By THERESA HOGUE
Gazette-Times reporter | Posted: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 12:00 am
Sitting in a Corvallis horse barn with a mewling cat in her lap, Patricia Parker looked remarkably refreshed given her very recent arrival from London, and the talks she'd given Tuesday morning at three area schools. But when it comes to talking about her Darfur aid organization, Parker always becomes animated.
In March 2001, Parker traveled to Khartoum to visit her son, who was working at the British Embassy there. She decided to travel to the Darfur region, where she witnessed firsthand the extreme poverty caused by drought and lack of aid. After coming across a little boy walking seven miles to get water for his goat, Parker started thinking about how she, and others, might make a difference in the lives of villagers there.
Out of this experience Parker, a former public relations consultant, formed Kids for Kids, which provides goats for families in Darfur villages, allowing them to raise and sell kids and use the milk to feed their families. They also provide donkeys to use to haul water, and have begun installing hand water pumps in villages so that children will have shorter distances to travel to provide water to their livestock.
Kids for Kids is a rare kind of aid project in Darfur, where other international aid organizations focus on emergency aid for refugees and starving villagers. Parker started Kids for Kids before major violence broke out in the region, and she said the project is even more crucial now that rebel uprisings have torn the country apart.
Parker was visiting Corvallis because one of her most dedicated fundraisers is a young Corvallis girl named Cassidy Donaldson, who has been making and selling cat toys for more than a year for the Kids for Kids project. She hoped her visit to the West Coast would be a chance to raise awareness of the increasingly dangerous and difficult situation in Darfur.
The morning of her arrival in Corvallis, President Bush announced an increase in U.S. sanctions against the region, which was criticized by some international organizations as too little too late. Parker's only comment was "Why have they taken so long?"
Two years ago, while she was visiting Darfur with Alastair, her son, the pair was captured by a rebel group called the Sudanese Liberation Army, the same group that had previously killed two members of the British aid organization Save the Children. Parker had serious reason to fear for their lives.
Parker whispered to her son that she'd have to make a speech to attempt to get them out of the mess they were in. "Must you, Mummy?" her son begged, but Parker felt that if the group leaders knew what kind of work she was doing in Darfur, they might be sympathetic. Parker bet right.
Not only did Parker's impassioned account of her organization's work in Darfur win over rebel leaders, but since that time, members of the SLA have actually helped her group put hand water pumps into village schools, and provided safe conduct for organization members.
A key part of Kids for Kids is training local women to manage the organization's work in Darfur, while she runs the money-raising side in Surrey, near London.
"I don't believe in charity," Parker said. "I believe in giving people a kick start."
Training is key to the project. Not only are women trained to manage the livestock lending program, Kids for Kids also provides training for midwives to decrease infant and mother mortality, training to villagers to plant in ways that capture sporadic rainfall and increase growing seasons for months, and because they're providing water sources closer to villages, children are able to attend school rather than traveling miles each day to gather water.
Kids for Kids has been recognized by other British agencies for its ability to send a majority of its funds to the project itself rather than bleeding it out through administrative overhead.
"I hate spending money on anything except goats and donkeys," she laughed, saying her shopping trips are often difficult as she compares the price of what she's buying to the amount of livestock it would equal. "Oh, that's half a goat," she finds herself saying.
Parker will speak in Corvallis Saturday at a benefit concert called "Notes for Goats." The event takes place from noon to 2 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church, Eighth and Monroe. Doors open at 11:15 a.m. for activities and a raffle. A variety of music, dance and theatrical performances are scheduled, and speakers include Parker, Mayor Charlie Tomlinson and 4-H goat expert Annette Patton.
Tickets are $8 adults, $5 youth, seniors and students or $25 per family and are available at Grass Roots Books & Music or at the door. All proceeds benefit Kids for Kids.
For more information on Kids for Kids, go to www.kidsforkids.org.uk
FYI
Patricia Parker will speak in Corvallis Saturday at a benefit concert called "Notes for Goats." The event takes place from noon to 2 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church, Eighth and Monroe. Doors open at 11:15 a.m. for activities and a raffle. A variety of music, dance and theatrical performances are scheduled. Tickets are $8 adults, $5 youth, seniors and students or $25 per family and are available at Grass Roots Books & Music or at the door. All proceeds benefit Kids for Kids. For more information on Kids for Kids, go to www.kidsforkids.org.uk
Podcast
To hear a podcast interview with Patricia Parker, founder of Kids for Kids, go to www.gazettetimes.com/gt-to-go/podcasts