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After our time on Kilimanjaro we moved southwest onto
the remote Maasai steppe of the Simanjaro district where Vetaid
is working with the Maasai people in 30 villages over an area the
size of Wales. Communication is poor and “roads” are just
faint tracks across the dust or through thorn scrub.
Tall red-robed Maasai would suddenly appear from nowhere
- one on an old fashioned upright bicycle - and then disappear into
the tangle of acacias.
It was a wonderful privilege to be accepted into the
Maasai villages and to enter the Bomas, the circular encampment
of thorn scrub “fences” enclosing the central cattle compound
and outer mud huts and sheep and goats. Here we could see at first
hand the proud dependence of these wandering pastoralists on their
cattle and on their nomadic use of the land and all it has to offer,
even in times of drought.
We travelled to a small tannery set up by Vetaid to
give Maasai women an alternative source of income. We were told
that our visit and interest in these projects was giving the villagers
great encouragement; I do hope so.
The training of Community Animal Health Workers -
one to five from each village - to help with disease recognition
and vaccine and drug administration is working well.
Gloria - A community animal health worker trained by Vetaid.
Vetaid is working closely with the villagers to use
traditional “Ethno-Veterinary” herbal remedies alongside
the modern “wonder drugs”, antibiotics, anthelmintics
and parasiticides. A 3% dilution of a tree sap used by the Maasai
as a tick treatment is 100% effective at killing cattle ticks.
There has been a reduction in calf mortality and a
general decrease in herd size as productivity increases. An increase
in “household indexes” such as an ability to buy school
clothes (the government funds education till 6 years old only for
all children), has been noted.
The projects are successful and ongoing. We took some
30 second hand mobile phones out to help with communication and
solar chargers were being purchased.
