Day 4, May 14th, 2012

Today was our first real day in the field. Priscilla, the daughter of Gerald (coordinator of Wakulima Dairy) met us at the Chairman's house just after breakfast and has agreed to act as our translator for the trip. She has a background in agriculture and has worked for several dairy plants in the city (Nairobi) and other smaller cities, but is very happy now to have a position near her family here and expressed even more delight in the fact that as soon as the Wakulima processing plant has finished construction on their premises she will have a permeant job here in town. We arrived at the Wakulima dairy plant in the morning to gather a bag of vet supplies and as it turned out, another helper, Lucy, from the Wakulima lab. Lucy was very keen to come with us, both for a change of scenery from the lab and because she felt our project was very interesting. In general, we ourselves appear to be quite a source of attraction everywhere we go, especially to children. Children's reactions to us seem to vary from quite confusion, to shear delight and sometimes (rarely) utter terror. I can imagine, given that we are posted in a fairly remote part of Kenya, in a very rural setting, that this may well be the first time some children have seen a white person in real life, I can imagine what my own expression would have been as a two-year old to someone as light as we are. Especially given that upon arrival we were all as pasty white I think as was possible. It also doesn't help that we're in summer clothes while nearly everyone else is in what we would consider dead-of-winter clothing, many children are bundled up so tight in wool hats, sweaters, down jackets and blankets that we must look like complete fools.



After a quick drive we arrived at our very first farm site, a farm owned by a man named Duncan, who had a cow soon to calf. His wife and daughter were quick to come out and greet us, curious to see what we would be able to do for them and if their cow would be able to qualify for our study. Normally, as North Americans, surveys signify someone trying to pull something over on us, or are simply a waste of time with little reward, a form of marketing as it were. Yet in Kenya and many developing nations surveys such as ours offer the kind of leg up that can make or break their lives as dairy farmers. In a place where the land can flood for months, killing many and displacing thousands, and then within a few months be too dry for much to grow at all, farmers with livestock really need every bit of aid and education(in the form of advice on how to store food, treat diseases cheaply etc.) they can get and so far, have proved quite eager to have us around. I heard a lot of data today about how people raise their cattle here in Kenya, what they feed, when they feed it and how they care for their calves, but if there was one thing I heard today more than anything else it was how grateful each farmer was to have us come to their home. Beyond this, their sentiment was so sincere you could do little else in reply but return the gratitude for having us. But I have gotten ahead of myself. Let me first give some description of our project, so further blogs will make a little more sense.

Past generations of our project have focused on parasitic load and gastrointestinal parasite treatment but after making good progress in these areas, this year we have decided to conduct a nutrition survey focusing on both cow and calf health in an effort to find the ideal combinations of the resources available to these farmers. Ideal in the sense that it yields both healthier calf and cows. Healthier calves, mean that farmers can later choose to sell their calves for a decent price in town or keep them to strengthen their herd. Healthier cows, means more milk production and higher milk quality, meaning more income (from the milk), more milk available to the calf in its first few crucial weeks of life and eventually, over time, wealthier farmers. This kind of project is what we call a one health project, because we believe that true change, true improvement, comes from caring for animals as well as humans, something we often neglect to consider. The saying give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and he eats all his life sums this kind of philosophy up nicely. Certainly we do not consider ourselves capable of making this kind of change (God complexes are so far in check) however after visiting Wakulima just yesterday and seeing the unfathomable amount of progress made since Farmers Helping Farmers has been working in the region, I have begun to see that non-profits can work, in fact, they can do tremendous work if managed properly. Someday soon Wakulima will probably refer to us as a good friend from long ago, as I believe all too soon they will not really need our help. Their market has grown so large, with 17,000 member farms and 7,000 active milk producing farms, they have forced the previous monopoly dairy company Brookside into some fierce measures of competition. Brookside currently has a full page coloured ad in the local newspapers, offering a little more than 1/3 more for milk (normal prices are around 29 cents per litre, Brookside is currently boasting somewhere around 42 per litre). Yet Gerald (the coordinator for Wakulima Dairy) did not seem phased by this, believing Brookside could not offer these kind of prices for long. Another reason Gerald may not have been as concerned about this matter, is the kind of commitment Wakulima has to their members. They offer educational lectures, have one working vet with an additional 8 field vet technicians and 2 lab technicians, as well as private banking and the possibility to participate in projects such as our own. Wakulima is very true to its original title in the early 1990's, which was a "self-help" group. But I regress, back to the day, oh wait, first back to the project.

Essentially our nutrition project focuses on four types of foodstuff commonly used by local farmers (to an extent), with 9 different treatment plans, consisting of 9 possible variations of these 4 feeds. One is a dairy grain ration, one a calf starter mix, one a vitamin supplement and one simply milk straight from the mother cow to the calf. Each treatment plan (of the 9) has at least one of these foodstuffs supplied in full recommended dosage, one as a control (0 administration on our part) and one at half recommended dosage, with the last being one of these options. These variations in the plans help us better isolate which mixtures of the four yield the most benefit to the cow and calf and also ensures that each farmer is being advantaged by being supplied with at minimum one of the four feeds in full. All of the feed for the treatment plans will be supplied to the farmers by Bora feeds( Bora means excellent in Swahili and is literally located 200 meters from our home at the Chairman's) free of charge, in fact, it will be delivered to their farm early enough to ensure that they have sufficient feed to implement the treatment plan immediately after the calf has been born. The milk given to the calf from the nursing mother will also be reimbursed either in the form of credit with Wakulima, or physical cash. So phase one of our project will involve visiting each farm, gathering information (extensive information) about the history of the cow currently pregnant, diet, health complications, you name it, we record it. Once we have gathered this info, we then do a complete physical exam on every cow on the farm, treating disease as we find it or have the means to. Those cows which will ultimately qualify for phase two of our study, must be confirmed pregnant and be determined to be expecting within the next few weeks. Phase two of our project will begin once the calf has been born. Weekly we will visit each farm for the next 60 days, doing physical exams on those cows and calves selected for the study and recording more info on how the feeding plan is going (seeing if it is being implemented as we have asked, if their are any problems etc.) and then eventually compiling all this data together, to see which plans essentially worked best. Next year, the study will be done on an even larger scale, hopefully following what we have found to be the best treatment plan (or, if need be a mixture of the plans if all foodstuffs are determined to be of equal benefit). Phew, so there it is, for those of you following this, I promise it won't be repeated! Back to our day.

Our second farm was run by a woman named Grace, who had one cow expecting, two goats and numerous chickens in what I am now fondly referring to as mailbox chickens. In other words, you see a tiny box that looks like a mailbox, open the lid, and out pops anywhere from 2 to 5 chickens, who see fairly content with their lot. Grace was quick to assure me however, that these chickens were not hers but her mothers, a trend I later have found to be continuous throughout the farms we have visited. All three farms we saw today consisted of animals belonging to multiple generations all sharing, get this all you canadian farmers, 2 acres of land or less. It doesn't take a well versed farmer to imagine how difficult it is to raise an animal such as a dairy cow on this small amount of land, which isn't accounting for the family's living space, other animals living space, or the fact that some of this land (or in some cases all of it) is rented. Now try to imagine making a profit of off this, let alone housing more than one dairy cow successfully. Go one layer deeper into this subject and find yourself additionally baffled when you learn that all of these farmers are farming on the side of a mountain. Think of Chinese or Japanese step gardens and you're on the right track. I shook my head so many times today my neck is sore. All of this is fostering in me a fuller understanding of the nature of poverty in these kind of regions, how it begins, how it cycles and how it proliferates. Yet in the same light, it betters my understanding of how a group such as Wakulima is essential if any lasting sustainable change is to occur. It cannot be overnight, it cannot simply be in the form of money, or vet work, or medicine or better milk prices. Think of it this way. Pouring money at a farmer is like dumping a litre of water on a seedling. Yes, the seedling will obtain nutrients from the water, and yes, it will speed its growth. People will smile and express gratitude for the water and marvel at the quantity given to them, but what is to happen when the water is all soaked up, when it has washed away and the sun has dried it up. What will maintain the growth of the seedling when the litre of water is gone? How will the farmer get more water if he has no more money, how will he know which are the best supplies to buy with what little money he may have to help the seedling grow? Following this logic, one arrives at the conclusion that we use the word international development for good reason. It must develop something, not simply flood it with aid and leave. It must strive to the best of its means to begin from the roots up, in small amounts of water which continuously nurtures the land making the soil richer, which generates all important life in the seedling, providing the plant with the energy it needs to sprout up from the land. As the seedling grows it spawns leafs, which span out and collect more sunlight, generating sugars for the plant to consume and further grow. Eventually the seedling becomes a tree by this process and the tree needs no further aid. By now it is fully capable of providing for itself, by drawing from its resources, from the soil, from the sun, from the water which falls in rain and the minerals which cycle through the soil. It has the means now to store nutrients, to sustain it through times of drought and darkness, the tree becomes its own farm. This is daunting for development projects, for eventually funding can dry up, we feel as though we have done enough for this one project and desire to spread our aid. We pack up our bags and leave for the next project being cautious not to give to much to any one project. While every effort to aid another (any form of life) is that in itself, aid, and every effort should be praised, given credit and thanked, to become development, it must be sustainable and this is what Wakulima, Farmers Helping Farmers and organizations like Vets without Borders understand. This is what has made them successful and today all of the seminars, lectures and retreats I have attended truly hit home.

Our third visit of the day, was to the largest farm we have seen thus far, owned and proudly run by a woman named Joyce. Four cows, 2 calves, 4 goats and a few chickens on 2 acres of rented land, with 3 sets of twin boys now mostly grown and moved away. Call me partial but this was my favourite visit of the day, both in the sense that Joyce seems to be committed to investing care in her animals to benefit herself, but also because she has decided to name the calf which was running rampant in its pen, kicking and darting our efforts to restrain it for its exam, Jennifer. I have decided this is the highest form of flattery and Joyce and I have made a pact to keep in contact. "You and me will be good friends," she told me today, "you will learn to speak with me and when you leave, from Kenya to Canada we can continue our talk." I will stop here for today and reveal in this thought. I am quickly learning that our efforts for sustainable development here in Kenya are of more benefit than any survey or data can possibly contain. We are gaining sustainable friendships, sustainable understandings and respect for one another, which will only continue to grow over the months to come.

Pictures in order:
"Goats"- some of the many we have been able to deworm or give aid to thus far.
"Wakulima Dairy"
"A typical study cow" one which has been enrolled in our study as she is expecting any time now!
"Joyce's walk" many Kenyan farms are directly on the side of a slope, hence many have cement with rocks in it as walkways to reach the main house"
"Jennifer!"- my calf! Thanks to Joyce :)

Greetings from Kenya!




This has taken awhile, as internet can be a bit on the slow side, if existent at all. Internet here basically runs on dial up as far as I can understand, hence most of this was written last week but here it is thus far!





Day 2 May 12th, 2012

Today was probably the first real time we began to get a sense of the Kenyan lifestyle. The day began with a delicious breakfast downstairs in our guesthouse. Of course I had to try anything that looked weird or different so I ended up with some form of porridge which we later found out was made of a type of ground millet, which explains a bit about the red to purple colour of the thick liquidy substance but doesn't entirely explain the taste, which to me seemed a bit like rice pudding. The jam was also totally unrecognizable to me and was surprisingly bitter, still unsure of the origin of that, but we learn a bit more with every meal. I have since learned it was Fig Jam….who knew!


Most foods here seem to focus around a stewed meat (beef, chicken or fish) and a type of shredded cabbage with rice, which makes sense as the stewing process helps ensure the safety of the food. Meat can really vary in this country, as it can in most, from pure grizzle and fat which you must find a way of politely either swallowing or disposing of, to as tender and fresh as you could ask for (plucked fresh from the front yard that morning). The fruit of course is of a richness we don't often experience in North America, especially the pineapple, which is quite pale but much more juicy and flavourful than the Dole variety we are accustomed to. I am pretty sure Morgan and I are both in agreement that we could just eat that all day and be content. After our meal, we went back to our room to await a man from the veterinary and agricultural centre at Nairobi University who was to take us to the university to meet with Sylvia, a graduate student who will join us in early June, and Pauline, a undergraduate student in her 3rd year of their 5 year program. This was when that term "Kenyan time" began to take some meaning. After a few hours of waiting and a few mildly confusing phone calls we finally were able to get ahold of our drive and headed out of the city centre towards the university, situated roughly 20-30 minutes from downtown. Being the only veterinary college in the country, the campus was quite extensive and we enjoyed meeting with the Dean of the university, although everywhere we went we ran into a similar question, "where's John!". John Vanleeuwen, our advisor for the project, is essentially a local celebrity around the university from what we could see (and later I have come to find is considered family to most of the Wakulima Dairy staff and surrounding town) and everyone was very curious to know where he was or when he was coming back. Something tells me this will be a familiar trend throughout our time here in Kenya, as John has done so much excellent work here and continues to.


The dean spoke with us about the many new projects their university is working on, including a bachelor degree in fish health, and fish farming in small man made ponds holding about 700 or so fish, primarily Tilapia. Kenya seems to be much in tune with the rest in the world in their search for high protein, low cost food sources and aquaculture does seem to represent a means of meeting both of these demands. Fishing is a big industry in Kenya much as it is in Canada, especially around Lake Victoria, although there doesn't seem to be so much of a focus on any specific species. We were told that an invasive species, the Nile perch, has been introduced to Lake Victoria, decimating local fish populations. We also spoke with the dean about the nature of their veterinary program and graduate programs, which were quite akin to our own programs in many ways, although we did have a laugh at one of the courses being offered on the main bulletin board, "Crocodile Medicine". At first I assumed this was to accommodate the widely distributed crocodile populations of Kenya, which from what I understand can be found in basically any body of water, but apparently there are quite a few crocodile farms throughout the country! I can't say I had ever really heard of this kind of a production system, so I hope we will be able to see at least once over the course of our stay.


We then met with Sylvia, who was busy when we first arrived with a spay surgery. By this point it was well past lunchtime, so she took us to the school cafeteria where I told her to order whatever she thought we should try and big surprise, more stewed beef! She was curious to note that neither Morgan nor I were able to finish the giant mound of rice on our plates, as this seemed to be the first thing she finished on hers. Clearly we will need to become accustomed to eating more plain rice, a thing we don't often do at home. After lunch we made our way over to her office to discuss the project, as our supervisors (Jeff and Maureen Wichtel) who will help us get our feet on the ground for the first few weeks we will be in the field, have to depart at the end of May before Sylvia and Pauline will arrive. After we managed to find enough chairs for us all to sit down, which was quite a feat as many had missing parts or required a balancing act in order to not fall off of, the stream of other students also using this office began to flood in. Every time a new student came in we went through the rounds of introductions and by the end I think we managed to meet half of the graduate students of the entire program. Everyone has been so kind and welcoming and Sylvia and Pauline were no exception to this, I anticipate they will make our work environment both more productive and enjoyable with their advanced skill set (in comparison to Morgan and I who have just begun our degrees) and knowledge of the country, language and people. Once we had a good chat about the project we set off back to the city, winding our way through the lush countryside which seemed to be a never ending venue for markets and food stalls of all varieties.


There is a lot of construction going on in Nairobi itself and Sylvia said that regardless of the struggles Kenya has had over the last few years with corruption in the election system and the resulting riots which caused them to miss around two months of school in 2008, one thing the government has since made a lot of progress on are their roads. "Now we get to brag about them" Sylvia chuckled. Good thing we got here when we did, for as often as we complain about the state of our roads in Canada, we are lacking some of the unique challenges driving in Kenya presents, such as giant open potholes with electrical wires popping out, very oddly placed "speed bumps" which I suspect may actually just be cracks in the road, and none of these factor in the other major road problem, the drivers. I was reminded a bit of India in the sense that the road seems to be open to whatever each particular driver decides is the best way to drive, meaning at some points we were driving in the middle of the road and others on the side, weaving past cars coming at us head on, our trying to pass us from all sides. Not quite as hectic as India though I must say, seeing as the road was lacking hoards of animals and people for the most part, but I suspect this many change when we get out of the city.


The rain has been coming and going in minor flash floods since last night, which makes sense given that we have arrived during the end of their rainy season, but people keep telling us that this year has brought a lot more rain than others and seems to be dragging out well past the time it usually begins to give way to the dry season. Luckily the rain doesn't persist throughout the day, but has been fairly consistent so far in the night and late afternoon. All of the sudden there will be a distinct change in pressure, a strong cool breeze and suddenly the skies open up and a tremendous amount of rain comes down so quickly that we can watch our backyard at the guesthouse go from dirt to streams to rivers in a matter of minutes. Just as fast as it came on the rain then dramatically stops, the clouds recede and the sun comes back accompanied by choirs of birds. It certainly gives you the sense of being in the jungle, a feeling I hope to experience more of once we head out tomorrow morning towards central Kenya, where we will set up our home base. As I write this I am again shocked at the dramatic nature of the sunsets here in Kenya. At 6pm the sun just seems to disappear and immediately become pitch black, leaving only a little bit of a flash of redness as it goes. There it goes now, so I guess that means it's time to sign off for now. Rest assured there will be many more updates to come as it begins to sink in that we are finally here to stay!