Instead of giving Christmas presents to the clients, the Memmert family has decided to support the OxfamUnverpackt.de project this year. The donation enables people in Zimbabwe to build up a herd of goats. Goats are undemanding and find food even under harsh conditions. That makes them ideal livestock for people in Zimbabwe, who have lost their livelihood due to the persistend crisis in the country. The animals supply milk, fertilizer, meat and their own offspring.
The famous Henry Ford once said: "I know half of my advertisement is a waste of money. I just don't know which half." If we apply this quote to development aid, the inequality seems even bigger. Despite many billions, which have been transferred from the rich countries to the poorest regions in the world over the past few decades, there are still many unsolved problems in African countries, which can be seen for example in the Global Peace Index 2011, the number of HIV cases or on the Map of World Hunger.
Helping to provide self-help
Many NGOs therefore start projects to help the people in the countries concerned to be able to build a better life for themselves. An example for this is the annual Memmert Christmas donation to SOS Children's Village e.V. hich helps educating children and young people since education is and always will be the most important factor when fighting poverty. The second project, OxfamUnverpackt.de, which we support this year instead of giving Christmas presents to our clients shows in a very charming way how easy it is to provide direct help with a donation.
Goats as Christmas presents on location
Within a HIV/aids programme, Oxfam's partner organisations especially support children who lost their parents to the disease and now have to take care of themselves and their siblings alone but also widowed mothers by giving them a goat. By the way, many national Oxfam organisations present ideas for presents throughout the year for any occassion and any budget.
