Kindergartens for Vulnerable Children in Darfur

As you know, education is the best long-term way out of poverty, and the earlier children start at school the more chance they have. That is why our Kindergartens are so badly needed in Darfur, where poverty is extreme. With an early education, children will be on the same educational track as those who are more fortunate, not falling behind due to lack of access. Think about when you were in Kindergarten. The early years are when children are at their most receptive. I am sure you still remember the essential skills you learned, plus how important it was to be with children your own age, learning to share, play, and to read and write. Kindergarten is the start to education, without which further schooling is limited and often out of reach. 

Our Kindergartens provide so much- not only classes and a teacher, but also much needed goats milk brought in by mothers in the village looking to help the poorest children. The latest report from Abu Nahala highlights "There are Citrus Fruit and Guava trees, Baobab and Neem trees in the Kindergarten growing very well." Trees planted outside the Kindergarten provide food and shade to the children attending the school. Everything we do is interlinked. If we are sending children to Kindergarten, we must ensure they have access to food so they can concentrate and properly benefit from the education that is given. This is why provision of seeds for planting trees in the schoolyard, and our goat loans are so important. Abu Nahala is providing education not only for children in the village, but it has also been possible for "20 kids to come to school from adjacent sub villages on the donkey cart".

In recent reports from Azagarfa and Abu Nahala Kindergartens, the teachers told us that neither of these schools have any children who are malnourished. This is a real testament to the Kids for Kids projects. The UN recently reported that children are malnourished in every village except the 87 Kids for Kids' villages.

However there is always more to do. At Abu Nahala, some of the poorest of the 75 students do not have breakfast in the morning. There are not enough notebooks and other teaching materials. We must do more to ensure our Kindergartens provide everything that is needed to give children the best chance possible for their futures. There could not be more deserving children. Their lives are incredibly hard. They will never have seen a toy before going to our Kids for Kids' school. 

Every year we have countless villages asking us to adopt them because they have seen how effective our projects are. There were 37 villages on our short list last year and we are only able to adopt five, approximately 10,500 people. Donations have crashed this year with so many other problems in the world, and in 2018 we are only going to be able to adopt three of those villages. We so desperately want to do as much as we can for children and families who live lives of deprivation. Building more Kindergartens will change the future for countless children because education is the route out of poverty. Please continue to help us help these children. Thank you.