a new multiplication centre to feed into a new community east of Bulawayo.  Thando and Keith have moved across and have both settled well.  We have plans to update their living quarters so that their families can join them here at Providence.  All the training and time Norma and Diamond have invested in them has been an incredible blessing, and trust that their knowledge and experience will continue as we expand the project.

We have build a few enclosures, one for the bucks and a maternity unit for the does when they kid. 

In June we had  a primary school visit the farm, the children got to see lots of different aspects to farm life, including how the project is designed to help vulnerable families in our community, and the goats loved having kids feed them treats from the greenhouses!! 

Our numbers have increased with the birth of 6 kids. Gary is organizing transport for 6 beneficiary does and Fred from Morning Star later this week!!  Sadly we have also had a few loses for first time moms, but hopefully they will do better next time round. 

We have also built a "milk bar” and I will start to experiment for cheese making when the volumes increase.  I am grateful for the milk that we are getting at the moment because we are supplementing a lamb that has been rejected by its mom.  

As we come to the end of our winter we look forward to the next batch of kids on the block!! 

Everyone here at the American Foundation for Children with AIDS, and our partners in Africa, thank you for your continued support of this important project.  If you would like to learn even more about this project and others, please contact Tanya Weaver at tweaver@AFCAids.org.