Donkeys to the rescue

In the midst of conflict, people in Darfur had no way to earn a living. One solution came on four legs.

Short and knobby-kneed, a donkey may not look like the answer to one of Darfur’s more pressing problems: earning a living in a war-torn region. But this humble beast is the lynchpin in two projects that are helping people do just that. Through local organizations, Oxfam America is distributing 280 donkeys and 100 carts to families in North Darfur.

"The donkey is a very essential asset in rural Darfur; it’s a means of transport and a source of income," says Oxfam’s Livelihood Officer, Malik A. Idris. In a region with few opportunities to earn money, donkeys can support entrepreneurial enterprise: not only can people use them to transport their own goods and water, but people can hire them out to others.

Many who receive the donkeys are farmers who will use them to help plow fields located on clay-clogged land—an activity for which the animals are well suited. Other beneficiaries live in the camps that now stretch beyond El Fasher, North Darfur. Camp residents receive both donkeys and carts to use in hauling the firewood and grass they must collect far from the camps.