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
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Halfway Point!
After a quiet last couple of weeks, the work with the farmers of Ilima has started to pick up. Monica and I spent the better half of this past week visiting farms and interviewing villagers regarding their experiences raising chickens. We have had a remarkable response thus far. Ilima consists of an extremely helpful and enthusiastic core group of people. It has been clear from the survey answers that regardless of some of the difficulties in raising and caring for the birds, these people are willing to work hard and want to learn more.
Illustrating this fact is that the Chairman of the village has made point of coming with us to each farmer to ensure that we are visiting the right people. The farmers' appreciation is also evident as seen by our ever growing bag of hand picked oranges, bananas and ground nuts. While our long term objectives are constantly being reevaluated, we are hoping that by the time we are finished in Ilima we will have set up a vaccine campaign led, in part, by some of these farmers.
Today, we hosted our first kitchen meeting with a group of farmers who had previously received training. This was definitely an experience but we managed, with the help of at least one translator, to get our ideas across- the doughnuts and tea didn't hurt either. Tomorrow, we will be part of a much larger meeting with the entire village which should be a very good opportunity to address all the people of Ilima.
Other than the work, we are gaining some valuable life lessons...
If someone offers you creamy home-made brew in their house at 9 am, you accept the invitation and try your best not to focus on the taste or the fact that you are drinking out of a bucket shared by everyone.
If you are trying to get to Uyole, stop the bus at Uyole instead of taking it 20 minutes outside of town and trying to find your way back with city buses.
It can be difficult to get people to help you look for something if you cannot articulate what you are looking for. The degree of difficulty greatly increases when it is a contact for your right eye since contacts do not exist in Tanzania and are of course, transparent. As a result, I am currently blind.
Proper spelling of names is important during data collection. Even more important is realizing people often have more than one last name, can have more than one wife, and none of the chickens on their property may be in fact theirs.
Football (soccer) brings everyone together especially if you want any African team to win. If you don't, best to fake.
When taking a bus, try to get on one that has a door that is able to close and can go more than 30 km/h without looking like it will fall apart. Also, accept the fact that if you are over 6 feet tall, you will not be able to stand up and this will be very funny to everyone else as you try to squeeze in.
According to Canadian social norms, having braces when you are an adult is uncommon. According to Tanzania, it ranges from hilarious to terrifying. People either think I have great decorations for my teeth or I was recently punched in the mouth.
People here are genuinely kind and caring and will do everything to make you feel at home.
Cheers
Adam and Monica
Illustrating this fact is that the Chairman of the village has made point of coming with us to each farmer to ensure that we are visiting the right people. The farmers' appreciation is also evident as seen by our ever growing bag of hand picked oranges, bananas and ground nuts. While our long term objectives are constantly being reevaluated, we are hoping that by the time we are finished in Ilima we will have set up a vaccine campaign led, in part, by some of these farmers.
Today, we hosted our first kitchen meeting with a group of farmers who had previously received training. This was definitely an experience but we managed, with the help of at least one translator, to get our ideas across- the doughnuts and tea didn't hurt either. Tomorrow, we will be part of a much larger meeting with the entire village which should be a very good opportunity to address all the people of Ilima.
Other than the work, we are gaining some valuable life lessons...
If someone offers you creamy home-made brew in their house at 9 am, you accept the invitation and try your best not to focus on the taste or the fact that you are drinking out of a bucket shared by everyone.
If you are trying to get to Uyole, stop the bus at Uyole instead of taking it 20 minutes outside of town and trying to find your way back with city buses.
It can be difficult to get people to help you look for something if you cannot articulate what you are looking for. The degree of difficulty greatly increases when it is a contact for your right eye since contacts do not exist in Tanzania and are of course, transparent. As a result, I am currently blind.
Proper spelling of names is important during data collection. Even more important is realizing people often have more than one last name, can have more than one wife, and none of the chickens on their property may be in fact theirs.
Football (soccer) brings everyone together especially if you want any African team to win. If you don't, best to fake.
When taking a bus, try to get on one that has a door that is able to close and can go more than 30 km/h without looking like it will fall apart. Also, accept the fact that if you are over 6 feet tall, you will not be able to stand up and this will be very funny to everyone else as you try to squeeze in.
According to Canadian social norms, having braces when you are an adult is uncommon. According to Tanzania, it ranges from hilarious to terrifying. People either think I have great decorations for my teeth or I was recently punched in the mouth.
People here are genuinely kind and caring and will do everything to make you feel at home.
Cheers
Adam and Monica
Monday, June 7, 2010
First week in Ushrika
This past week, Monica and I have spent time meeting with people in Ushrika and Tukuyu to organize the project for the coming months. When things get underway we should be pretty busy as there are hundreds of farmers who we are tasked with interviewing. In the meantime, we have gotten to explore nearby Tukuyu, found a basketball court, and visited the hospital. In an effort to best experience all aspects of life in Tanzania, I have apparently, unintentionally, attempted to use each one of its available services. In addition to my visit to the optometrist, I had a brief stay in the hospital last week but have since been feeling much better. We will keep you posted as we begin our work…
Cheers,
Adam and Monica
Cheers,
Adam and Monica
Monday, May 31, 2010
The Bus Ride
The rest of our journey to Tukuyu was hair raising to say the least. Our instructions were clear: wait by the side of the highway, pickup the Sumry but as it comes in, make sure it is going to Tukuyu and it will cost you around $20. But alas, this was not to be..
After waiting for the bus for quite some time, while turning down unmarked car rides to Mbeya and overpriced tickets in the process, we managed to see the Sumry bus, full, driving past us.
We managed to run up beside another coach bus as it came through weigh station and pay the right people. Before settling in for the long journey ahead.
In short, our ride was the equivalent of a Greyhound bus speeding down a single lane road with large potholes, going 100km/hr, passing other industrial trucks at high speed. Throw in a cliff and you have two terrified Canadian vet students. It is not surprising then that the coach buses turn this into a sort of race in which our bus came 2nd (oh joy). We also managed to pass two serious accidents involving industrial trucks and an oil tanker that took up ¾ of the road. But that wouldn't deter us, as we never slowed down and squeezed between the accident and the drop off.
With offers to Malawi, Zambia and South Africa abound, we managed to find a minibus to take us to Tukuyu (2hrs away) from Mbeya. They buses seat ~24 people and we had about 40 people on the bus. Because we had our bags we had no leg room and it was very claustrophobic! I'm glad I had a window seat. All things considered, we may just take a quick peek to determine how reasonable flying would be on the way home. All in all we arrived in Tukuyu alive, albeit a little wiser and experienced but most importantly in one piece, ready to get to work.
Cheers,
Monica and Adam
After waiting for the bus for quite some time, while turning down unmarked car rides to Mbeya and overpriced tickets in the process, we managed to see the Sumry bus, full, driving past us.
We managed to run up beside another coach bus as it came through weigh station and pay the right people. Before settling in for the long journey ahead.
In short, our ride was the equivalent of a Greyhound bus speeding down a single lane road with large potholes, going 100km/hr, passing other industrial trucks at high speed. Throw in a cliff and you have two terrified Canadian vet students. It is not surprising then that the coach buses turn this into a sort of race in which our bus came 2nd (oh joy). We also managed to pass two serious accidents involving industrial trucks and an oil tanker that took up ¾ of the road. But that wouldn't deter us, as we never slowed down and squeezed between the accident and the drop off.
With offers to Malawi, Zambia and South Africa abound, we managed to find a minibus to take us to Tukuyu (2hrs away) from Mbeya. They buses seat ~24 people and we had about 40 people on the bus. Because we had our bags we had no leg room and it was very claustrophobic! I'm glad I had a window seat. All things considered, we may just take a quick peek to determine how reasonable flying would be on the way home. All in all we arrived in Tukuyu alive, albeit a little wiser and experienced but most importantly in one piece, ready to get to work.
Cheers,
Monica and Adam
At the vet school..
We have just spent a week in Morogorro at the Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA). This school is home to the only Veterinary Faculty in all of Tanzania so it was definitely a unique experience to gain some perspective before our work begins. We had the opportunity to go on field calls with the 5yr vet students. An example of our calls were: an umbilical abscess on a calf, a farm with high chicken mortality where we did a necropsy to discover it was New Castles disease, uterus treatment on cows that have problems conceiving, dogs with potential parvo virus and TONS of external parasites and an adult cow dehorning. It was clear from these visits and our experience at the school that, regardless of limitations of resources and finances, the theory involved with veterinary medicine is fairly consistent. Not surprisingly, its application can be very different and this is something I am sure we will encounter quite frequently in the coming months. . We got a tour of their school (anatomy labs look the same as ours – just more bones of rhinos and elephants!) and saw their school veterinary clinic. We were also lucky enough to see a few dog cases come into the clinic (a hit by car injured leg, and an injured eye due to a dog fight).
Along the way to Tukuyu (our project site) we had the chance to drive through Mikumi National Park. There we saw many of the exciting wildlife of Africa (you can't come all this way and not see some!) including impalas, giraffes, warthogs, elephants, wildebeests, zebras and lots of birds. The lions were clearly scared of us which is why they chose not to say hi.
Cheers,
Adam and Monica
Along the way to Tukuyu (our project site) we had the chance to drive through Mikumi National Park. There we saw many of the exciting wildlife of Africa (you can't come all this way and not see some!) including impalas, giraffes, warthogs, elephants, wildebeests, zebras and lots of birds. The lions were clearly scared of us which is why they chose not to say hi.
Cheers,
Adam and Monica
Saturday, May 22, 2010
First Days...
So...
A brief intro for those who will be following our blog during our travels. Monica and I are second year vet students from Calgary and Guelph respectively, who are involved with a poultry project taking place in the south -west part of Tanzania in a village called Ilima. More information about the specifics of the project is available on this blog and on the VWB website. We will try to post updates and some pictures of our travels as often as possible.
Monica and I have both now arrived in Dar Es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania. I got in late Tuesday night and have been spending my days getting things organized for the coming months with the help of Dr. Gimbi, a faculty member at OUT (the Open University of Tanzania). Dar is a busy city with many little shops and stores scattered around the area- traffic is a nightmare. It can be a little overwhelming having people constantly coming up to you but nevertheless, our experiences here thus far have been enjoyable. We are staying at a guest house run by OUT with a Danish women who lectures at the main campus. Between setting up cell phones, visiting the University and going to the eye doctors (I forgot extra contacts- first of many things I am sure), we have been quite busy.
Last night, we had the opportunity to visit Dr. Minga's house (who works out of another of the University's offices) to discuss in a little more detail about the project. We will be heading to Ilima later on next week after a stop at the vet school in Morogoro. We are looking forward to meeting some of the students there and getting started on the project (as well as fully adjusting to the heat/time change). We will keep you posted on how it goes!
Cheers,
Adam & Monica
A brief intro for those who will be following our blog during our travels. Monica and I are second year vet students from Calgary and Guelph respectively, who are involved with a poultry project taking place in the south -west part of Tanzania in a village called Ilima. More information about the specifics of the project is available on this blog and on the VWB website. We will try to post updates and some pictures of our travels as often as possible.
Monica and I have both now arrived in Dar Es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania. I got in late Tuesday night and have been spending my days getting things organized for the coming months with the help of Dr. Gimbi, a faculty member at OUT (the Open University of Tanzania). Dar is a busy city with many little shops and stores scattered around the area- traffic is a nightmare. It can be a little overwhelming having people constantly coming up to you but nevertheless, our experiences here thus far have been enjoyable. We are staying at a guest house run by OUT with a Danish women who lectures at the main campus. Between setting up cell phones, visiting the University and going to the eye doctors (I forgot extra contacts- first of many things I am sure), we have been quite busy.
Last night, we had the opportunity to visit Dr. Minga's house (who works out of another of the University's offices) to discuss in a little more detail about the project. We will be heading to Ilima later on next week after a stop at the vet school in Morogoro. We are looking forward to meeting some of the students there and getting started on the project (as well as fully adjusting to the heat/time change). We will keep you posted on how it goes!
Cheers,
Adam & Monica
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Well, I'm trying out this blog for the first time before I leave for Tanzania to try and get the hang of it. I leave on Wednesday night. Only 4 more days to go! I`m getting excited. I think I`ve got everything in order: vacc - check, back pack- check, emergency contacts and phone numbers- check, VISA- check, camera with an 8G memory card- check. Now I`m just trying to squeeze in all the things I like to do in Calgary before I leave, one last hike in the mountains yesterday (there still thigh deep snow!), dinner with friends last night, more coffee and dinner with friends tomorrow night.
For those people that don't know much about the project: I'm going to Ilama, a village in Tanzania to help improve poultry survival and production. Our team had a conferance call last week to set some clear goals and make sure we are all on the same page. Now I'm really excited that I know what we are doing! Our main goals are to try and set up a regular vaccine protocol for New Castle and teach the students of the Ilama secondary school (and a few farmers) how to care for chickens. I can do that.
We also get to visit the agricultural school in Morogoro. I'm looking forward to meeting everyone involved in the project and learning about how they live.
To warn you guys, I've been told that it's very difficult to get to internet there, so the rest of my blogs are likely texts from a cell phone. I'll do the best that I can to keep you updated.
For those people that don't know much about the project: I'm going to Ilama, a village in Tanzania to help improve poultry survival and production. Our team had a conferance call last week to set some clear goals and make sure we are all on the same page. Now I'm really excited that I know what we are doing! Our main goals are to try and set up a regular vaccine protocol for New Castle and teach the students of the Ilama secondary school (and a few farmers) how to care for chickens. I can do that.
We also get to visit the agricultural school in Morogoro. I'm looking forward to meeting everyone involved in the project and learning about how they live.
To warn you guys, I've been told that it's very difficult to get to internet there, so the rest of my blogs are likely texts from a cell phone. I'll do the best that I can to keep you updated.
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