The Karoo Drought: A Little Help From My Friends

The Karoo is one of those places that creeps into your heart, whether you want it to or not. It’s arid, sparsely populated, hot and dry and dusty, rural as hell—I mean, you’d be lucky if some of those old farm houses have any indoor plumbing. Basically, it’s not exactly the kind of place you’d think a city girl would call “a home away from home”, but that’s what it is to me.

That’s what the Karoo is to many people who live in the other provinces of South Africa.

Truthfully, some of the finest people I’ve ever met live in the Karoo. They’re a hardworking, generous, kind people—real salt of the Earth folk.

And just thinking about their dire circumstances breaks my heart …

A Drought So Relentless and Cruel

The drought, now in its seventh year, is doing indescribable damage to not only the Karoo, but to the entire country. It’s bad. For people who’re used to weathering even the most horrible droughts, this is a nightmare. I can’t describe it better than Carte Blanche can show you, so here you go:

Help the Karoo

Good Samaritans in South Africa have gone above and beyond to help the Karoo people in whatever way they can. I know of several charity drives who have focused most (if not all) of their efforts on these desperate folks. Seven years of extreme drought can cripple not only a community, but an entire nation, especially when these are the people who feed almost an entire country.

Worst still: The animals are suffering.

This is why I’m making an international plea to readers, writers, publishers, and anyone else who may have a few dollars lying around which they would maybe like to donate.

I am accepting PayPal donations in my personal capacity, so that we can go buy bales of feed to hand over to Jump! Charity Foundation. They have already secured transportation for the feed, so it’s just about getting it filled with bales of hay and lucerne.

$5 (US) buys 1 bale of feed.

$10 (US) buys 2 bales of feed.

$50 (US) buys 10 bales of feed.

ALL donations are going directly to buying feed in your or your organization’s name (if that is what you would like) and those bales will be transported to the Karoo.

So, if you would like to donate, please send it to paypal.me/moniquesnyman. Just state in the note: DONATION FROM [enter your or your organization’s name]. Voila. I’ll make sure to hand over every cent on your behalf to Jump! Charity Foundation. 🙂

Every single cent counts, so please … if you can help, please do.

I have decided not to showcase the heinous images of what the drought is doing to the animals, all of which succumbed either from thirst or hunger, on my website. Not only do I find it disturbing, but I don’t want to force anyone to donate. Google is your friend in these instances. Also, if you check out the Jump! Charity Foundation’s Facebook page, you’ll see what they’ve been up to (it’s mostly in Afrikaans, but pictures tell better stories anyhow).

Thank you in advance for your generosity. Every little bit helps. ❤️