The Can-Go Afar Livestock Challenge

Possible.

It’s a word that you hear a lot in East Africa, often expressed as a kind of dodge; a non-committal reply that toes-the-line between an outright Yes or No. But in the Afar region of The Horn of Africa the word takes on a hopeful meaning as well, and can often be heard being used interchangeably with Inshalla (“God Willing” in Arabic).        

In other words, anything is possible.

This hopeful spirit, even in the face of incredible odds, is what drives everything we do at The Can-Go Afar Foundation .

One of the only non-profit organizations in the world dedicated to providing humanitarian aid to the indigenous Afar people, The Can-Go Afar Foundation knows how fragile life can be for the estimated 3 million Afar living inside Ethiopia, Djibouti and Eritrea.

The Afar people are nomadic pastoralists, and have practiced their traditional way of life—travelling the desert with their families and raising goats and sheep—in one of the world’s hottest regions for more than 2,000 years.  


Their ancestral land, The Danakil Depression, receives an average of 10-20 centimeters of rain a year and boasts temperatures that can crest above 50 Celsius (122 Fahrenheit), leading National Geographic magazine to dub it "the hottest inhabited place on earth."

Despite these extreme conditions, the Afar have survived and thrived in the region for generations thanks to a unique combination of ingenuity, tenacity and generosity.
Then in July 2015 a drought – the worst in 50 years – began in the region. By the time the rains returned eight months later, an estimated 10 million people (including hundreds of thousands of Afar) were left hungry and threatened, on the brink of death. Luckily, in the months since, many of the worst affected have begun recovering from this historic catastrophe.

But the Afar were dealt an additional blow: more than 2 million of their precious livestock (primarily goats and sheep) were killed as a result of the drought. Given how critical these animals are to their existence the loss is a potentially life-threatening one.

It’s practically impossible to overstate how critical goats and sheep are to the Afar culture, not to mention their existence. As nomadic pastoralists, the Afar have centuries of experiences in animal husbandry and take great pride in the quality of their goats and sheep.

“It’s everything really.” says Valerie “Malika” Browning, Program Coordinator for the Afar Pastoralists Development Association (APDA), a key local partner for Can-Go Afar in Ethiopia. “[Goats] are the equivalent of your bank account, your grocery store, your water, your food. It’s all their assets.”

Goats are so prized in Afar that vehicles are expected to give them right-of-way, and if a driver kills one he must reimburse the owner. Reputedly the high-quality of Afar goats is so renowned that millions are sold – legally and illegally – to buyers in the Middle East.   

The Can-Go Afar Livestock Challenge is our way to help address the humanitarian crisis in the Afar region in a direct, innovative and concrete way.

An initiative of the Ottawa, Canada-based Can-Go Afar Foundation, this crowd-funding campaign aims to raise $50,000 that will be used to purchase new livestock for the Afar households that were most affected by the drought.

Goats cost $50*, sheep cost $100, and a full family of goats cost $500. For a full list of Donation Levels see the right-side of this page. (*Note: prices are based on market prices and exchange rates.) If we reach our goal this campaign will allow us to buy 1,000 goats or nearly 700 sheep, enough to get 100 of the neediest Afar households back on their feet.


Given the massive need, The Can-Go Afar Livestock Challenge will have a 30-day time-period. All funds (minus GoFundMe fees) will go directly to those most in need in the Afar region.

It’s simple: buy a goat (or sheep), save a life.

$50,000 might seem like a lofty goal, but we know the need is real and must be addressed quickly.

We also know that in the Afar anything is possible.

Thanks, Inshalla, and Gaxxa Key (Thanks, in Afar).        


To learn more about The Can-Go Afar Foundation and its activities, watch the video below or visit  www.cangoafar.ca.


Be sure to check our website regularly for updates and blog posts from Can-Go Afar's Mission Trip #12 on the ground in Ethiopia and Djibouti, to see first-hand what Can-Go Afar is doing to help the Afar recover from this historic drought.  

Follow us on Twitter at Twitter.com/CanGoAfar .

Like us on Facebook at Facebook.com/CanGoAfar .

* All donations made from within Canada are 100% tax deductible.