by Brigid Rowlings, LHI Communications Director
Hayley Smith, LHI founder and director, poses with some of the 3,148 milk goats that we’ve distributed to Syrian refugee families living in Jordan.
“Goat milk?”
“Get your goat!”
“Here we goat again!”
A goat pun is never far from the lips (or typing fingers) of Lifting Hands International staff. It’s not really a surprise, since our Gather for Goats program is one of our longest running and most popular—you might even say it’s the G.O.A.T.! (See what I just did there?)
How it started
Gather for Goats was born when LHI founder and director Hayley Smith was distributing aid supplies to Syrian refugees living near the town of Al Mafraq in Jordan in 2017. When Hayley, who speaks Arabic, asked people what they needed, the response was overwhelmingly, “goats!”
Many families who fled to Jordan are Bedouin and have a rich background in agriculture and caring for animals. They’ve been raising livestock for several generations. Raising goats and sheep was a prosperous and respected profession. But when the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011, families had to leave everything behind, including their herds, some of which numbered in the hundreds.
Recently, LHI founder and director Hayley Smith was treated to a variety of goat milk products made by recipients of our goats!
Having goats again, people told Hayley, would improve their standard of living tremendously. How? Goat milk provides essential protein, vitamins and minerals. Also, people can sell extra milk and milk products. They can breed the goats to grow their herd and generate income by selling male offspring.
Hayley, who has a passion for the Arabic language, loves connecting with beneficiaries and finding out exactly what they most need to achieve self-sufficiency and a sense of dignity.
The request made sense, so Hayley contacted a professor of agriculture at the University of Jordan in Amman for advice on the breed and finding a professional goat inspector. After connecting with a local partner org near the Syrian border in May 2017, we distributed our first 286 goats to 143 Syrian refugee families who live in improvised refugee camps across the Mafraq region. And we have only grown the program from there! To date, we’ve distributed 3,418 milk goats to Syrian families in Jordan!
Breed is Key!
We don’t distribute just any old breed of goat. We carefully select Shami-Baladi crossbreed goats, also known as Damascus goats. These friendly Middle Eastern natives are prolific milk producers, yielding 350 to 650 liters of milk annually, and often giving birth to twins and triplets. Baladi goats thrive in hot, arid environments, making them ideal for the beneficiaries of LHI's Gather for Goats program. These goats, sourced by LHI, are the perfect choice for promoting self-sufficiency, excelling in harsh conditions while providing abundant milk and offspring.
Last month, Hayley visited a family that received 2 LHI milk goats 2 years ago, one of which was already pregnant with triplets. In those two years, with a combination of breeding, selling male offspring to buy more females for more breeding, 2 goats into 25! They were able to move out of the camp into a home nearby. That’s goat to be a record!
Some experts think that Shami goats' long ears help dissipate heat and keep them cooler in hot desert conditions.
We’ve distributed thousands of goats, so aren’t we done yet? Not by a long shot. There are an estimated 1.3 million Syrian refugees living in Jordan, and our waitlist for goats is longer than the ears on a Shami goat. Our goal this year is to give 2,108 milk goats to 1,054 families. With your help, we can provide a simple first step to improved nutrition, self-sufficiency, and the dignity that comes by practicing centuries-long traditions.
Have you goat what it takes to make a huge difference in the lives of Syrian families in Jordan? Visit our Gather for Goats page to make your gift today!