Definite Improvements....

Well I have been out in the field for a couple days now and things here are really looking great! I am so impressed and even proud of these women and children. So many of them are taking what they have learned from our training and other trainings that they have been to and really put it to work. Perhaps the one who has really impressed me the most so far is Franklin. When I left her here 2 years ago she had one pig, sugar cane and some matooke in her plantation. She has worked so hard over these past two years and today is at a whole new level. As of last week she still has her matooke; her sugar cane crop has increased likely by 10-20 times; she has an amazing cabbage patch (no kids, ha ha ha ), carrots, coffee, papayas, oranges, chick peas and likely some other stuff I am forgetting. On top of it all she is making REALLY good profits from all of this. From the last cabbage crop she got 1000 UGX (Ugandan Shillings) which is about 50 cents per head for a totall of 150,000 UGX that’s a HUGE income here. Additionally she sold two of her larger piglets one at 150,000 UGX and one at 170,000 UGX. She now remains with two younger piglets who she hopes to raise up and breed then sell off those piglets. It was so encouraging to see and was a great start to my field work. The other things which I found really neat was that she was growing, harvesting, eating and selling chickpeas. This is so great for so many reasons but on a very almost superficial level just the fact that she is trying something new. People here hate trying new things and generally just avoid it. She loves the taste of them as does her very old mother (which even Franklin is surprised about) I think this could be a new and exciting crop here in Uganda….not to mention the great nutritional benefits of it!

Franklin in her cabbage patch - round 2.

Franklin and I resting in her house.

 Dinah maybe hasn’t impressed me as much but you can’t help but be happy for her. When I left her last year she had one milk goat which I had given her and one pig. When I went there this time she has two milk goats and FIFTEEN other goats! There are goats everywhere, such a great sight to see. The other great thing is that she milked her dairy goats the last time they gave birth and drank the milk (major cultural aversion to drinking goats milk here so that is exciting). She was able to milk it for about 2 months, her kids are now begging for more! She has also started farming chick peas and has some pretty amazing yields, she told me she’s trying to sell them but she has a hard time parting with them! Too funny!

Dinah and the newest member of her herd, 4 days old.



Of course it’s hard not to be proud of those who are my favourite. Janet continues to amaze me all the time. She has such great management skills and is such a hard worker that I think she might just burn herself out! Her and her mother recently acquired a really sick and skinny male goat from the organisation as it was being poorly cared for at its previous home. Janet has been known in the past for her ability to nurse these sick ones back to health and judging by the records here at the office this one was in dire need. I had didn’t know when approaching that this was said goat and commented on how nice and fat he was and that this must be one of her home raised ones. Her mother told me this was the weak, sick goat who arrived on death’s doorsteps.

Janet's mother and the once very sick dairy buck!

With her hard work she has also been able to buy furniture for her house (not common in the village) and she has all new windows and doors purchased she just has to wait to put them in now. On top of all this she continues to care for 2 of her children and 2 orphans as well as run a shop and vie for top spot among the para-vets which I trained last time. She calls me on occasion in Canada looking for help on certain cases. I’ll have to take some more pictures of her next time I am at her place. She’s truly an amazing woman. Oh yeah and I forgot to mention that she has also somehow found time to start a clothing store from her home!

All in all it seems that the women and children are doing better and really benefitting from the project. They aren't without troubles however but certainly are improving. Unfortunately it seems once you get more what do you want? More...hopefully they don't turn into us!