Goats: Round 3

Last week Lamech brought another shipment of dairy goats into the district. This is the 3 shipment of goats from the Christmas order.

It was another long day, beginning early morning and arriving at 11:30 pm. A problem with the windshield wipers of all things, delayed them 3 hours on the road, as it rained heavily and welding was required.
These were the goats that had been quarantined. This may be the last of the females that we need to have shipped into the district, as the breeding within our district is beginning to gain momentum.
We have bought a few goats already that have been breed locally. This eases the burden of transport and also adds local blood of goats from this district, making them even heartier.

There is no ceremony this time, but some women are coming each day to pick their goats. Thank you to all those who gave goats!

Stinky Boys

Yesterday 16 male goats left our farm. I am so HAPPY.

They are key in making milk accessible to the masses. Not being monogamous, they can serve hundreds of local female goats in their areas, creating tons of dairy hybrid females, in turn providing lots of milk for children. They were an incredible gift from Joy Children’s Centre.

Selfishly, I’m glad they have moved on because, as any 8 year old girl can tell you: Boys are stinky! One male goat is strong, but with 16 next door, the pungent smell wafting in my windows was something else!

It was a sight to see them go on foot, motorcycle and truck.

Goat Delivery

Tues night 51 goats arrrived. With the help of our truck's headlights to illuminate the area, 35 females were handed out of the huge truck and carried to their pens. Most of the 16 males were quite large, so after they were lowered from the truck, a firm grabbing of the horns and directing to their pen was needed.

15 Bucks

The global rise in food costs are effecting us all. The food we buy for our patients continue to be more expensive. Also, the feed for chickens and goats rises. Joy Children’s Centre in Masaka, Uganda is a large farm of nearly 400 goats. They will need to scale back to 150 to stay afloat. There ministry has helped train many community members in Masaka, financed orphan’s school fees year after year and has been instrumental in shaping goat programs like ours across Uganda. In their effort to keep their farm at a managable level, they have offered to donate 15 male goats to our project in Bundibugyo. They are high grade males, just the thing our program could use to make selective breeding of an African dairy breed more attainable.

Lamech will upgrade the truck to the largest size and the males will come with the 54 females on July 8^th. The caretakers of the female goats will receive them on July 10^th. The bucks will remain on our farm. Then Lamech will identify villages with little access to buck services. Next, he’ll find the caretakers of female dairy goats who have proven their mettle over the years in those places. Lamech will train them in buck keeping for two days. We can provide some materials for the buck pen, like roofing and nails, while they provide the local materials. When their shelters are ready, we can distribute the males hopefully by the end of July.

We are grateful to David & Jacqui Dowdy for their continued input into the Matiti Project and for this generous donation!

Goat Registration

In an effort to monitor and evaluate the progress of goat breeding, our outpost in Bundibugyo will start registering our dairy goats. This will allow us to have a better idea of what goats are out there, breeding with which others, and what the survival rate is. The database that the David Dowdy created is starting to be the central database for all of Uganda dairy goat keepers. It allows us to track milk production and keep up with vaccinations. We'll also gain information on which goats are producing the most milk and can be selected for mating.

This has to start with data gathering. This week was a practicum in recording information in local herd books. With literacy being low it is a struggle, but people are really trying. Most buck stations will keep records of the dairy goats in their area and record matings, deaths and births. Lamech will enter all the data from the herd books in his computer so we'll be able to keep up with what is happening in the field.

As we've moved around, the Dowdys have been encouraged by how well the goats are looking and being kept. That is a great encouragement to us all.

Visiting Buck Keepers

David and Jacqui Dowdy (my mentors in goat care) are in Bundibugyo this week with their new interns, John & Alison Law. Yesterday, Lamech brought us around to visit various buck keepers. We visited 3 sites to see the animals and get an idea of the way they keep records (a tricky thing where the literacy rate is low). It was great to see the families and the animals they are caring for.
I was especially pleased at the last site where two women who lived nearby one another build their sheds together. One female goat was nursing a 10 day old kid, and supplying milk to the family. The other female goat was tremendous and is probably carrying two kids in her womb. They were surrounded by an array of various nutritious feeds within their reach. Because these women are doing such a great job, they were also given the responsibility of keeping the buck for their community.
At each place suggestions for improvement were given along with encouragement in their work.

Round Two for Goats

Lamech is making preparations for the next goat distribution. He will visit in family in Masaka next week, he lives a day's drive from his wife and children. He'll buy calliandra seed there to distribute to the new beneficiaries. He'll conduct two separate 2-day training the following weeks. One will be in Bundibugyo Town (1/2 hour north) and the other will be on the mission. Seeds to plant for fodder and nails for the goat shelter will be distributed along with an abundance of helpful knowledge.

One by One

It was fun to watch the women come one by one to recieve their goats. Many had their babies strapped to their backs. Some had their sad stories written on their faces. Others' faces shown with joy, the pain of life covered by gratitude and hope. During the celebration I had watched one aunt offer her empty breast to an orphan who sucked eagerly, without much payback. I was happy to give her a goat who would produce a kid in 2 weeks and provide life giving nourishment. Other HIV+ moms were ready to wean their children from the breast to a non infected milk source. I wish you could have seen their expressions of gratitude with a smile, a bended knee, a blessing in their native tongue (which were many) , and hands together in grateful prayer.

The World Harvest Team pitched into help, the kids being great goat wranglers, and Pauline and Lamech went the extra mile in making the day fabulous.

Gift Giving

The smiling faces of the women were exciting to see. Biirwa, a local evangelist, shared from the Word of God the story of the talents and making the most of what you have. He encouraged the women to be faithful with the goats they were being given, to put time and care into them. Scott Myhre represented WHM and encouraged the women as well. I was also able to remind them of the Gifts God has given these women, in his Son, and in the goats that will nourish their children. I shared with them how so many people gave Christmas goats in their honor this past Christmas and that they are receiving the benefit of them. They clapped for you in gratitude. After Lamech also shared, a friend and recipient from the group came forward and conveyed his gratitude in words. Then they organized a special clap rhythm that ended in hands extended toward our team leader as though they were heaping the claps on him. They are now being passed onto all of you who made this goat distribution day possible.

Late Night Arrival

The goats arrived at 3:00 am after a long, long journey. The original shortcut they were taking wasn't in good enough condition, so they had to turn around and start again. Later they had a flat tire. Reaching Fort Portal, the vehicle needed some work done on the brakes. They didn't begin crossing the mountains until the sun was beginning to set. We try to avoid driving in the dark because there are no street lights, especially on the mountain curves. They pressed on for the sake of the goats. Eventually they found another truck stuck in the road and they were unable to pass by it. They waited for hours until that truck was able to move.

When the truck arrived it backed up to the fence and Michael turned our car lights on the truck so we could see. Each of the goats were handed off and carried to the pen. They were so tired and quiet, that after they were all unloaded, I hardly heard a sound from them. I wouldn't have known that 51 extra goats were just outside my window.

Fodder, Fodder and more Fodder

Pauline has the busy job of preparing for guests. 50 goats will arrive on the mission's farm today and will stay for about 48 hours. She and some helpers will gather branches from trees, long grasses and pea-type plants for a lot of hungry mouths. Tomorrow Michael will go out with the truck deeper into the villages to collect more.

Vet Visit

Today Lamech and a vet from Masaka will visit all the goats that we've purchased and vaccinated them against pneumonia and give them a strong dewormer. A shop owner from Nyahuka will arrive in Masaka with his truck and it will be transformed into an animal shelter on wheels. They will divide the truck bed into sections with poles and dividers. Then they will cover the bottom of the truck with soft grasses. Food and water for the journey will be collected. They will start to load the goats tomorrow morning before the sun is up!

Let the trainings begin!

Yesterday was the first of 9 trainings for goat recipients. Lamech, with Geoffrey's help, plans to teach a series of 3 trainings and repeat it in 3 locations for easy access to the beneficiaries. Yesterday's training was on World Harvest Mission's Community Center. After talking about goat breeds, why dairy goat breeding is valuable, and some basics of care, they took a tour of the goat farm on the mission as well as the demonstration fodder garden. People seemed very interested and engaged. Lamech has a great way of communicating and drawing people in.

50 Goats: Found and Vaccinated

Last week, Lamech traveled for a full day to reach Masaka. It took him a week to travel into various villages where many families breed dairy goats. Most "farms" are small and they only have a few animals. Lamech's goal was to find 50 females (half local blood and half dairy) at a mature age and vaccinate them for Foot and Mouth Disease. He found them, though a few are a bit younger than we wanted due to lack of mature ones. The local farmers are receiving the initial deposit for purchase and will receive the rest when they bring their goats to the truck April 1rst. They are so grateful for the sales, especially at this time of year when school fees are due.
Lamech also let them know that he'll return to look for more goats in May.

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.

Full Truck!!

Yeah! From what I can tell, it looks like we have enough donations to fill a truck with over 50 goats! Thanks for all of your Christmas gifts of goats. Bundibugyo will be blessed through your giving this season. After I (Karen) get back to Uganda in January, the preparations can get underway for the goat distribution. It will involve chosing people to receive the goats. They will need to be trained in goat care and build a goat shed. Lamech will go to Masaka, Uganda, and meet with small scale goat breeders in their villages. He will then choose and buy females of a good age. Next he'll get the paperwork and vaccinations they need to travel. We'll keep you posted here on the progress.

Jesus came for the least of these. Thanks for your generosity toward these little ones as we celebrate His coming

Christmas Goats

This Christmas you may want to give a gift to a needy child. When young children lose their mother or their mother's milk is tainted with HIV they are at risk of death and disease themselves. Formula and other sources of milk are not readily available or affordable in Bundibugyo. A donation of $110 provides a dairy goat that will give milk for such a child. In time, the goat will likely produce offspring and the firstborn female is passed on to another child in need of milk.
A Ugandan artist has made goat ornaments that we'd like to send to those who have purchased a goat. For those who donate a goat this Christmas, email me (Karen) at masso@iname.com sending your name and mailing address. That way I can mail off your ornament in time for Christmas.

Donations can be made online or by mail (designate fund #12375)

Alice - one month later

On Sunday, I returned from a month away and had been back just over 24 hours when I was coming home from visiting friends and found that Alice was on her way to see me. She looked sadder than usual with her eyes large and heavy, and I soon learned why: her 3 month old, Kansime Edina, had died 2 weeks before. Though Edina was her 5th child, she was the 3rd child Alice has buried. What grief she must feel. She fought back tears as we talked through our translator, Pauline, who is an extension worker on the Matiti project. To make matters more complicated, as her baby's health had deteriorated, she had borrowed 70,000 Ugandan shillings (about $38) to pay for Edina's medicines and then ultimately used what was remaining for her funeral. Funerals are a big community event here. Since Alice personally didn't have this money, she used her goat as collateral and now she needed to re-pay the goatkeeper in order to get her goat back. I offered to cover the cost of getting her goat back, but until she is in a less "urban" situation, the goat, which was a gift from World Harvest's Mattiti project, will be returned and kept at the goat farm on the mission. Alice was less than pleased about this, but right now its really the only (and best) solution. She has nowhere to keep the goat and trying to care for it in the middle of overcrowded Nyahuka Trading Center, she risks losing it to sickness, death, or even theft. Then, though the baby has been buried, at the end of this month are the final funeral rites. This is another community-wide event where family and friends gather to pay their final respects, and involves feeding those who come. Understandly Alice wants to give her baby girl an honorable send-off from this world, but how brutal this seems. Not only is she grieving the loss of her third child, but she is struggling to find the money to bury her with dignity. I will assist her in doing so ( by providing a gift in the way of cash), but was reminded by Donato, my Ugandan colleague, that there are others in our Kwejuna Project just as needy as she is. Oh, for the wisdom to know how to best help these needy and vulnerable ones....

Alice

On Friday evening, as a rainstorm was beginning to blow in, Lamech, the Ugandan extension worker for our Matiti (goat) project, visited my home to tell me about the plight of one of our HIV positve mothers and goat recipients, Alice. He had been following up on her goat in the village where she lived, only to learn that she had moved into nearby Nyahuka trading center without her goat - whom she left with another goat keeper - but with her 5 children and her mother. Recently widowed, her home in the village was accidently burned to the ground by one of her children, and she was only able to afford to rent a small shelter. Lamech took me to her home, just behind a main road and I found her huddled in a tiny grass covered hut, smaller than the size of our 8ft x 4ft cho (pit latrine) and much less glamourous: unpainted mud walls and an unfinished floor. The door was ajar and she was cooking food just inside the doorway over a charcoal stove, with a newborn baby in her lap, and her 3 and 5 year olds playing on an old, tattered 4 inch mattress. I wondered to myself who got to sleep on it at night. Both of the children were coughing heavily and frequently. The room was so small that neither Lamech nor I could fit inside and so we sat just outside the door, our eyes tingling with smoke from the hot coals. All of Alice's wordly possessions were contained in this tiny room that she shares with 6 other people. As if that weren't bad enough, on the other side of one of the walls, inches from where they live, sleep, and eat was a pit latrine the same size as her shelter.

It was truly one of the worst housing situations I have ever seen, and I just couldn't help thinking of how vivid this picture was of what a terribly broken world we live in. We talked about her options- building a new home on property owned by her husband's family but Lamech said that would cost upward of 1 million Ugandan shillings (about $600) which is currently beyond what I can help her to do - or at least in the short term, moving to another place to live. She was confident that other rented rooms were available nearby, at least with cement walls and zinc roofs, even if they didn't offer any separate space for cookng. So I gave her money to rent such a place for the next few months. I then came slowly home with a heavy heart and a deeper appreciation for my 3 bedroom house, my electric lights, my running water which I heated for a bucket bath, my spacious kitchen, and the nutritious dinner I prepared and sat down to eat. My assistance to her felt like little more than a band aid because that's really all it was.

It was extremely humbling.

There but for the grace of God go I.

Baby Goat on the Move

The night before the goat distribution a goat named Opera gave birth to a little boy kid. It was white with some brown spots. He awkwardly moved his long legs to hobble around. They stayed with us for a 2 weeks to make sure they were all well. My children enjoyed helping with the milkings which happened twice a day. This week, Opera and Ricky (as my kids dubbed him) headed off on two motorcycles to their new home. Opera is giving nearly a liter of milk a day and Ricky is suckling as well. The breeder, who is HIV+ will rapidly wean her 6 month old child and start giving goat's milk. In a few months, when the child is tested for HIV, we hope to find her negative.