Food and Self-Reliance for AIDS Orphans

As we entered our second year of our partnership with AFCA and the goat project (we had a herd of around 50 goats at that time with some does pregnant), I remember Tanya asking if we wanted to expand the herd.  Our reply was – ‘Not yet, let us get established with this number first, we still have a lot to learn.’  Well, we are into our third year and like it or not our herd has expanded to just under 100!  We are STILL learning and STILL have a lot to learn, but it has been a fun time with some heartaches along the way, but so many more highs than lows.  Meeting the folks who join AFCA’s visiting teams has been a definite high, making friends that often feel like family by the time they leave.  Sharing what we are doing with the teams and their enthusiasm refreshes us for the harder days we face.  Right now, our major concern is the drought and the scarcity of water in our region. 

Mamas with big tummies are waddling around preparing to surprise us with a delivery or two!  Already this birthing time we have been presented with 11 babies.  In that number are included twins by our half Kalahari doe.  Bruce is the father, so we are getting closer to breeding pure Kalahari Red goats.  The twins, Henri and Mercy are also amongst the 11 and are a good size.  We anticipate they will be fine specimens when they are full-grown. 

Before we left for break there were two mamas, Marci and Demmy, who were obviously so close to delivery.  We were sure they would deliver before we left and so we visited them regularly, day and night, to see how they were doing and begging them to birth before we left.  The last thing we did before getting into the car, on the day we left, was to check on them once more – but nothing.   We were eager to meet these babies as they would be Fred’s first babies to be born since his arrival on the farm in March of this year.  No sooner did we arrive in town (a 90 minute drive) than I received a text saying BOTH of them had given birth!!!  Marci produced a whopping 8 pound doeling and Demmy presented us with a set of twins; a buckling weighing in at 6 ½ pounds and a girl at 6 pounds.  Well done Fred!  This will hopefully be the start of the milking herd.  In a little more than a year these two girls should be producing their own babies and therefore milk.  A number of does who are due to deliver soon are first timers.  It is good to be close by to help if necessary, although our assistance is seldom needed!

Last month we delivered to two further beneficiaries: Easy received Tess, Cocoa and Hobo, while Jabulani received Marty McFly, Toot Toot and Mango.  Jabulani had a smile from ear to ear when he visited us, a few  weeks after receiving his does, to tell us that they had all birthed and he now had eight goats!  In just over a month his herd more than doubled! 

One of the challenges we had to face with a larger herd was staffing.  We needed to employ another man for the goat team and asked Keith to join us.  He lives on the border of the ranch and is the son of a lady, Emma, who we often ask to help in the camp when we have visiting teams with us.  Talking of additional helpers, we had a young man spend a few days with us and he asked if there was something he could do to help us.  NEVER do you ask me that question unless you seriously want to help!  Micah sat for several days updating the goat records, from the simplest of data collection to the more ‘interesting’ activity of creating new records following buck and doe progeny.  LOTS of work!  He did a great job as I had not been able to fully update the records since the start of our teams arriving in June. 

Thanks for taking the time to share our triumphs and challenges.  Please keep us in your prayers and thoughts as we struggle through this dry time towards the hope of early rains.

Finally, I read this today and felt there is a lot of truth in it, so I share it with you! 

A great thinker was asked, ‘What is the meaning of life?’  He replied, ‘Life itself has no meaning, it is an opportunity to create a meaning.’

Be strong, be kind and create meaning in your life!

Everyone here at the American Foundation for Children with AIDS, and our partners in Africa. thank you for your continued support of this important project.  If you would like to learn even more about this project and others, please contact Tanya Weaver at tweaver@AFCAids.org. 

Victor’s homestead is simple – a couple huts (one for cooking and one for sleeping) surrounded by dust. A single tree stands to the side of one of the huts and at its base there are different types of cacti, some in groups and some sitting singly. They are beautiful, their tiny, bright flowers adding color to this barren plot of land. It shows that someone who lives here cares and that they like beauty. It shows attention to detail.

An empty water pail sits on the right of me as we look for Victor, smelling the unmistakable smell of a fire that burned recently, but which is now going out. We don’t see him anywhere, but I notice little things – a door closed tightly so nothing will get into his hut, a bit of water at the bottom of the pail, swept ground, a spot where corn grew during the growing season, a donkey far back, almost unseen. Everything is still other than the smell of a dying fire and a bell that must come from the neck of the donkey. The air is quiet and the sky is the most beautiful, cloudless blue. There is no need to wear a jacket and I am grateful for my sunglasses and wide-brimmed hat.

We walk towards a well-built goat house, and even though we can’t find a door, we easily see the goats. But, yet, no Victor. And, no water for the goats.

We walk back across his property and head off down the dusty road in search of him. Inside, I am actually praying that he is at the well, fetching water for his goats as I know they need it, but most importantly, because he can lose his goats if he doesn’t care for them properly and I know Norma is as strict as we need her to be with these issues.

We look up and yes! Victor is coming towards us, pushing a barrel which carries jugs of water for his goats. Three female goats and three kids, just born in the past couple of weeks. One other kid died at birth, the twin to one who is making mewing sounds as he looks for the water his owner brings towards him. Victor works slowly but steadily as he fills the water bucket, lowering it down the side of the wall for the animals and smiles quietly when they lap it up.

We ask about the door and he says he built the goat house in such a way that robbers wouldn’t be able to easily get in. The door is hidden and he shows us how it works.

Norma reviews some items with Victor, looking over his record book, making corrections as they go through the figures. Thando translates for Norma, as Victor doesn’t understand or speak English. I listen here and there, thinking about a million other things until I suddenly realize what exactly is going on. Victor has been sent to his hut to find some elastic. I say out loud, “Is one of the kids getting castrated now?” and when it is confirmed, Gina, one of our team members, lets out a whoop of joy because today she will see something she’s never seen. She is overjoyed to learn something new and her joy is contagious. Poor little kid ends up with three staring visitors as Thando and Norma teach Victor how to castrate a goat. This little fellow is the only one of the kids who is to be castrated as the other male born is remarkable and will be kept as a stud. When the job is finished, he goes off to find his mother and in a couple of minutes, he is nursing his woes away.

As we leave his home, I offer Victor a small blessing, that his herd will grow healthy and large and he shyly looks down. We shake hands and when I thank him in N’debele, he does laugh out loud, a good sound to hear.

The sky is still clear and bright. Bits of dry corn husks float down from above making everything look magical suddenly. I have never seen this sight and we marvel at it – wondering what it is that is floating and it is only when it hits the ground that we understand that the wind has brought us this gift.

Everyone here at the American Foundation for Children with AIDS, and our partners in Africa. thank you for your continued support of this important project.  If you would like to learn even more about this project and others, please contact Tanya Weaver at tweaver@AFCAids.org.