Heifer International project participants in Tanzania have taken the skills learned in Heifer’s trainings and created successful enterprises for their families. Meet the Kitamari family. Their small plot of land is now an organic farming system, complete with goats, vegetable crops and fish fingerlings. “Mr. Camel” began raising camels after drought claimed the lives of his cattle. Now he sells camel milk for a profit.
Your gift of a camel can help small farmers like Mr. Camel in Tanzania.
After our descent from Kilimanjaro with the group of Elanco employees who are Heifer International supporters, I had the opportunity to visit the Kitomary family in Tanzania.
The Kitomary family farm is a miraculous oasis of organic farming outside the city of Arusha in Tanzania. It wasn’t always that way, though.
Photo courtesy of Heifer International
Zodiac Kitomary used to drink away the meager earnings of his family’s simple plantings. He had nothing better to do, he says, no hopeful prospects. Then in 2003, the family received fish fingerlings from Heifer, and later, dairy goats. More importantly, Zodiac says, they received trainings on how to maximize the output of their tiny property and on how to work together.
Photo courtesy of Heifer International
His wife, Ndetaniawa, says Heifer trainings taught a different attitude, calling for husband and wife to work together and value each other. She confronted her husband and asked him to stop drinking. “Now,” she says, “everything that comes from the farm, everything we make, we share together equally.”
And they manage to squeeze a lot out of the farm. One and a half acres, they observe, is not a lot to raise six children on. They’ve enthusiastically adopted all kinds of organic techniques so that every inch of the farm serves more than one purpose.
Photo courtesy of Heifer International
The fish fingerlings the Kitomarys raise are sold all over the region. They have a biogas system run with the dung of their dairy goats, which they continue to breed. And they’re raising specialty crops like herbs, greens, yams and fruit trees.
With their earnings, the family is sending all six children to good schools. One is even at university now.
“Many people are amazed,” Zodiac Kitomary says. “They think I must still be getting financial assistance. But really I just keep applying the training, and that’s what makes it possible.”
It is now school vacation, so Jariya Saerum’s children are staying home and helping her and her husband do some chores. The children also helped their grandparents with cassava harvesting. After harvesting cassava, her family is now planting corn, local vegetables and coffee. They are also preparing the ground for upland rice, which they are planning to grow during the May–June season.
The family’s recent farming production was good, so Jariya’s family made some profit, and they have enough to buy a new motorcycle. The new vehicle will make their lives easier when they travel. Rice production was also good, which should be enough for their family for the whole year. the banana crop is also yielding well, so they have enough to eat and share with others families (they sometimes trade their farming products with other families). Recently, they traded bananas for fermented fish — a Northeastern Thai food cooking ingredient.
The ducks received from the project are laying three to four eggs a day, so Jariya’s family has enough protein everyday. Their poultry is not yet hatched because the rainy season is approaching. But , they are expecting to have more ducklings after the rainy season.
During the past six months, Jariya has received various trainings both from Heifer and other organizations. Recently, she received climate adaptation training by Heifer Thailand, as well as training in disaster risk deduction, homestay management, handicraft from coconuts and being a local tourist guide.
From learning to be local tour guide as their village is located near a prominent cave, Jariya learned basic English to communicate with foreign visitors. One of the foreign tourist visited the cave led by her and visited her family. This visitor was impressed with Jariya’s determination to improve her family’s living condition, so he provided some amount of scholarship for her children. Jariya was so impressed with his kindness, and she shared this story with project staff with a trembling voice.
Being a good role model for her children and always supportive, her children are studying hard. The recent school exam resulted in Sunisa Buajarn, her oldest daughter who is studying in grade 8, getting a 3.92 GPA. Her second-oldest son, Thanapon Buajarn ( studying in grade 2) got a 3.94 GPA (out of 4.00). Moreover, Thanapon participated in a pétanque competition (a game similar to bocce) at district level, winning the runner-up prize.
Unfortunately Satian Buajarn, Jariya’s husband, has been having health problems lately. This is because he previously used chemicals when farming his own farm and working day labor on other farms. Jariya and Satian discussed his health issues with Heifer project staff, who talked to the family about substituting organics for the chemicals. Satian has agreed to make the change.
There was also a sad story that happened to Jariya’s family when she lost her youngest brother a few months ago from an accident. Her brother helped temple construction, and while he was working a log fell on his head, causing him to lose consciousness. He was admitted at the local hospital for many nights, but he was not getting any better. He died peacefully about a week later. Jariya as well as her parents and other relatives were so sad for their great loss.
As time goes by, the family is getting better. Jariya’s children are growing up too, so the children are helping their grandparents sometimes to lessen their burden and to encourage them during their time of great loss.
Editor’s note: This post is part of a series that follows the progress of specific families, starting at the beginning of their work with Heifer. Today’s post is the second in a series of quarterly updates on the progress of Jariya Saerum and her family. You can read the first post about this family here.
Hundreds of thousands of U.S. veterans are returning home as the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan wind down and duties are turned over to local forces. But once home, soldiers face a difficult transition back to the private sector, limited job opportunities, and often serious stress and health issues following their career service to their country.
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Decorated U.S. Marine Corps veteran Colin Archipley, who joined the service in response to the Sept. 11 attacks and served three tours in Iraq, and his wife, Karen, started Veterans Sustainable Agriculture Training (VSAT) at their small-scale organic farm called Archi’s Acres in Northern California. They converted a barn into a classroom for veterans trying to find a new purpose after military service, many of them suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Their farm uses bio-hydroponics with a primary crop of basil, but also grow lettuce, chard, kale, mint, tomatoes, cilantro and parsley with a goal “to augment and accelerate (exponentially) the agricultural revolution across America, in partnership with our military veterans,” according to their website.
Farming offers veterans a chance to decompress, Colin Archipley said in a recent New York Times article, but, more importantly, provides a sense of purpose. “It allows them to be physically active, be part of a unit,” he said. “It gives them a mission statement — a responsibility to the consumer eating their food.”
“The military is not for the faint of heart, and farming isn’t either,” said Michael O’Gorman, an organic farmer who founded the nonprofit Farmer-Veteran Coalition, which supports sustainable-agriculture training, in the article this month in The New York Times. “There are eight times as many farmers over age 65 as under. There is a tremendous need for young farmers, and a big wave of young people inspired to go into the service who are coming home.”
Like any agricultural endeavor, the operation has its challenges. It works with the support of the Department of Veterans Affairs and local university and the veterans community to help soldiers build a better future for themselves. Graduates of the six-week training program come up with their own business plans in agriculture as something of a final exam so they are fully prepared to continue their growth.
If you have a few minutes to hear the stories of the veterans who have benefited, I urge you to watch the inspiring film on byutv about the program.