Out and About in Ilima

So, the last little bit we have a been quite busy. We have now finished surveying the farmers and have selected our “working groups”. A bit of recap, in the past the project has functioned to provide farmers in Ilima with Rhode Island Reds, a breed of chicken that they had hoped would bring in some genetic diversity and lead to healthier flocks. Unfortunately, many of theses birds (as well as lots of local chickens) succumb to disease and predators. Since we have been here, we have started working on a new initiative which involves developing a model to supply farmers with access to vaccines and education on how to care for their birds. The “teachers” and “vaccinators” in this model are actually local farmers which have demonstrated that they already know how to care for their animals and are willing to share that information with their neighbours. One of our biggest challenges is showing farmers how profitable chickens can be since here, they are not considered as a viable source of income. Throughout the next couple of weeks, we are going to try to reinforce that like their other species of livestock, chickens need some love too haha.

The second part of our project has been working with the Ilima Secondary School. Tomorrow, Monica and I begin teaching high school students about how to care and raise healthy birds. This means that Monica and I are now spending most of today learning how to care and raise healthy birds. It should definitely be an interesting experience as we will be teaching for roughly 5 hours to 4 classes, individually. Monica just loves public speaking and getting in front of that many people (50 at a time) to talk is something she is looking forward too especially considering she is an expert Swahili.

On the lighter side of things, I decided it was finally time to trim my beard if I hope any of our pictures will be included in further VWB marketing materials. Let's just say the hairy cave man look has never been the best picture to attract donations and awareness. I can't remember the last time in Canada a haircut costs 50 cents.

We also went to buy vaccines today and discovered that the pharmacies have been told to keep them frozen, which according to all the information we brought is a big no-no. It is one of those situations where you can't just go into the place and saying they are doing things wrong. If we hope to educate some of the people here we are finding it is much better to get to know the situation and why they do things a certain way.

Finally, there is a big conference in town on water resource management. There are lots of important ministers and other individuals present and given the amount of media around, it is quite safe to say the two kids from Canada are no longer the biggest attraction. Plus, we are hoping we may be able to tag along with them on their way back to Lake Nyasa on Friday which we are told has a beach worth visiting...

Our time in Tanzania is almost at the end. It is very hard to believe we have only about 3 weeks before we leave Tukuyu. Definitely lots to do in the meantime so we will be sure to keep you filled in on how it goes...

Cheers,

Adam and Monica