Meeting Some of the Families
In October 2011, Emmanuel Ayru took Trustees John and Janet Rew out to some villages to visit two of the recipient families and their cows. Emmanuel looks after the project on behalf of Global Challenge. The cow at the first village was grazing with many others, all owned by different communities, on land about half a mile away, and looked after by a young Karamajong boy. Communities now have decided to pay the Karamajong to care for the cows rather than risk them being stolen by the tribe! Although the land is owned by others, as long as it is not arable, anyone is allowed to graze their cattle on it.
 |
 |
The cactus hedge stops the cows grazing on the arable land. At night the cows are returned to the villages and tethered.
 |
 |
The community at the second village we visited owned one of the original project cows with one of its calves- they went off to collect them from the field.
They were clearly very poor, but took pride in welcoming us with sodas and biscuits. The children all played happily together- they had no toys but seemed very content. They were peeling Cassava, a carbohydrate root crop widely grown in the area. Once peeled, it would be dried in the sun and then taken into town to be milled, and then either sold or used to feed the family.
Villagers were desperate for more cows- and therefore more calves. They see them as an investment- rather than having money in the bank. Although we do not encourage it, in times of real unplanned hardship, the cows can be sold to pay for medical expenses or school fees.