Our First Project with Gambella

We need your help! Would you be willing to spare $10, to make an immediate impact on an entire village?  Click on the orange ‘ChipIn!’ button on the top-left of this page to make a contribution.

Earlier this year, Gambella village was attacked by 50-100 armed men. They killed 6 men to send the village scattering. Once they had the village to themselves, they proceeded to steal more than 1,000 of the Gambellans’ animals, and money from their huts. In addition to the loss of animals and money, many of the villagers got sick with pneumonia from hiding without shelter for several days, until the village was safe enough to return to their huts.  (See the video at the end of this post for more information.)  The good news is that the men behind these attacks have recently been captured, and the people of Gambella are now getting back to work on the TCD projects that have already started.

The people of Gambella already live on one meal (or less) each day (some are sustaining themselves with little more than tea). To suffer the loss of animals and health, on top of the extreme poverty that has been their lifelong experience, is unimaginable.

We need your help to get them back on their feet. We want to implement a small animal loan program, to help them restart their small herds. Fifty families lost all of their animals, and the idea is to start with these families, giving them a male and female goat, so that they can breed enough animals to begin to rebuild their small herd (at which point they will give a male and female animal to the next family in need of rebuilding their herd). We also want to ensure that the villagers are getting the medical attention they need.

In order to help the people of Gambella, we want to raise $1800, to pay for the animals and medicine, as well as a portion of the finances needed to pay the staff workers who will implement the animal loan program, and oversee the recovery efforts.

Can we count on your help? Just $10 can make a huge difference in these people’s lives. If you’re able to give more, it would be greatly appreciated, but even $10 can make a lifelong difference.  We’ll be able to post some pictures of the animals, and maybe even some of the families, that we help with your donations.

Click on the orange ‘ChipIn!’ button on the top-left of this page to make a contribution.  For this first project, we’re only raising funds through November 22.

GHNI Gambella Attacked! from Jeff Power on Vimeo.

Good News for Gambella!

We have received word that the Kenyan government has arrested a number of regional government leaders, who were behind the attack on Gambella (as well as other, similar attacks in the region).  These leaders were arming men to steal and kill, in order to get livestock and food, for the purpose of furthering their political standing.

After the arrests, the Gambellans are once again feeling safe, and are hard at work on their development projects.

You can read more about this at Jeff Power’s blog (http://pangeo.typepad.com/pangeo/2009/10/geood-news-in-gambella.html).

Update on Gambella - Unrest Is Easing

I spoke with Jeff this weekend, and it seems that the unrest that has been plaguing the area around Gambella village, following the attack there in mid-July, is finally easing.

The attack in July came shortly after the volunteers left the village, and was devastating to the village, as several men were killed, one child lost a finger to a bullet, and many of the meager possessions and animals belonging to the villagers were stolen.  You can read more about the attack at Jeff Power’s blog (http://bit.ly/14FHMu).

Since that attack, there has continued to be unrest in the area, and it has not been uncommon to hear gunshots.

However, it seems that police have begun to get a handle on the situation, and tensions may be easing.