Why Goats ?     Why Donkeys?

Goat Project

KIDS FOR KIDS lends 6 goats to a family for 2 years - providing milk for the children, and forming the nucleus of a little flock. They agree not to sell the KIDS FOR KIDS goats and they sign an undertaking to care for them in trust - but the kids are theirs. After 2 years they pass on 6 first born offspring to another family in need. And so on. Donating even one little goat makes an enormous difference because its offspring will go to another family, and another.

Goats have a bad name in the West for causing desertification. Why then do the very people who suffer the consequences of such destruction of their own environment beg us for them? Before launching our Goat Loan scheme - the KIDS FOR KIDS loans that make such a difference to children in Darfur - Patricia Parker did a great deal of research, which continues!

Drought is a major, recurring problem in many parts of Africa. People have large herds of cattle, camels and sheep. When crops and grazing fail, these animals cannot survive. Neither do the farming families nor the nomads have anything to eat. The only chance is the little goat who, in good times, crops the grass in exactly the same way as sheep, nibbling the tops. In hard times they survive on twigs and leaves.

In Darfur what we have seen is that every single goat is watched all the time it is out foraging - by mothers whilst children are at school, and by the children later in the day. No goat is allowed to destroy crops or valuable vegetation. In the height of summer, goats are often taken to wadi (dry river bed) areas where trees and shrubs grow and they can find something on which to survive.

At the KIDS FOR KIDS Workshop in El Fasher in this year we asked the leaders of 17 communities who came to see us if they had any worries about the goats destroying the landscape and causing desertification - their answer was unanimous - "We do not allow them to damage anything.  Any animal left to roam freely would cause damage, particularly in large numbers, but noone wants huge herds of goats.  We use them for their milk and to help us provide the very basics of life."

 

These are people who spend hours collecting every drop of water their families need, yet who also lovingly water tree seedlings because they know how important they are in protecting the environment.

"It is arrogant of the West to dictate whether or not these poor farming families should own goats or not" says Patricia.  " They know how best to care for their land and they work incredibly hard to do so - and they beg KIDS FOR KIDS for goats to help their children."

Children's Animal Loan Committee

Mubarak is the head of the Children's Committee at Um Shireiga.  He and his four fellow shepherds check all the KIDS FOR KIDS goats in his village every Friday morning.  Any goat that is behaving oddly (not getting up when the others do, not drinking much, or may be drinking a great deal) they report to the Animal Loan Committee - who will call our Paravet.

We helped the children of Um Ga'al – the first KIDS FOR KIDS village - to form the first Children's Animal Loan Committee in 2001, and to be responsible for selecting the 120 families who were the first to benefit from the loan of five pregnant nanny goats and one billy. The children were trained in goat care and in hygiene. We trained a Para Vet (villager trained in veterinary care) but it was the children's responsibility to check on the goats' health and call for help if there were signs of trouble.  

Families are selected and supervised by the village Animal Loan Committee in each village. This group is chosen by the community and is responsible for selecting the beneficiary families and for helping the KIDS FOR KIDS paravet check on the animal’s health. Beneficiaries are usually women headed households with children. Many have no animals at all until our loan transforms their lives and gives them the start of a small livelihood as well as contributing to the health of the children.

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Some frequently asked questions:

Q. How long do Desert Goats live?
12 to 15 years.

Q. Do you know how to tell a sheep from a goat?
A goat's tail sticks up!  A sign of optimism perhaps?

Q. Are goats suitable for desert life?
Goats only drink every two days in hard times - which makes them viable when water is scarce. Local goats are hardy, essential when the temperatures soar in the summer to over 150 degrees.

Q. What do goats eat?
Anything! Which is why they can survive when nothing much is growing. But to prevent them from destroying the landscape the children keep them closely herded and all "fields" are surrounded by thorn hedges to keep them safe.

Q. What colour are they?
They are multi-coloured, sometimes black, sometimes white, but usually a mixture of chestnut, browns and blacks. Rugs made of goat hair are these natural colours.

Q. Who looks after the goats?
It is usually the children you see tending the goats and helping them to find food so families prosper if the children do a good job - education is a priority in Sudan, the success of the goats means that they can pay for schooling. When the children are at school mothers care for the animals.

Q. Why is goats milk important?
It is full of vitamins - A, which prevents blindness, B, B+, C, D, E, potassium, magnesium, folic acid and is rich in carbohydrates, calcium and protein. Particularly in times of drought, as now, it is the only source of these vital elements to keep children healthy. Any excess milk is sold. Often the price of a sack of millet is talked about in the number of goats it is worth. You can even find the price of goats in Darfur on the internet!

Q. How are the KIDS FOR KIDS goats surviving now?
The news is good - the grazing returned this year and most of our nanny goats had twins. One lady had 19 goats after just 10 months. This meant she not only had milk for her own children, she could sell some and was able to sell one or two of the male kids to provide essentials for her family.