Today we went to the Murico Food Security site. It has been a few years since we had visited this site and we looked forward to seeing the progress there.
The Parish has a new pastor, Pastor Jean Bosco, who joined the parish in September of last year. We had the opportunity to meet his wife and 4 year old girl. He is just finishing his studies in Theology at the University in Butare.
The Parish has a new pastor, Pastor Jean Bosco, who joined the parish in September of last year. We had the opportunity to meet his wife and 4 year old girl. He is just finishing his studies in Theology at the University in Butare.
We had the opportunity to tour around the Parish while the driver of our vehicle fixed the car. These guys are amazing!! They can Macgyver their car back together with seemingly no effort!! The roads are very rough on the vehicles and many of the vehicles are older. We are fortunate to have a great driver and mechanic named Moses.
We then headed to their chapel (Karma chapel) and had a great chat with one of the cooperatives in the area plus meeting with new paravets.
The history of the Parish is as follows.It started in 2009 and has had many problems due to poverty, the aftermath of the genocide and HIV/AIDs. Presently it has 3 chapels and 12 grassroot churches. There are a total of 575 Christians. It is surrounded by 4 other parishes in the Kigeme Diocese.
We heard from Peter (Jean Pierre), the paravet we trained in Murico. He is also is in charge of Savings and Credit for the co-operative we met today. The cooperative has 10 members. They grow maize, have savings and credit and their animals. They were each given a pig to help support their family.
There are at least 6 new parvets in the area because the sector is large so needed more to cover the district.
They have trained up many paravets in the district (49 of them).They have had their theory only and no practical experience yet as the money for the training has run out at present. The funding came from World Vision. The paravets we met by name today are – Sam, Joseph, Jean Bosco, Fidel, Emmanuel and Joseline.
Peter commented that the challenges they faced included- no artificial insemination and unsafe bulls in the area.
They estimate that they will be harvesting 1 tonne of maize- the original seeds supplied by Food Security (by the Udder Project). But, they do not have their own land and so it is a challenge as then they cannot benefit from improved soil after the maize harvest. They also grow beans, irish potatoes.
From money they have earned in the past, they put some of it in general savings and credit and the rest distributed amongst the members. One woman was able to buy a cow and health insurance, another member was able to get water and electricity on his property and buy a cow.
Presently they have 100,000 Rwf in savings.
Health insurance and school fees are primarily what they spend their money on individually.
So, the main challenge of the paravets is the lack of practical training.
Rachael discussed with the paravets that they should not wait for the formal technical training to start, rather, to take advantage of the experience of the fully trained paravets like Peter. Also to take every opportunity to shadow a veterinarian for experience.
The main challenge of the cooperative is the fact they do not own their own land.
Rachael mentioned to the cooperative that they are doing well but, to consider a bit of self sacrifice and put more money into joint savings and credit to get enough money to purchase a parcel of land (1.5 ha of land is 1 million Rwf). Also, she encouraged them that anything worthwhile will take time but to remember that long term investments will pay off better than short term rewards.
We then visited three of the cooperative member’s farms. We had the paravets look for positive things they were seeing on each of the farms as well as the things that need improvement. Also, about encouraging them to talk to the farmer to work out what may be best for that particular situation.
The history of the Parish is as follows.It started in 2009 and has had many problems due to poverty, the aftermath of the genocide and HIV/AIDs. Presently it has 3 chapels and 12 grassroot churches. There are a total of 575 Christians. It is surrounded by 4 other parishes in the Kigeme Diocese.
We heard from Peter (Jean Pierre), the paravet we trained in Murico. He is also is in charge of Savings and Credit for the co-operative we met today. The cooperative has 10 members. They grow maize, have savings and credit and their animals. They were each given a pig to help support their family.
There are at least 6 new parvets in the area because the sector is large so needed more to cover the district.
They have trained up many paravets in the district (49 of them).They have had their theory only and no practical experience yet as the money for the training has run out at present. The funding came from World Vision. The paravets we met by name today are – Sam, Joseph, Jean Bosco, Fidel, Emmanuel and Joseline.
Peter commented that the challenges they faced included- no artificial insemination and unsafe bulls in the area.
They estimate that they will be harvesting 1 tonne of maize- the original seeds supplied by Food Security (by the Udder Project). But, they do not have their own land and so it is a challenge as then they cannot benefit from improved soil after the maize harvest. They also grow beans, irish potatoes.
From money they have earned in the past, they put some of it in general savings and credit and the rest distributed amongst the members. One woman was able to buy a cow and health insurance, another member was able to get water and electricity on his property and buy a cow.
Presently they have 100,000 Rwf in savings.
Health insurance and school fees are primarily what they spend their money on individually.
So, the main challenge of the paravets is the lack of practical training.
Rachael discussed with the paravets that they should not wait for the formal technical training to start, rather, to take advantage of the experience of the fully trained paravets like Peter. Also to take every opportunity to shadow a veterinarian for experience.
The main challenge of the cooperative is the fact they do not own their own land.
Rachael mentioned to the cooperative that they are doing well but, to consider a bit of self sacrifice and put more money into joint savings and credit to get enough money to purchase a parcel of land (1.5 ha of land is 1 million Rwf). Also, she encouraged them that anything worthwhile will take time but to remember that long term investments will pay off better than short term rewards.
We then visited three of the cooperative member’s farms. We had the paravets look for positive things they were seeing on each of the farms as well as the things that need improvement. Also, about encouraging them to talk to the farmer to work out what may be best for that particular situation.
Lastly - can anyone identify this bird?