There is virtually no infrastructure, no water supply, no roads, no health care, no electricity, and only limited access to basic education. As subsistence farmers, families rely on what they grow. In a region that is at the forefront of climate change with regular droughts followed by floods becoming an annual problem destroying harvests.
Kids for Kids was founded 20 years ago on the 8th March 2001, when our Founder and CEO Patricia Parker MBE was visiting her son in Sudan. An encounter with a nine-year-old child whose walk for water for his younger siblings took seven hours just to reach a handpump was the catalyst for Kids for Kids.
Children in Darfur are malnourished, with crops failing and annual incomes today of less than £12.00 it is hard for families to feed their children a proper diet. This is where our key project comes in. Goat loans – Kids for Kids provides 5 nanny goats to a family in need. The milk from these animals provides essential protein, minerals and vitamins that combat malnutrition in children. Mothers can sell surplus milk and yoghurt at market and earn an income, a livelihood, for the first time ever. Allowing women to raise themselves out of poverty. After 2 years when the herd has grown, the family will donate another 5 nanny goats to another family in need and so on. Goats truly are saving lives in Darfur!
Our other projects include construction of kindergartens bringing accessible education to hundreds of children, the training of midwives and first-aid workers bringing healthcare to villages for the first time. Supporting pregnant women and new mothers and helping to deliver happy and healthy babies. As well as goat loans we also provide donkeys to families. These incredible animals are a lifeline to struggling families. By helping to collect water, it frees up time for women to earn a living and children to gain an education. We make sure there are trained paravets in each community who carry out basic veterinary care for the goats and donkeys and provide basic husbandry education.
As Darfur is continually suffering through the effects of climate change, Kids for Kids works to counteract these issues by planting drought resistant trees in villages and around schools. These provide shade for children and as many are fruit bearing trees, they provide an extra source of nutrition.
Whilst Kids for Kids is not an emergency organisation we will never turn our backs on the people of Darfur when they need our help the most. Recent flooding in many areas meant that mosquitoes were breeding. This caused an increase in cases of malaria which put hungry and malnourished children at further risk. We provided 2 mosquito nets to every family along with blankets for children to sleep on. With many families sleeping on the bare sand they are at risk of insect borne diseases from sandflies. These basic things could mean the difference between life and death.
As Covid-19 arrived across the globe it also arrived in the villages in Darfur. With water and healthcare, a limited resource, Kids for Kids decided that the only way these communities could protect themselves was through washing their hands. Kids for Kids launched a soap appeal, providing 5 bars of soap to every family along with illustrated instructions on the best way to wash hands.
Kids for Kids is proud to work alongside the communities themselves, empowering people, families and communities. Each village that Kids for Kids works with creates a volunteer board who then decide what projects would be of benefit the most to the community and to individuals themselves. Community-led sustainable projects that directly link into several of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
