In our continuing effort to make ourselves unnecessary we are now venturing into the farming realms. First the pigs. Pigs are not frequently eaten by rural maasai but those living in the cities are different and do indeed eat pork . So our dear friend in Nairobi has started a pig project which we are hoping will provide ongoing income for food, school fees, and when necessary, medical care. We bought 20 piglets and enough feed for 4 months. We are hoping that after fattening up the piglets in four months they will be sold for a fair sized profit and the money earned will buy more pigs. The proceeds are hoped for on a continuing basis so that if this kind of pandemic comes again, and people are laid off with no income, at least this particular family will be able to provide for itself from pig production.
Next - the chickens which are indeed eaten by the maasai people in the rural areas. We have
just provided money for a coop that will hold close to 500 chickens, and in order to raise chickens we needed an incubator as the chickens themselves could not hatch hundreds of eggs at a time. The plan is to use proceeds from the dairy cattle (continue reading for this activity) business to provide chickens, and a coop (or the means to build a coop) and an incubator to one community each month for about 10-12 months. They will be able to raise chickens, sell some of the eggs and eat some of the eggs, and when the chickens are past the egg laying age (usually around 6-7 years) the chickens can be sold for food or eaten by the community. Trying hard to make sure that when there are food shortages from now on, there will be something to eat for the communities we are working with.
The last of our “farmer projects” is the dairy cattle business. I’ve been told it’s very lucrative as almost all people, maasai and other tribes, will drink several glasses of milk each day and sometimes it’s even a substitute for food. This was a more expensive project as we had to first buy 2 acres of land, and fence it, and build a shelter house on it for the couple who will be in charge of milking and watching the cows each day. We expect to buy around 12 dairy cows (hoping most of them will be pregnant when we buy them) and 2 bulls (and you know what we need bulls for!!!!!) so we have set ups pens and machinery for a total of 15 animals in case we get to that number. It is expected that we will arrange to sell milk to some of the tourist camps and many of the locals in the town of Narok where this land and venture is being set up. We also expect that the profit on a monthly basis, after payment to the workers, will be enough to set up one chicken program in one community each month.
When all communities are taken care of then we will put aside all profits to set up a fund to pay for students to go to High School. As stated elsewhere high school with uniforms and boo
ks and pens is about $1000 the first year and about $750 each of the additional 3 years. Most people simply cannot afford this cost. So we are not sure yet how many we will be able to fund to go to High School, but we’ll pay for as many as the proceeds from the dairy cattle business will allow.
These are rewarding ventures as it helps people to look after themselves and thinking that the pandemic is not the only thing to slow down the economy and cause mass layoffs of employees we believe it is the best option on which to spend funds kindly donated to the Sterling Africa Foundation.
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