The Challenge of Goats

Tomorrow is the day ….. the beginning of another amazing adventure.   The five members of the Six Pack from the Sault, Holly Wickett, Jeannine Jefferson, Marg Dodds, Carey Groot and Gabi Doleske head to Toronto where we meet up with Sheree Wilson, currently residing in London, Ontario.   We are each armed with two fifty pound bags which contain a smidgen of personal belongings but are primarily packed with Days for Girls kits, toothbrushes, soccer uniforms, pillow case dresses and school supplies all either donated or purchased with funds you have generously provided us with.  

We have been overwhelmed by your response to our Goat Initiative.  Two years ago when we went to Africa we had received donations for approximately 35 goats.  This year you have purchased 175 goats to be distributed to girls who we will meet on our travels.  Of course, this creates a challenge for us now.  Since we are unable to transport the goats over in a suitcase, we somehow have to find them to purchase in Kenya.  We have already started this process by sending funds to some of our contacts there.    We are donating five goats to the the Compass School and have asked Flora, a teacher on staff,  if she would be able to locate some for us.   We received this message from her yesterday which may be a prediction of the challenges to come.

Hi Holly
Trusting that you are well….We began our goats hunt yesterday after waiting to hear from the board for over a week to help us locate where we get young goats.  We were not successful yesterday coz the seller we went to was selling @ 4,500 per young goat and after deciding to buy he exchanged the size and wanted to give kids who were still breastfeeding.  We (head teacher, caretaker and I) left frustrated.  By God’s grace one of the motorcycle guys we were using called his brother who has goats and shared our predicament.  We went again today and purchased 3 goats.  One who is suspected to be pregnant @ 4,500, the other 2 @ 3,500 per goat.  We are expecting a fourth one tomorrow at 3,500.  The man who sold the 3 goats to us will get in touch with his neighbour to sell us the fourth one.  Yesterday’s transport was on both matatus (mini-buses) and motorcycles (we used 3 motorcycles yesterday and 2 motorcycles today).  The place we had gone to is quite some distance from Compass.  We made friends with the man who sold us the goats today and he’ll give us a small dog which we will rear for security purpose at Compass to frighten thieves who might attempt to steal the goats.   

Such are the challenges of Kenya, however the spirit of your generousity will be the push we need to get it done. 

We will blog when we can to keep you apprised of our adventures!  Thank you all so much!