Today was another adventure filled day! We started the day with another run- no, they are not getting easier!
We then met with the APAP Committee members. APAP is the agriculture group we have been working with since 2006. It is a group of farmers who have a common goal of improving their animal husbandry and milk production in their cows. We chatted about how they have been over the last year and what changes they have made. They are now a group 50 strong! They only had 25 members last year. We chatted with them about many of their activities. They have formed a savings and credit scheme where they save money as a group (they all contribute 500 Rwandan francs a week) and this money can be used to fund activities for the group or a member can borrow from the account to help them when they may need financial aid. One of the gentlemen said that, due to some of the profits made by APAP, he has been able to build a house, pay school fees for his children and get heath care for his family.
APAP is seeing much improvements in the health of their cattle and the milk production of said cattle. They say that the training by Dr. Viateur, Dr. Felicien and the paravets (specifically Assinapol) has been what has helped make the difference. They have gone from an average milk production of ~2-3 Litres/day to 12-15 Litres/day. They said that they are committed to improving even further and contributing their milk to the Milk Collection Centre.
The APAP Committee did say that they are still in need of a bull to help improve the milking genetics of the area. We had discussed this last year and we asked them to do up a proposal where we could partner with them to help buy a bull. I was pleased to let them know that we were able to secure funding for our part of the bull. This was achieved by the donations of many generous people in the town of Sechelt, BC. APAP was very happy at the news and very appreciative to all those who donated money for the purchase of the bull.
In the afternoon we visited about 4 APAP farms. We did a lot of walking to these farms but that was a great time to catch up with some of the APAP members and our Rwandan friends. The farms themselves are showing improvements. It was a good opportunity to make some suggestions to the individual farmers about ways they can improve their husbandry. As usual, they took the suggestions with gratefulness and a promise to implement the changes.
On our way home we encountered a torrential down pour with thunder and lightning. We got sufficiently soaked but we had fun all the same! We questioned our Rwandan friends, however, that this was truly the “dry season”.
Tomorrow we visit one of our favorite Food Security Sites, Cyivugiza to see what Pastor Vincent has been up to! Stay tuned.
We then met with the APAP Committee members. APAP is the agriculture group we have been working with since 2006. It is a group of farmers who have a common goal of improving their animal husbandry and milk production in their cows. We chatted about how they have been over the last year and what changes they have made. They are now a group 50 strong! They only had 25 members last year. We chatted with them about many of their activities. They have formed a savings and credit scheme where they save money as a group (they all contribute 500 Rwandan francs a week) and this money can be used to fund activities for the group or a member can borrow from the account to help them when they may need financial aid. One of the gentlemen said that, due to some of the profits made by APAP, he has been able to build a house, pay school fees for his children and get heath care for his family.
APAP is seeing much improvements in the health of their cattle and the milk production of said cattle. They say that the training by Dr. Viateur, Dr. Felicien and the paravets (specifically Assinapol) has been what has helped make the difference. They have gone from an average milk production of ~2-3 Litres/day to 12-15 Litres/day. They said that they are committed to improving even further and contributing their milk to the Milk Collection Centre.
The APAP Committee did say that they are still in need of a bull to help improve the milking genetics of the area. We had discussed this last year and we asked them to do up a proposal where we could partner with them to help buy a bull. I was pleased to let them know that we were able to secure funding for our part of the bull. This was achieved by the donations of many generous people in the town of Sechelt, BC. APAP was very happy at the news and very appreciative to all those who donated money for the purchase of the bull.
In the afternoon we visited about 4 APAP farms. We did a lot of walking to these farms but that was a great time to catch up with some of the APAP members and our Rwandan friends. The farms themselves are showing improvements. It was a good opportunity to make some suggestions to the individual farmers about ways they can improve their husbandry. As usual, they took the suggestions with gratefulness and a promise to implement the changes.
On our way home we encountered a torrential down pour with thunder and lightning. We got sufficiently soaked but we had fun all the same! We questioned our Rwandan friends, however, that this was truly the “dry season”.
Tomorrow we visit one of our favorite Food Security Sites, Cyivugiza to see what Pastor Vincent has been up to! Stay tuned.
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