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.
Nearly 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.
The 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.
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.
As 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
