Food and Self-Reliance for AIDS Orphans

Lord of all he surveys, is our Bruce!  Here he is investigating how he can join us in the area fenced off around our homestead.  What he cannot understand is why we should fence HIM out.  We have tried to explain that the fence is there to keep his herd out and the dogs in, but he still likes to make us feel guilty as he finds a large rock to stand on and view us over it, calling out to us to invite him in!

He is growing into a delightful young buck, greeting us gently when we are near him. He is almost a year-old now and has been introduced to most of the ‘ladies’, so we are hoping for a new crop of kids by Christmas.

Winter seems to be nearly past, although we are sure to have a couple of cold days before summer arrives.  We are hoping for some early rains as it very dry.  Until then our browse and grazing are not very good and we need to be supplement the herd with additional food and nutrition.  Although they go out each day to forage, when they are in the holding paddocks we are giving them extra grass that has been cut and stored over the year.  To make it a little more appetizing we pour over a little salted water.   

One of our does likes to climb into the hay troughs to find the best grass.  She is also often seen using it as her ‘bunk’ for the night!

At this time of the year ticks become more of a problem than usual. We need to monitor the herd closely as they can develop Heart Water disease which, if not attended to quickly, can cause a very traumatic death.  Here the team are spraying the goats in the race that was constructed by a previous team.  It has made life for the goats and us a lot easier.

Everyone here at the American Foundation for Children with AIDS enjoys the updates and stories from our partners.  We hope you enjoy them, too, and know that we could not do this amazing work without your continued support.  If you would like to learn even more about this project and others, please contact Tanya Weaver at tweaver@AFCAids.org. 

Look at this sweet smile on Della's face.  She's proud to show you her small vegetable garden.  Despite marauding monkeys and rabbits, she has managed to grow something for her family to eat.  Della has also made good use of old sacks and has potatoes growing in them as well as herbs!

Here we are now with an up and coming new herd of mums-to-be.  They were all bred in our program so we know their genes and we know that they are being innoculated, fed and well looked after until it is their time to be rehomed. With the new buck arriving, many of them will be ready to receive him and we will have yet more wild kids bringing smiles to our faces.

Our kids born in the last 6 weeks have once again shown a predominance of doelings.  So far we have 5 doelings and 3 bucklings with several more does due to birth down in the next month. Hopefully they will also produce more females to ensure a good breeding stock in the next year.

When we arrived to deliver our last 3 goats to a widower and his daughter, he was not home as he had gone to the local clinic.  His neighbor came to inform us and in conversation with her she asked us if there was a chance we could find her a wheelchair for her grandson who was 5 and had never walked.  We asked if we could meet him and discovered a young boy, Timmy, who suffers from Cerebral Palsy. We could see he was well looked after and the homestead was well kept.   Our hearts were broken as we listened to her story.  Her son had got a young girl pregnant and then ran away from his responsibilities.  Timmy had been born and when, at about 5 months, the young mother and her family discovered he was not ‘normal’ they brought him to the father’s family to raise.  Sadly, this is often what happens with illegitimate children here.  They are returned to the father’s family.  When we returned home we put out an appeal to the citizens of our city, Bulawayo, and many offers of help were received.  On investigating the situation of this small family, we discovered that they survive by doing ‘piece’ work for their neighbors, and Timmy is now too big for his grandmother to carry on her back.  Only her husband can work.  This week a pram was delivered to Timmy and we are expecting a wheelchair to come in the next few weeks.   You may wonder why I am telling you this story.  If AFCA had not partnered with us and we had not been delivering goats we probably would have never heard of Timmy!

Everyone here in Zimbabwe thanks you for your continued support of this important project.  Your generosity is making a difference in the lives of these dear children.  If you would like to learn even more about this project and others, please contact Tanya Weaver at tweaver@AFCAids.org.