The Dowdys

David and Jacqui Dowdy are a friendly British couple that have been working in Masaka (2 hrs west of KLA) for over a decade. They run a farm comprised of hundreds of dairy goats with a few cows, donkeys and meat goats in the mix for good measure. They train orphans in animal husbandry. In turn, profits from the farm pay school fees for the orphans. They have also been involved in training the surrounding communities in goat care and tree planting.

The Dowdys have generously shared their knowledge with us in Bundibugyo. They facilitate the purchasing of the goats we bring into the district from the small scale farmers in Masaka that they've trained. They have done trainings in Bundi and are the ones who recommended that we have agricultural extension workers. The success of the Matiti project is greatly attributed to them.

Yesterday, they were in Kampala for a graduation and we were able to meet up with them. I was excited to share that we were looking at two shipments of goats due to the amazing generosity of those who bought Christmas goats. We began discussions as to how to begin that process.

They also had exciting ideas about how they were interested in helping us follow up on the goats born within our program. They'd like to help us be intentional about choosing the best milkers to breed with the sons of the best milkers to produce an African breed of dairy goats. Supposedly that is how the European breeds came to produce such a large quantity of milk: selective breeding.

Why are we interested in good milkers? The more milk they produce, the more milk needy children can drink.