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.
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.
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.
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/Gaaxa Key!
