My volunteer work here at the Centre is ever-evolving, and I have been very busy for the past two weeks focusing on agriculture development. Last week, I spent two days in Nairobi, searching for various items for the rabbits here. I was mostly in search of an ear notcher and waterers. I was successful in finding an ear notcher, which we will now be able to create an identification system for the rabbits here, so that production records can be kept. I searched all over the city for rabbit waterers, but was unsuccessful in that search. I'm hoping that I can show the welding teacher at the Centre a design of a waterer, so that maybe he can fabricate some more. Before coming to Kenya, I was able to find water bottle converters to use for the rabbits; but even in the largest city in the country, I wasn't able to find any here. I went to Nairobi with a gentleman from the Centre who is working to get his motivational book published, so we had to visit the national government in order to file publishing papers for the book. After, we visited a former volunteer of the Centre who is attending college now in Nairobi. He is the chairman of the Red Cross club at his university, so he invited me to speak to the club about the concepts of leadership and volunteering, in hopes to motivate the members to become more involved with the club.
On Friday I arranged for an agro-technician to visit from the Jomo Kenyatta University for Agricultural Technology (JKUAT). He came to visit our gardens, and will be coming on a regular basis in the future to advise the CBO members about their crops, and how to improve what the grow. I was really glad he was able to come visit, because it seems that our "shamba" is starting to go downhill, pretty rapidly. The CBO has a terrible problem that it doesn't have much money to help fund the ongoing projects within the group, and sometimes can't hand out necessary money for seeds, health supplies, maintenance equipment, etc. and haven't been able to afford pesticides, insecticides, and other sprays for the crops. The agro-technician pointed out that over 50% of the shamba is ridden with pests, which much of it will have to be dug out and replanted. I hope that in the future the CBO will make the investment of spraying crops so that they don't waste money on planting seeds and having a failed crop.
The weekend was a nice time spent to relax and enjoy with the kids from the Centre. We took them to a local river to swim, and they had such a wonderful time with the opportunity. Many of them don't get the chance to leave the Centre except for school, so when there is news about a mini-trip to leave, everyone tends to get a bit excited. On Sunday we met up with some Canadians who were having a party at their house to celebrate Canada Day, so I thought it was pretty cool to say that we (Americans) got to attend a Canada party in Kenya! I met a fellow there who does similar work in Nairobi at a children's home who will often times go into the slums to pick up children. Here in Kenya, the Kibera slum in Nairobi is one of the largest slums in the world, with nearly one million squatters living there. On my last trip into Nairobi, I have arranged for this gentleman to show me around and get a feel for what it's like within the slums. Trust me, I wouldn't be doing it without him.
Yesterday I got to meet with several officials from the Ministry of Agriculture to visit a farm about an hour away from Nyeri, to view it and also give some recommendations on how the farm can improve. They have rabbits, cows, a garden, and also a lot of land for animal food production. Everything seemed to be going well except for the dairy cattle. We observed that the nutrition of the cattle can be improved a bit, but most of the discouraging qualities of the cows came from poor genetics. Hopefully the farm will invest in good AI bulls to start making progress in the future generations.
Two rabbits have finally given birth! I was becoming a bit discouraged about the progress of the rabbit keeping, in which the Probation Office donated 5 rabbits to increase the herd. When received them 3 weeks ago, we were told they were pregnant and due within a matter of days. I patiently waited and nothing seemed to happen, but finally, just two days ago, they both gave birth on the same day. Now we have 15 babies to take care of. I hope that we can get a few more litters before I leave, and that also one or two of the goats will give birth as well.
