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.CGA blog Pearson 2Nearly 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.

CGA blog cheque ottawaThe 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.

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.

gofundme-logoAs 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

Livestock Challenge Day Eight: Fostering learning in the desert

Livestock Challenge Day Seven: Journey to Djibouti

Livestock Challenge Day Six: Saving Lives in Mille

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

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

Livestock Challenge Day Three & Four: From Addis to Afar

Livestock Challenge Day Two: On the Ground

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 12th 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 9th Annual Fundraising Gala in April.

Join Can-Go Afar's Livestock Challenge!

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

Mission 11 - November 2015

Mission 11: Can-Go Afar Thanks You!

Mission 11 is just nearing the end of our 2 weeks in the Afar Region in support of the humanitarian and charitable work which, with your generous support, we have now been funding for 8 years. It has been a great trip. We have enhanced our many relationships here, met with our local implementing partners, interviewed our beneficiaries, and decided on new funding models. It is absolutely thrilling to be impactful, for a community of people who are so inspiring, so hospitable, and so grateful.

I have attached a few photographs that represent just some of our work: Fatuma is a women who lives in Asayita (the former ancient capital of one of the 5 Afar Sultanates). She is part of an income-generating collective of women who are preserving Afar craft work and making a modest revenue by selling their products. Fatuma is holding a camel milk bowl that she spent a week making. Can-Go Afar bought it and will auction it (with this great proud photo) at our next gala fundraiser.

The second photo is of young healthy girls in the small hamlet of Arta Ou‎, population only about 50, which is a very traditional pastoralist community. We were welcomed overnight and slept under the stars with their camels in this remote community.

The 3rd photo is of 2 young men who we met while traveling the Shifra Road, crossing through a region deeply affected by the severe drought that has put incredible strain on a wide region, causing significant disease and collapse in livestock herds. These young men are camel herders. We shared our water supply with them. We have also funded a drought relief project sending food and hygienic products into the remote barrens of the Afar Region.

Finally, and perhaps most significantly, we spent time with some of the 25 women who are part of a micro-finance project in Arta Ou. ‎ They are engaged in livestock fattening and trade, an ancient practice which the Afar know so well. But in this case the women, who are the head of the family household, are buying, selling, making profit, saving, and supporting the health of their families and the future of their children through education. Earlier this year we funded this initiative in this region, did so this trip with a small investment, and hope to do a lot more of it in the coming months. These micro-finance income generating projects build capacity and insulate communities from the vulnerability of global warming, drought, and threats to their livestock. This is a simple, small-scale initiative, however, the profit, savings, and re-investment track record of these women is impressive.

Perhaps the relationship we are most excited about is that with the maternity hospital which is saving the lives of women and their babies. ‎ We bring medical supplies which they have trouble sourcing, purchase important medical devices for use by the staff, provide medical and engineering expertise, and do everything we can to enable them to do what they are extremely good at: reducing the maternal death rate of Afar women, who have suffered from one of the worst and highest incidence of maternal mortality in the world.

Thank you all for your kind support! We are particularly thankful to our major donors, Mark Janoska and Martin Low, who have joined the trip this year. Traveling with them and introducing them to the wonders and challenges of the Afar People has been a complete joy!

Warren
President
The Can-Go Afar Foundation

Dr. Margaret during her visit to Ottawa

Dr. Margaret visit to Ottawa

Many thanks to those who came out to welcome Dr. Margaret during her visit to Ottawa this weekend. Dr. Margaret runs the Barbara May Maternity Hospital which serves mothers and babies in the Afar region of Ethiopia.

Thanks to the generosity of those who came out this weekend Can-Go Afar was able to buy the hospital a mobile ultrasound machine. Many thanks ! And Godspeed to Dr. Margaret!

Greetings from the Afar region, Ethiopia

Once again, Ethiopia has welcomed Can-Go Afar to it’s ancient soil with open arms. Now on our 10th Mission to this inspiring land, the Can-Go Afar team is 10 people strong, comprised of Board Directors, donors and practitioners – each with their unique combination of enthusiasm and expertise.

Our schedule consists of daily visits and planning meetings with local partners to discuss existing projects, consider how they are progressing and review how Can-Go Afar can best enhance a more meaningful future for our beneficiaries.

As visitors, we are witness to the, at times, dizzying complexity that seems inevitable in a country characterized by contradictions, where tradition and modernity are not always easy companions.  Our journey has taken us from the loud, busy, chaotic streets of Addis Ababa, where goats can be seen crossing congested intersections under the watchful eye of an urban shepherd, to the arid desert landscapes of the Afar Region where the sand and wind are  constant playmates.

We are now in Semera, capital of the Afar Region.  Follow us as we go…