July 2016 Archives

Livestock Challenge Day Six: Saving Lives in Mille

Mille is a moderate-sized Afar town about 90 minutes south of Semera that, on first glance, virtually indistinguishable from any of the other towns along the busy Djibouti-Addis highway. Pay a visit and you’ll notice a number of restaurants, a few hotels, and an assortment of stores and shops, all of which exist primarily to serve the truckers and tourists who pass through here en route to somewhere else. At risk of offending the local BIA, it’s safe to say that for most people Mille is not a destination, but a way-point on a longer (and more interesting) journey.

That is unless you’re a pregnant woman.

That’s because for nearly five years Mille has also been home to the Barbara May Maternity Hospital, an Australian-backed institution that offers a wide-range of medical services to expecting Afar women and their children.

Located on a hill just off the main highway with a great view of the town, the hospital was built here as a means of addressing the high rates of maternal-morbidity and mortality that have haunted the Afar region for decades.

CGA Team members Jason Kelly and Warren Creates pose with APDA's Valerie Browning outside the road to the Barbar May Maternity Hospital — *CGA Team members Jason Kelly and Warren Creates pose with APDA's Valerie Browning outside the road to the Barbara May Maternity Hospital in Mille, Afar*

The Afar have long had one of the highest rates of maternal mortality within Ethiopia, which itself boasts one of the worst rates in the world. The maternal mortality rate for the Afar region is 801 per 100,000 live births, compared to 673 per 100,000 for Ethiopia as a whole. (In comparison Canada’s maternal mortality rate is 6.2 per 100,000 live births.)

These numbers are darkly reflected by the very low female population in Afar, which is 44 percent compared to the national average of 51 percent. A number of factors contribute to these statistics.

According to the United Nations Population Fund, the lead UN agency in charge of maternal-child health, at 93 percent the Afar region has the highest unskilled birth attendance rates in Ethiopia. Combine this with a higher than average fertility rate of 5 children per woman (the national average is 4.8), the second-lowest rate of contraceptive prevalence in the country (6.5 percent, compared to 29 percent nationally), and the persistence of dangerous traditions like female genital mutilation, and you start to understand Afar’s higher than average levels of maternal mortality.

Thankfully, Barbara May is in Mille to help. Run by Dr. Margaret McDougald, a volunteer from Australia, the hospital has a staff of 40 that delivers babies -- and more -- to patients who come from all over the Afar. Dr. Margaret (as she’s affectionately known) oversees examinations, Cesarean sections, emergency surgeries, and more on compound that houses for permanent buildings, a water tower, and a series of deboytas for families to stay in. She also holds regular bi-weekly drop-in clinics where she conducts gynecological exams and provides sexual health advice.

Valerie and Dr. Margaret inside the hospital — *Valerie and Dr. Margaret meet inside the hospital*

Though the hospital existed for a relatively short period of time, word about its services have spread thanks in part to dagu, the traditional Afar system of oral communication and news. Afar women and families walk great distances, in some cases hundreds of kilometres, to get an appointment with Dr. Margaret or one of her staff.

Can-Go Afar is pleased to be a supporter of the Barbara May hospital, having provided medical supplies, infrastructure, equipment, and medical expertise since its inception in September 2011. On this day, the CGA team was here to deliver three suitcases of medical supplies from Canada to Dr. Margaret and her staff, as well as check in on a vaginal probe and portable ultrasound that was recently purchased with funds from The Can-Go Afar Foundation.

CGA Blog Day 6 Warren and Margaret medical supplies — *CGA team member Warren Creates presents medical supplies to Dr. Margaret and two staff members*

It’s an incredibly worthwhile cause, and we are fortunate to have found a local partner that is having such a positive effect of the lives of Afar women and children. Effective partnerships such as these are critical to a humanitarian organization like Can-Go Afar, which is committed to helping issues of health and well-being, and alleviating the effects of abject poverty in the Afar region.

*Dr. Margaret holds a portable ultrasound machine that was purchased with funds raised by the Can-Go Afar Foundation*

One of the ways we do this is by innovative fundraising efforts, like the Can-Go Afar Livestock Challenge our first crowd-funding campaign on GoFundMe.com. Once we learned that more than 2 million Afar goats and sheep died of thirst and starvation as a result of the 2015/2016 drought in the Horn of Africa, we knew we needed to take fast action.

With more than 200,000 Afar families currently in immediate need, The Can-Go Afar Livestock Challenge is hoping to raise $50,000 to help restock 1,000 goats and sheep that were lost during the drought. It’s straight-forward: $50 buys a goat, $100 will buy a sheep, and $500 buys enough goats for an Afar household of 12 people.

If we reach our goal, 100 of the neediest Afar households will receive a full complement of livestock and will be returned to their pre-drought conditions.

It couldn’t be simpler: Buy a goat (or a sheep), save a life.

To date we have raised more than $6,000. This is a great start, and we thank all of our supporters — but we need to keep the momentum going if we want to make a real and effective change for the better.

We encourage you to check out our project at GoFundMe.com/CanGoAfar and pledge to help the Afar — the oldest indigenous tribe on earth — get back on their feet.

If you would prefer to donate in a more traditional way, please go to go to our PayPal page or fill out our Donation Form on our website.

If you have already donated, please send this link to The Can-Go Afar Livestock Challenge (www.GoFundMe.com/cangoafar) with your family and friends. And please share it on social media, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Also be sure to keep an eye on our website for tomorrow’s blog post, where we meet a woman who got herself and her family back on her feet thanks to a micro-finance program that Can-Go Afar supports. You can also stay-up-to-date on our Facebook and Twitter pages, where we are posting photos daily.

Thanks, Inshalla, and Gaaxa Key from Afar!

Livestock Challenge Day Five (Part Two): To Biru and Beyond

Following an arduous (and hot) morning trip to check out the first of five water reservoirs being built in the Afar region of Ethiopia with support from The Can-Go Afar Foundation, the mission trip team spent the afternoon of Day Five heading even further afield, to an Afar village so remote it didn’t even have a name — and even less hope.

To call it a village would be a misnomer: this small settlement in the northern reaches of the Afar region was the farthest community removed from modern society that anybody on the CGA team could recall ever visiting. Living deep in the Great Rift Valley about 30 kms from Erta Ale lava lake, we came across a small community of Afar living on top of craggy expanse of rock.According to a clan elder, they came to this place from their home in neighbouring Eritrea three years ago after a volcano erupted, spewing ash and toxic gas that forced them south. Ever since they’ve been living in daboytas (traditional Afar huts) and homemade stone huts and surviving with the benefit of government help, which includes food aid and a water bladder that gets refilled every day.

As if life wasn’t difficult enough, the recent drought dried up the nearby pond and killed most of their livestock – what was left had to be taken by local men to another location so they could graze. On that day, there were only two kids (baby goats) in sight and elders asked us to help them.This situation, as hard as it was to witness, was a stark example of how critical livestock – specifically goats – are to the Afar way of life and continued existence.

“It’s everything really.” says Valerie Browning with CGA partner the Afar Pastoralists Development Association (APDA). “[Goats] are the equivalent of your bank account, your grocery store, your water, your food. It’s all their assets.”

In Afar goats are so prized that they are given right-of-way by vehicles, and if a driver kills one he must reimburse the owner. We were even told that the quality of Afar goats is so renowned that millions are sold – legally and on the black market – to buyers in the Middle East.

Given this, it shouldn’t come as surprise to learn that when an Afar household loses their herd it can threaten their very existence. Sometimes they are forced to cohabitate with relatives or other families, but that ends up placing stress on other Afar. The only solution, according o Valerie, is properly restocking lost Afar goats herds.

“This isn’t cheap” she says “you can’t just buy any raggedy old goat; it has to be a healthy one, one that can breed.”

A typical Afar household, which includes at least three generations, requires on average 10 goats; 9 female and 1 male. This allows them to breed and provides enough milk to go around, or sell. A healthy young goat costs on average 10,000 ETB (Ethiopian bihr) or $50 CDN (based on currency costs and market rates). An entire family can be restocked for $500 CDN.

“It’s like putting a family back on their feet” she says.

An Afar woman makes a traditional camel milk container — *An Afar woman weaves material to be used in constructing a daboyta, the traditional dwelling of the Afar*

This is exactly why we launched The Can-Go Afar Livestock Challenge on GoFundMe.com. Knowing how valuable a goat or a sheep is to the ancient Afar way life, and that more than 2 million Afar animals were lost during the historic 2015/2016 drought in the Horn of Africa, we knew we could not wait until next year’s annual fundraiser to help.

With more than 200,000 Afar families currently in immediate need, The Can-Go Afar Livestock Challenge, our first ever crowdfunding campaign, is hoping to generate $50,000 to help restock up to 1,000 goats and sheep that perished during the drought: $50 buys a goat, $100 will buy a sheep, $500 buys enough goats for an Afar household of 12 people.

If we reach our goal, 100 of the neediest Afar households will receive a full complement of livestock and will be returned to their pre-drought conditions.

It couldn’t be simpler: Buy a goat (or a sheep), save a life.

In the week days since we launched the Livestock Challenge on CBC Radio we have generated $5,400 which is more than 10% of our goal. This is a great start, and we thank all of our supporters — but we need to keep the momentum going if we want to make a real and effective change for the better.

We encourage you to check out our project at GoFundMe.com/CanGoAfar and pledge to help the Afar — the oldest indigenous tribe on earth — get back on their feet.

If you are a previous Can-Go Afar supporter, and would prefer to donate in more traditional way please go to go to our PayPal page or fill out our Donation Form on our website.

You can also stay-up-to-date on our Facebook and Twitter pages, where we are posting photos daily.

Thanks, Inshalla, and Gaaxa Key from Afar!

Livestock Challenge Day Five (Part One): The Hard Road to Bidu

After a Friday spent in Semera and nearby Loggia, the Can-Go Afar team woke up Saturday with one goal: to travel to the remote northern region of Bidu (pronounced biru in Afar) to check on the progress of a weir, or water reservoir, that is being built with some of the 1 million ETB (Ethiopian bihr).

After a delicious breakfast of ful (lentils in hot sauce) and too many macchiatoes at the Erta Ale Café, the CGA team hitched a ride with APDA’s Valerie Browning and began the long drive north to Bidu. Unfortunately the temperature in Afar was not our side, and what started as an already hot day (at 40 Celsius) began to climb, reaching 48 Celsius by the time we reached the Great Rift Valley at mid-day.

After three hours driving in a LandCruiser with negligible air-conditioning, the three of us were feeling especially steamy — and perhaps a tad grumpy.

Any grumpiness evaporated (along with our sweat) when we finally arrived at Soddonta, the remote Afar town where first weir/reservoir is being built. When we arrived we were taken aback by its size: 60 meters by 60 meters and 2 meters in depth, when complete it will be capable of holding 7,200 cubic litres of water – which translates into more than 7 million litres.

It took three APDA workers five days to clear away the amount of earth you see in these photos, and Valerie says APDA is planning on having it completed in time for rainy season in Afar, which happens in July or August. Once complete, the weir/reservoir will create a massive pond of fresh water that will support the hundreds Afar men, women, and children in the district.

Feeling impressed and inspired, the CGA seized the moment to present an official cheque from Can-Go Afar to APDA for 1 million ETB that was raised during our annual gala fundraiser in April. With the balance of the money APDA will construct four more weirs in the Afar areas hit hardest by the 2015/2016 drought.

The Bidu reservoir certainly qualifies as “in need”, being located in the Great Rift Valley — an area that is severe and eerily beautiful. With a landscape shaped by the eruptions of numerous volcanoes over the centuries (including the famous Erta Ale, which is about 60 kilometres away) and one of the thinnest volcanic mantles on earth, the land in the Bidu region is breathtaking and treacherous.

And as beaten up as we were feeling (Warren Creates called it his toughest day in Afar in 11 trips), we couldn’t shake the feeling that the Afar people are faced with this reality every day.

This reservoir building effort, combined with Can-Go Afar’s Livestock Challenge, will help the Afar truly get back on their feet after the devastating 2015/2016 drought that impacted more than 10 million and is considered the worst in Ethiopia in 50 years.

Some of the worst affected were the Afar tribe, who already live in the hottest (and thirstiest) inhabited place on earth, in a region that is too desolate for many NGOs or aid agencies to travel too. With more than 200,000 Afar families currently in immediate need, The Can-Go Afar Foundation decided that we could not wait until our next gala fundraiser in 2017 to provide help. That’s why we launched The Can-Go Afar Livestock Challenge, our first-ever crowdfunding campaign.

Our GoFundMe initiative aims to generate $50,000 to help restock up to 1,000 goats and sheep that perished during the drought. $50 will buy a goat (breeding-age), $100 will buy a sheep, and $500 buys enough goats for an Afar household of 12 people.

If we reach our goal, 100 of the neediest Afar households will receive a full complement of livestock and will be returned to their pre-drought conditions.

It couldn’t be simpler: Buy a goat (or a sheep), save a life.

In the four days since we launched the Livestock Challenge on CBC Radio we have generated $5,250 which is more than 10% of our goal. This is a great start, and we thank all of our supporters — but we need to keep the momentum going if we want to make a real and effective change for the better.

We encourage you to check out our project at GoFundMe.com/CanGoAfar and pledge to help the Afar — the oldest indigenous tribe on earth — get back on their feet.

If you are a previous Can-Go Afar supporter, and would prefer to donate in more traditional way please go to go to our PayPal page or fill out our Donation Form on our website.

Also be sure to keep an eye on our website for tomorrow’s blog post, as we visit the remote Bidu Woreda and see a weir as its being built. You can also stay-up-to-date on our Facebook and Twitter pages, where we are posting photos daily.

Thanks, Inshalla, and Gaaxa Key from Afar!

Livestock Challenge Day Three & Four: From Addis to Afar

As much as we enjoy Addis Abeba, after two days the Can-Go Afar team had collectively spent enough time in the urban jungle that is Ethiopia’s capital city. So, on Friday we packed our bags, bid farewell to Addis, and boarded an 8 a.m. flight to Semera, the capital of the Afar State.

Within an hour we had traded the cool damp weather of Addis for the dry hot climate of Afar. As we stepped of the Bombardier turbo-prop plane in Semera the contrast was striking, as we were greeted by a blast of 35 C heat; twice the temperature of Addis.

Can-Go Afar's Warren Creates and Jason Kelly

Luckily, we were also greeted by a team of local friends arranged by our local partners at the Afar Pastoralists Development Association (APDA). After being dropped off at the hotel for a quick rest, the CGA team drove to Loggia, a bustling village south of Semera that is home to APDA and its Executive Director, Valerie Browning, aka “Maleeka”.

As the Program Coordinator of APDA, the oldest and largest humanitarian non-profit organization in Afar, Valerie oversees more than 1,000 people and two dozen projects throughout the vast region.

Among those are many that are funded and supported by Can-Go Afar, which has cultivated a very positive working relationship with APDA (and Valerie) over the past decade.

Today we were here to check in on some ongoing projects and touch base on some new ones being funded by the 1 million ETB (Ethiopian bihr) raised at our 9^th Annual Gala Fundraising event in Ottawa. As promised at that event, these initiatives are focused exclusively on providing drought relief, recovery, and prevention in the form of food aid, medical aid, livestock recovery, and the building of weirs (a type of dam) in the hardest hit woredas (districts).

According to Valerie, weirs give an Afar community the ability to withstand and survive drought conditions by collecting up to 7,200 cubic litres of rain water over the course of a year. That translates to more than 1 million litres of water that can be used for livestock, to cultivate plants and wildlife, and of course to drink.

“This is a highly significant project” she says “In the short-term weirs will provide water for the Afar and their animals to thrive, and in the long-term will foster the growth of plants and trees.”

“Weirs have a tremendous roll-on effect as well. As there’ll be less need to migrate, they help keep families together, and they really bolster the Afar’s pastoralist lifestyle. In short, this project will allow them to live an easier life.”

This effort, combined with Can-Go Afar’s Livestock Challenge, will help the Afar truly get back on their feet after the devastating drought of 2015/2016 that affected more than 10 million and is considered the worst in Ethiopia in 50 years.

Some of the worst affected were of course the Afar, who already live in the hottest (and thirstiest) inhabited place on earth, in a region that is too desolate for many NGOs or aid agencies to travel too.

With more than 200,000 Afar families currently in immediate need, The Can-Go Afar Foundation decided that we could not wait until our next gala fundraiser in 2017 to provide help. That’s why we launched The Can-Go Afar Livestock Challenge, our first ever crowdfunding campaign.

If we reach our goal, 100 of the neediest Afar households will receive a full complement of livestock and will be returned to their pre-drought conditions.

It couldn’t be simpler: Buy a goat (or a sheep), save a life.

We encourage you to check out our project at GoFundMe.com/CanGoAfar and pledge to help the Afar — the oldest indigenous tribe on earth — get back on their feet.

If you are a previous Can-Go Afar supporter, and would prefer to donate in more traditional way please go to go to our PayPal page or fill out our Donation Form on our website.

Thanks, Inshalla, and Gaaxa Key from Afar!

Livestock Challenge Day Two: On the Ground

Today was Can-Go Afar Mission 12 team's second day in Ethiopia, and we awoke to a cool and crisp day Addis Abeba. Our day got off to a great when we met with two Afar post-secondary students that Can-Go Afar supports in their studies in the capital city.

Yusuf Issa, a second-year Nursing student, and Shehim Ibrahim Mohammed, a first-year Business Administration student, both are attending Rift Valley University in Addis thanks to a program from Can-Go Afar that supports Afar youth attending post-secondary studies. For the past seven years we have been dedicated to paying full tuition, rent, food, transportation, books and other expenses for five a year.Since the project began, Can-Go Afar has seen 10 students graduate through the program, which we see as critical to our mission to support and encourage Afar health and well-being.

After a quick lunch, the CGA team traveled to the Canadian Embassy where we met with staff to discuss our efforts in the Afar region over the past decade. Over a 90-minute meeting with Ian E Hardy, Charges D'Affaires at the Canadian Embassy and Abebech Assefa, Head of Development (Acting) at the Embassy, we discussed CGA formation in 2008 and our many activities in the years since, including food aid, water filters, maternal and child health, drought relief, and education support.

The Embassy staff were impressed with the breadth and depth of CGA's efforts in the Afar region, and the successes of our projects to date, including our current initiative to build three weirs (a type of damn) in the Afar to help them survive future droughts, like the catastrophic one that ended in March 2016.

The GoFundMe initiative aims to generate $50,000 to help restock up to 1,000 goats and sheep that perished during the drought. $50 will buy a goat (breeding-age), $100 will buy a sheep, and $500 buys enough goats for an Afar household of 12 people.

If we reach our goal, 100 Afar household will receive a full complement of livestock and will be returned to their pre-drought conditions.

In the two days since we launched the Livestock Challenge on CBC Radio we have generated more than $4,000, which is nearly 10% of our goal. This is a great start, and we thank all of our supporters — but we need to keep the momentum going.

As we prepare to travel to the Afar region on Friday, we encourage you to check out our project at GoFundMe.com/CanGoAfar and pledge to help the Afar — the oldest indigenous tribe on earth — get back on their feet.

It couldn’t be more simple: Buy a goat (or sheep), save a life.

If you are a previous Can-Go Afar supporter, and would prefer to donate in more traditional way please go to go to our PayPal page or fill out our Donation Form on our website.

Also be sure to keep an eye on our website for daily blog posts from the field, and stay-up-to-date on our Facebook and Twitter pages.

Thanks/Inshalla/Gaaxa Key!

Livestock Challenge Day One: Up in the Air

Hello from Addis Ababa!

After months of planning the team members for Can-Go Afar's Mission 12 were up at the crack of dawn this Tuesday to board an 8 a.m. flight out of Ottawa and begin their journey to Ethiopia. After one regrettable Canada Customs snafu at Pearson Airport -- and a resulting chauffeured lift to our departure gate -- the CGA team was officially ready to head to Addis Ababa, the beautiful high-altitude capital city that will play host to the first leg of Mission 12.Nearly 13 hours later we landed in Addis, claimed all of our bags -- including an over-sized cheque for one-million Ethiopian bihr -- and headed to our hotel to recoup and recover. After ingesting a few machiattos (Ethiopia's signature coffee drink of choice) the team met with representatives from the Afar Pastoralist Development Association (APDA), our local partners in the Afar region, to discuss ongoing projects funded by CGA.

The 1-million ETB CGA cheque represents approximately $60,000 CDN in funds raised during our annual gala in April. This is being used to build three weirs (a type of damn) in the Dupti region of Afar and to provide immediate food aid to Afar living in the remote Bidi region of north-eastern Ethiopia.

As many of you know, the Afar region of Ethiopia was severely impacted by the 2015/2016 drought which is now considered to be the worst the country has seen since the 1980s.

According to Ethiopia, by the time the rains arrived in April an estimated 10 million Ethiopians found themselves in a food-insecure situation. The indigenous nomadic Afar, who number some 1.5 million in Ethiopia, were hit hardest with nearly 2 million of their life-sustaining livestock dying as a result of the parched conditions.

Team Leader Warren Creates leads the way to our next partners meeting — *Team Leader Warren Creates leads the way in Addis Ababa*

With more than 200,000 Afar families currently in immediate need, The Can-Go Afar Foundation decided that we could not wait until our next gala fundraiser in 2017 to provide help. That's why we launched The Can-Go Afar Livestock Challenge, our first ever crowdfunding campaign.

If we reach our goal, 100 Afar household will receive a full complement of livestock and will be returned to their pre-drought conditions.

As we prepare to travel to the Afar region on Friday, we encourage you to check out our project at GoFundMe.com/CanGoAfar and pledge to help the Afar -- the oldest indigenous tribe on earth -- get back on their feet.

It couldn't be more simple: Buy a goat (or sheep), save a life.

If you are a previous Can-Go Afar supporter, and would prefer to donate in more traditional way please go to go to our PayPal page or fill out our Donation Form on our website.

If you have already donated, please send this link to The Can-Go Afar Livestock Challenge www.GoFundMe.com/cangoafar with your family and friends. And please share it on social media, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Also be sure to keep an eye on our website for daily blog posts from the field, and stay-up-to-date on our Facebook and Twitter pages.

Thanks/Inshalla/Gate ge

Can-Go Afar’s Livestock Challenge aims to raise $50,000 to replenish much-needed livestock lost during drought in Afar region

July 6, 2016, Ottawa, Canada — A local charity is using its latest mission to Ethiopia to kick-off its first-ever online crowdfunding campaign, which aims to help the indigenous nomadic Afar tribe replace some of the estimated 2 million goats and sheep that perished during the recent drought.

As part of its 12^th Mission, which is scheduled July 12–21, Can-Go Afar will be launching The Can-Go Afar Livestock Challenge, a crowdfunding effort on GoFundMe.com with the goal of raising $50,000 CDN to buy much-needed livestock for the Afar people and families most affected by the drought.

“With more than 2 million livestock killed as a result of the devastating drought in Ethiopia, this will be our most important mission to date.” says Warren Creates, Honorary President of Can-Go Afar. “The need is massive. Goats and sheep are the very lifeblood of the pastoralist Afar people, providing them with milk and food during their daily travels in what’s been called the hottest inhabited place on earth. We need to help them get back on their feet as soon as possible.”

Funds raised by the online campaign, which will go live on July 12, 2016, will be used to buy livestock for Afar families: with goats costing $50 CDN and sheep costing $75 CDN. If the campaign reaches its goal it will generate enough funds to buy nearly 1,000 goats or 700 sheep: enough to fully restock 100 Afar households.

This inaugural crowdfunding campaign is timed to coincide with Can-Go Afar’s latest mission to Ethiopia, which will see a team of five volunteers from Ottawa fly to the Afar region to deliver $65,000 CDN ($1 million Ethiopian bihr) raised during the organization’s 9^th Annual Fundraising Gala in April.

Mission 12 participants include: Warren Creates (immigration lawyer and co-founder of Can-Go Afar), Professor Joseph Magnet (University of Ottawa Constitutional scholar and Afar advisor), Jason Kelly (Businessman and VP of Can-Go Afar), Ahmed Mohamed (Afar leader), and Brad Mackay (award-winning writer and Communications Manager for Can-Go Afar).

For the first time, Can-Go Afar will also be live-blogging the nine-day Mission with a series of daily updates available on their website www.CanGoAfar.ca. The Can-Go Afar Livestock Challenge will go live on Canadian website www.GoFundMe.com the morning of July 12, 2016.

Contacts:

Warren Creates, wcreates@perlaw.ca, wcreates@mmd.fts.mybluehost.me, 613-220-4995

Brad Mackay, mackbrad@gmail.com

www.CanGoAfar.ca