Gift a Goat

Back in April, I wrote about a goat project for students scheduled tentatively for December of this year. It is no longer tentative! I launched the crowd-funding site yesterday, Helene (my sister) is developing the training program, the team has been assembled and we have set the project date for December 2nd – 9th!

Check out this link – GIFT A GOAT – to get more information and buy a goat for a student in Haiti.

What Do We Need?

Our fundraising goal is 45 goats, at $100 per goat, to each graduating student in the remote mountain village of Marbial, Haiti.

Why a Goat?

A goat can provide so much for each family, starting with nutrition from their milk, which can be directly consumed or made into cheese and other dairy products. The goat can also produce income from successfully breeding and selling the offspring, a single goat can produce 2-3 kids (baby goats) per year. The families can also utilize the natural fertilizer that the goat produces for their gardens, which provide most of their food.

Our Vision

Our vision is to see that a goat is given to each child in 7th and 8th grade in Marbial. While 8th grade is the highest level of education currently available to them, there is the risk that, as each child gets older, they will stop attending school so that they can help their families.

Training

Our goal is to equip these older students with training in basic animal maintenance and husbandry so that they can keep their goat healthy, producing and making money to support the family.

This project is about making a long-term difference in the lives of these children and families. The children, families and any other villagers from neighboring mountains are going to be lectured and taught hands-on for 4 days on proper care of their goats, breeding, medical care and agriculture enrichment by Helene and her college friend, Chelsey (a fellow animal-science graduate) with a team of livestock volunteers.

Our Partner in Haiti

Thanks to the hard work of one woman, Marliane Alix, there is now a school that provides education to the children of Marbial. It is no easy task. For example, some children must walk 2 hours (one-way) to make it to that single school in the rural mountains. These students are actually very privileged because they can attend up to 8th grade, which already puts them above the average education level. Marliane started that small school 8 years ago with a handful of kindergarteners and now it educates 400 students going up to the 8th grade. Marliane is our in-country partner and will be arranging the logistics of the training seminar and getting the goats to Marbial.

Education Statistics

In Haiti, Secondary School is for children ages 12-18 years old. According to UNICEF, only 29.1% of females and 21.6% of males attend Secondary School. The cost of pursuing education is usually too high for students to even consider. UNIFEF reports that estimated annual school costs average US$131 per child (including uniform, books/materials and transportation).