Week 1 in Kenya: “Shoulder Deep” in the Experience

By: Kaitlin Coles, Kaitlyn Ledgerwood, Meghan Martell, with Dr. John VanLeeuwen from the Atlantic Veterinary College 

Jambo! After numerous delays, we have arrived in Kenya! This past week has been spent immersing ourselves in Kenyan culture, working with local farmers, and learning lots along the way.

Vet students with Dr. John

Our first stop on the way to Meru was the Wakulima Dairy in Mukurwe-ini. This business is now thriving with the help of Farmers Helping Farmers (FHF) and the University of Prince Edward Island. Over 25 years ago, Wakulima Dairy collected less than 5,000L of milk per day, and are now collecting over 70,000L. They continue to provide income and jobs for the community. 

We started off strong by giving a seminar on a farm to a newly-formed club of dairy farmers belonging to the Buuri Dairy Group. We discussed how important nutrition, health, and cow comfort are for happy cows and good milk production. Many eager farmers showed up wanting to learn and ask questions. The club then went to where a cow and heifer were housed on the farm, and demonstrated on those animals the application of the information provided. At the end of the day, FHF Dairy handbooks were handed out to further guide farmers and provide additional information.  

The following day, we visited farms with Stephen Chandi, an animal health employee of FHF, and a local veterinary technician, Henry Mutea of the Naari Dairy Group, to check and treat cows that farmers were concerned about. It gave us the chance to see the difference in Kenyan farms versus Canadian farms, as well as educate farmers, Stephen and Henry on how to treat certain disease and how to improve cow comfort and welfare.  

Not only does FHF run the Dairy Project, but they also provide Horticulture, Donkey, Poultry, and Nutrition projects. We spent a day with Dr. Victoria Bowes, a veterinarian from British Columbia who specializes in poultry, educating a woman’s group on the principles of raising chickens. We saw first-hand how effective the FHF Poultry Project is, when we visited farms belonging to women who have been guided by them in the past. Their coops had been much improved to support flock health and good egg production. 

A big part of the Dairy Project is holding walk-in clinic days for cattle in different areas. This week in Mbaaria, over 400 cows, bulls, heifers, and calves were dewormed and treated by the dairy health team, and a few dogs and goats got in on the action too! We were lucky to have two final year vet students from Nairobi University to help out during this busy day. The day ended with a cow with a uterine torsion coming to the walk-in clinic – Dr. John encouraged all the animal health team to put the arm into the cow’s vagina up to their shoulder to feel the torsion so they would recognize it in the future and know how to treat it. A long, tiring but rewarding day was ended with sharing a cup of tea, celebrating a good day at the clinic! 

We ended our busy first week at a FHF party, which included Kenyan and Canadian staff/volunteers, along with 3 members from each FHF partner group (dairy groups, women’s groups, and schools). The day included singing, dancing, good food, and meeting lots of incredible people! 

We are looking forward to what the next two weeks have to offer, so check back in for another update of life as a vet student in Kenya!  

‘Tricks of the trade’ help feed more students more nutritious food at Kenyan schools

By Colleen Walton, FHF volunteer

Chef Emily Wells and I are working with FHF staff, school cooks and teachers at schools partnered with Farmers Helping Farmers to ensure optimal school lunches. Education is highly valued by Kenyan families, and having a lunch program attracts students to the school. This increase in students can challenge the school, their cooks and gardeners, as well as FHF staff.

At Maritati Primary School, we tested and installed a manual vegetable cutter with Josphet, the cook. This efficient cutter will help him meet the challenge of cooking for more than 700 students. He can now more easily include chopped carrots, pumpkin or sweet potatoes in the githeri (maize and beans stew) each day.

At Mitoone Primary School, we had the fortune to work with Faith the cook and Gladys the gardener. We found that cleaning maize and beans provided by the parents was taking the cook 2 to 3 hours per day! With a bit of brainstorming by the team, the teacher in charge has instituted a solution. The maize and beans will be inspected when it is submitted to the cook, and cleaned on-site by the parent if there is too much chaff or stones.

Having the maize cooked in time for lunch is also a challenge in many schools. At Mitoone, we tested par- cooking the maize overnight. This was a huge success as the githeri was ready well ahead of the serving time. This method will reduce the morning pressure on the cooks, and make sure the maize is soft and tasty for the students.

Ruuju Primary School was the first school to partner with FHF for a student lunch program with gardens. We were delighted to find that both green veggies and pumpkin had been added to the githeri! And that they had no problem cooking the pumpkin with the skin on as it gets soft and becomes part of the soup; another labour-saving strategy!

James, the FHF Community Nutritionist, will continue to visit schools, and provide hands-on training in food and nutrition to students. As well, James will be sharing the ‘tricks of the trade’ between schools and cooks, to help the schools to meet the challenge of growing enrollment.

Seeing success on a Kenya farm rewarding for FHF volunteer

By Ken Mellish

We were visiting the Ex Lewa dairy and after the Board of Directors meeting, we had time to visit a farm.

Dorothy, the dairy manager, selected a farm near by because the rain clouds were looming and there was a distance to the pavement. The farm is operated by Purity Mwirigi. A number of her neighbours had gathered as we planned to talk about cow feeding.

The first impression was how green the crops were on the farm. Kenya has been getting lots of rain the last three months and anything that is not drowned out is growing well. We found that Purity was the farmer, and she was producing thirty litres of milk a day from two cows. This is good production by Kenyan standards. We asked her to show us the farm and tell us how she is producing milk.

Purity attended milk production training provided by Farmers Helping Farmers in 2019. She was quick to point out that the milk production on her farm was much higher as a result of the things she had learned and put in to practice.

The first stop was to visit her new calf. The calf was from her good cow and was almost two months old. She had learned to save the colostrum from the cow and ferment it to feed the calf for the first five weeks of its life. The calf was developing well, and she had used the new milk that had no other value, but is very good feed for newborn calves. The secret to producing lots of colostrum is the practice of “steaming up”, or feeding the cow well before she calves. This was learned at the FHF training.

Next we visited the cows. Two were milking, and one was expected to calve soon. Again, the cows were of very good Freisen breeding, and looked in very good condition. Their feed bunk had a mixture of chopped fresh corn, with lots of grain on the cobs, and immature Napier grass. This is the best combination of forages for producing milk in Kenya.

A short walk to the fields again showed us the results of FHF dairy training. The crops were very well fertilized with cow manure and were a dark green, indicating they would be high in protein. The corn was twice as high as us, and the Napier being harvested was the recommended three feet tall for optimum nutrition and yield. Purity had planted the
maize in August, and had some irrigation water, then the rains came and the plants were a good size. With the excellent fertility from the cow manure, the corn really grew. The same applied to the grass, with a combination of good fertility, rain and hot Kenyan sun producing a high nutrition product. Later plantings would provide feed later when this plot was finished.

So what lessons did we and the local farmers learn? The farm was producing almost all the feed for the cows, with only a small amount of grains being purchased to up the energy level in the ration. It was an almost closed system, with the crops feeding the cows, and the cows fertilizing the fields. The farm was profitable, and Purity was using the farm profits to send her children to school, and had a nice new house. Purity told us repeatedly that FHF training had enabled her to increase milk production from her cows and make more profits. Above all, we and her neighbours saw a woman who was informed and proud of her farm.

Donkey Project – Week One Success

By Anya Floyd, with Dr. Martha Mellish

The first week of our project is coming to an end, and what a week it has been! Our project has focused on completing upper airway endoscopies to assess the impacts of harness design and fit on the respiratory health of cart pulling donkeys. As well as endoscopies, every donkey we saw was vaccinated for rabies and tetanus, and was dewormed for intestinal parasites and lung worms. From each donkey, we took a fecal sample for analysis. We also performed dentistries and trimmed hooves on donkeys as needed. Our days have been filled with donkeys and their owners, and our evenings have been spent performing fecal examinations to assess the parasite load of each donkey. 

Local veterinarian Dr. Josefat Matara has been instrumental in assisting our project. His local knowledge of the donkeys and their owners has helped everything go smoothly. 

At the end of our first week, 120 donkeys have been successfully vaccinated against rabies, tetanus, and were dewormed. 

Donkey upper airway anatomy presents unique challenges during endoscopies, and Dr. Mellish’s skills were put to the test. But her experience and talent prevailed, and our donkey endoscopy technique was perfected by our second day. 

We were treated to lunch by several farmers and ended each day with smiling donkey owners. It has been such a wonderful experience to help local farmers learn about the health of their donkeys and show them how small, but impactful changes can be made to improve the health and welfare of their hard-working animals. 

This year, Meru county has had more rain, resulting in improved crops and grazing. Dr Mellish has noticed a drastic improvement in the body condition scores of the donkeys that we have so far seen, as compared to last year at this time when she was here. 

We are ending our first week inspired and excited for what is to come! The response to our project has been wonderful, owners have many questions and are excited that they can take initiative in caring for their donkeys. The combination of the Kenyan sun and happy farmers has each day left us energized and asking: “What else can we do to improve the welfare of the donkeys?” The answers we have discussed so far have been both exciting and daunting.

Donkey Project returns in 2024

Dr. Martha Mellish is part of a group of travellers who will be volunteering in Kenya in January and February 2024.

Welcome to our 2024 Blog

Volunteers from Canada are preparing to travel to Kenya in January and February 2024 to continue the work of Farmers Helping Farmers.

They will share photos and reports about their experiences here.

Stay tuned!