Hey friends! How are you? I wanted to talk to you today about this AMAZING thing one of my childhood (and now) friends has put together. If you’re like me, the refugee crisis that’s happening now can weigh heavy on your thoughts. Sure donating to big, and useful charities (if you can) is important, but I find myself wanting to do more. Make something, anything that will help ease their burdens.
Well if you’ve felt like that at all I have something I’d love for you to take part in. It’s called Gather for Goat and the idea is to have a dinner of some kind that will raise money to buy goats from local farmers in Jordan. Two will be given to 400 of the most in need families in the refugee camp there. It’s in partnership with Lifting Hands who are on the ground there helping with basic needs.
Here are some more details:
HISTORY
The families we are hoping to help with this project are from the Idlib region of Syria, which is the region most recently attacked with chemical weapons. They have been subjected to countless atrocities for the last six years, and a large group of families from that region have congregated in an area called Almafraq-Jordan, which hosts more than 100,000 Syrian refugees, most of them are living in random, unofficial campsites on farmers’ private land. (It is very expensive for a refugee to be smuggled into Greece or other parts of Europe, and people without the means to pay to get further have stopped just beyond the border.)
There is no official government or humanitarian presence in these camps, which means the situation is even more dire than camps in other parts of the world. Children are suffering from malnutrition, dehydration, and illnesses left untreated because there is little to no access to medical care. There is no stable food supply, nor transportation to local markets in order to purchase food. Families are sleeping in tents made of cheap tarps buried in dirt in attempt to protect from rain, snakes, and scorpions—not only are these makeshift tents ineffective at keeping these out, they are also excruciatingly hot.
Many of the Syrian refugees in the Almafraq area are from a Bedouin background—their livelihood, which they lost when they ran for their lives, was caring for cattle, sheep and goats.
WHY GOATS?
We will give 400 of the most vulnerable families (those with small children and babies) in this region two female goats. These goats will produce daily milk which will provide critical vitamins and nutrition for the children. Families can also produce milk products such as butter and cheese. Beyond caring for their own families, they will be able to sell some of the product for a small source of income. Goats are low-maintenance animals who are able to eat the wild vegetation in this area. The Bedouin culture is also familiar with using goat fur to create tents, which provides a waterproof, wind-resistant, portable structure for protection from the elements that allows for much better ventilation.
Ok so here’s what I’m hoping for, since we can’t have all of you awesome people over for dinner to raise the money I was thinking we could try in whatever way works best for you to help them meet their goal. (While I’d love for us to to pull together to get a goat, there’s really no way to track that.) The key weekend is May 5-7. They’re looking to have the world band together and push to get to the goal. I figured we could help by donating, sharing pictures of our events (Mini’s planning on doing a lemonade stand) and just spreading the word.
I hope you’ll join us in anyway. Let’s do some good and get some goats!