Help Mothers and Girls Earn a Brighter Future

Hassina is 40 years old with six children living in Teiga Village, one of the newest Kids for Kids villages. Four years ago, Hassina’s first husband Osman died and she re-married, a man named Eltayib. She had three children with Osman and now has three more with Eltayib, meaning six children in total and three under the age of five. Her home consists of two small huts – one where the family lives, and one for the kitchen. Last year because of the drought they had very little food, and Hassina had no means of earning any money to send her children to school.

“When it rains I can grow millet, okra, vegetables, watermelon, ground nuts, and sesame” says Hassina. “My family can eat these items and sell some to purchase other food. When it does not rain I cannot get milk or meat for my children, and we must eat very poor food.  Now we have been eating assida, which I make from sorghum and haven't had anything to add to it.   No milk, no vegetables and no meat.   I worry for my children's health."

Hassina’s youngest daughter exhibits clear signs of malnutrition. The absence of protein shows clearly, turning her hair from dark to light. This is just one of the visible signs, but a malnourished child is at risk of suffering physical and cognitive impairment for their whole lives. Deficiencies in necessary nutrients at an early age when a child is growing is detrimental.   One cup of goat's milk a day transforms a child's health.

This is why our help is so important. Hassina has just received five goats, a donkey, two mosquito nets, two blankets, farm tools and a donkey plough to help increase the amount of land she can cultivate.   Hassina will be able to provide milk for her children, ensuring they are no longer malnourished, and sell excess milk and yoghourt.   When at last she has a harvest she will be able to sell  any excess she grows at the market to earn extra income.  She is planning to send her children to school. Our help is enabling her to help herself and her family.

Hassina is just one of the women that has been chosen as a first-generation beneficiary from our five new villages. Two weeks ago we completed our final inception meetings with the whole villages, where the community democratically identified the families (15% in each village) that would be the first to benefit from Kids for Kids projects. 154 women will be given the basic essentials that will enable them to begin helping their families out of poverty.    Additionally the village as a whole benefits from the training we give them, especially in accountability and book keeping, and the training for volunteers to become midwives, paravets and first aid workers.

Now that Hassina and her friends have 'household assets' they have status and at last are listened to in village meetings.    Who would think that goats, blankets, farm tools and the other simple things Kids for Kids provides with your help could change women's lives so dramatically.    Hassina is looking forward to the future, not just for herself, but for her daughters too!

Your support for this project is making it possible for people like Hassina to create a better life for herself and for her children. By continuing to support and share this project with others, you can help us help more women to feel empowered, giving them the tools to change their futures for good.

Links:

• It is the 'Hungry Months' in Darfur right now - read more here.

You are all fantastic!!  In March we launched this project, and to date we have already raised $10,107/£7,268 from a total of 129 donations.

As you may know, Kids for Kids shares its Birthday with International Women's Day, and this year your individual contributions to this project added up to an outstanding $5,517.  Your response earned us an additional $625 from GlobalGiving matching the donations at 30%, and a bonus prize of $200 because we came in 4th of all projects with the most donations.   All of this added up to a total of $6,342 raised in just one day - thanks to YOU!

Because we are proud of the fact that the maximum possible is spent directly to help families in Darfur - we do everything we can to minimise administration, both here and in Sudan, relying for the most part on wonderful volunteers - every extra dollar means something extra to help children. The funds raised through this project have been put towards our projects helping women in the five villages we have adopted this year:  Javina, Matawy, Teiga, Um Gulla & Um Jum Jum.  Every year, whilst continuing to ensure the smooth running of our projects in villages we have adopted in previous years - 87 to date -  we are also committed to adopting as many new villages as our funds make possible. This year started with the appalling news that there is famine in Darfur and mothers are struggling to feed their children. We are not an emergency organization, but we cannot let people and animals starve so we have been raising funds separately to help in this dire situation.  This is one example of the unforeseen circumstances that we must have the funds to help in, which makes GlobalGiving's projects such an asset to our work, but we can assure you that All the funds donated to this project will go to Empowering Women in Darfur.

With this money we are able to provide projects to the poorest women in our five new villages, helping them to take control of their own lives for the first time ever. In the poorest 15% of families in each village, the mother has been lent a flock of six goats and a donkey. The goats milk will provide nutrients to her children and she can sell the surplus in the market to earn her first ever income.  For most mothers this will be the first money she has ever owned herself and it gives her the freedom to make choices for her family.   She has also been given a donkey which will help to carry the milk to market.  Donkeys are the only form of transport in Darfur. Families have also already received blankets to keep the children warm at night and safe from chest infections.  A blanket is such a small possession but elevates a woman's status in her village more than you can imagine. One beneficiary, Khajida, said "when people knew I had two blankets they started listening to me in the village meetings.  They saw I had household assets and was no longer the poorest in the village." We will also be training two women from each of these villages as midwives, but we need to raise more funds. Please can you help?  Midwives are the only hope mothers have of giving birth safely.  To help children, we must empower their mothers by giving them the tools to create a better life.

I am so hopeful you will continue to support this project.  The change you are helping us to create is beyond anything you can imagine. Even the smallest amount will go so far in Darfur, where women have so little. The families we help are some of the most deprived in the world and have never received any help at all.  By empowering women to take control of their own lives we are helping them to create a better future for generations to come.

Huda and her husband had four small children.   Last year they only managed to produce one sack of flour - not enough for the family to eat all year.  They felt they had no alternative but to leave their village and try to seek help elsewhere - but there is little help available in Sudan, which is in serious financial difficulties.    It was a dismal, worrying time.  But then they heard that Kids for Kids was going to help their village.   They decided to stay and were chosen to receive the goat loan.   Huda said "Kids for Kids' programme changes concepts by helping us with 6 goats and a donkey, and other services, and makes the rural areas more attractive through many projects for our life - health, water, education for our children.  We have proper farm tools now.   Things we have never had.   I am now happy and my husband stays too. My children are safe."

Please get in touch with any questions about our work.   Thank you.

Links:

• Visit our Website to Learn More about our Projects in Darfur