Blog 3: The first month in Uganda
Door: Marije Wilting
07 Maart 2018 | Oeganda, Kampala
Week 4:
This week halve of the week I was in the office and the other halve I was in the field. In the field I visited a big dairy farmer and a well running cooperative where I did some milk measuring myself. For lunch most of the time I go with a colleague to a very local place. It is a kind of shed with two plastic tables and some plastic chairs and there we eat local food. The first time I came here, I noticed how much I got used to these places in India. In India I also ate in places like this and random people just came to sit and your table to eat something, because there are not enough tables. So always at this “local restaurant” I also eat with other people I don’t know. The nice thing now is that my colleague can translate everything they say about me. Unbelievable all the different comments you get from the people. Some feel very honoured to have me at their place, some wonder why my colleague brings me to such a ‘bad’ place, others wonder if I am married and some make a bit fun of me. But in general most people are really nice and welcoming. Though, still I have the feeling that many people value me more than themselves.
Thursday evening we had a spontaneous meeting with a feed expert. We had an interesting talk and we had some fun. Though, I stay surprised that even this nice and neat guy still was kind of flirting with me and was interested to meet again (in another way), although he is married. But here it is not unusual to have other girlfriends besides your wife. So, the ring I wear (to pretend that I am married) is not really helpful in pushing men away. My Ugandan supervisor told me it made me even more attractive because it shows that I am responsible.
This weekend Hilleke and I went out with 2 student colleagues who are kind of our assistants/translators. We took them to a very fancy place where we had a great meal and after that we went to a dance club. We had fun and our colleagues where so thankful! They did not have such a good night since years, so it was nice to give them this experience. The next day we went to church. I also went to a church in Zambia one time and I again really enjoyed the atmosphere. The people sing very rhythmic and happy songs and I really enjoy the vibe!
Week 5:
Monday and Tuesday I left early in the morning to visit 3 (rich) farmers. Since these farmers had some higher education they could clearly explain me the problems of dairy farming: (if you’re not interested about challenges in dairy farming, go to the next paragraph, haha).
- Feed shortage, in the dry season some cows even starve! This is quite surprising to me, because the drought problems here are far less than the place I was in India. (and as I said, the farmers are quite rich so I don’t understand how this went wrong.)
- Paddocking (verschillende weides maken) is difficult, because pawls are very expensive and eaten by termites. Everywhere in the land you see termite mounds, so this really is a big problem.
- Cows suffer a lot from ticks. Farmers spray against ticks, but the ticks become resistant to the sprays. One farmer had used already 10 different sprays and now there is no other option left than spraying twice per week. But it won’t take long till also this is not sufficient. The acaracides used against ticks are really polluting the environment and thus have a detrimental effect for the biodiversity. Also the residues of the acaracides end up in the milk, which is very unhealthy.
- The problem of antibiotics is comparable with the acaracide problem. People use too much antibiotics (there is no control on that, farmers can use as much as they want), so animals and people become resistant. For the milk quality this is also a big problem, because the antibiotic residues end up in the milk, since most farmers don’t discard the milk when they treat the animal with antibiotics.
- It is very hard to get good labour. Most workers only do their job well (work unhygienic, sell some of the milk for themselves) when the farmer is around. Workers are not educated and don’t care about the performance of the farm. Higher educated people don’t want to do farming.
- A big farmer is milking from e.g. 5 to 9 AM, which means that the milk, that is 28-30 degrees, is outside for 4 hours and then still needs to be transported. So before it reaches the cooperative, some of the milk is on this high temperature for 5 hours already (though it should be cooled directly).
- The fluctuating milk price is also a problem. In the dry season farmers can get e.g. 975 Shillings, while in the wet season (when milk production increases) farmers get paid only 500 Shillings sometimes.
What was good to hear is that also an Ugandan farmer confirmed that Muzungu’s (white people) really think different and have a different attitude. Ofcourse I experienced that myself, but now I heard and saw it from an Ugandan farmer himself. He is very different from the other farmers, he is really controlling his environment (Western), instead of the environment controlling him (African). He told that he was ‘brought up’ by Muzungus; most of his teachers were Muzungus. He also became a teacher himself and I can see indeed a different attitude at him and his students. Also his lifestyle is quite English compared to other people. Though, this doesn’t mean it is always better. Ofcourse he earns well, because he really uses his knowledge and is willing to work hard. But for the society it is not always nice to have someone “inflexible”, so not all people like him that much.
Today (Wednesday) I went to a training in where farmers learned about milk quality. It is really shocking to see that farmers have very little knowledge about milk production. But in the same time it is good to see how enthusiastic they are for learning so much in one training and they are already looking forward for the next training!
Tomorrow Hilleke and I go on safari for a few days! Looking forward!
This week halve of the week I was in the office and the other halve I was in the field. In the field I visited a big dairy farmer and a well running cooperative where I did some milk measuring myself. For lunch most of the time I go with a colleague to a very local place. It is a kind of shed with two plastic tables and some plastic chairs and there we eat local food. The first time I came here, I noticed how much I got used to these places in India. In India I also ate in places like this and random people just came to sit and your table to eat something, because there are not enough tables. So always at this “local restaurant” I also eat with other people I don’t know. The nice thing now is that my colleague can translate everything they say about me. Unbelievable all the different comments you get from the people. Some feel very honoured to have me at their place, some wonder why my colleague brings me to such a ‘bad’ place, others wonder if I am married and some make a bit fun of me. But in general most people are really nice and welcoming. Though, still I have the feeling that many people value me more than themselves.
Thursday evening we had a spontaneous meeting with a feed expert. We had an interesting talk and we had some fun. Though, I stay surprised that even this nice and neat guy still was kind of flirting with me and was interested to meet again (in another way), although he is married. But here it is not unusual to have other girlfriends besides your wife. So, the ring I wear (to pretend that I am married) is not really helpful in pushing men away. My Ugandan supervisor told me it made me even more attractive because it shows that I am responsible.
This weekend Hilleke and I went out with 2 student colleagues who are kind of our assistants/translators. We took them to a very fancy place where we had a great meal and after that we went to a dance club. We had fun and our colleagues where so thankful! They did not have such a good night since years, so it was nice to give them this experience. The next day we went to church. I also went to a church in Zambia one time and I again really enjoyed the atmosphere. The people sing very rhythmic and happy songs and I really enjoy the vibe!
Week 5:
Monday and Tuesday I left early in the morning to visit 3 (rich) farmers. Since these farmers had some higher education they could clearly explain me the problems of dairy farming: (if you’re not interested about challenges in dairy farming, go to the next paragraph, haha).
- Feed shortage, in the dry season some cows even starve! This is quite surprising to me, because the drought problems here are far less than the place I was in India. (and as I said, the farmers are quite rich so I don’t understand how this went wrong.)
- Paddocking (verschillende weides maken) is difficult, because pawls are very expensive and eaten by termites. Everywhere in the land you see termite mounds, so this really is a big problem.
- Cows suffer a lot from ticks. Farmers spray against ticks, but the ticks become resistant to the sprays. One farmer had used already 10 different sprays and now there is no other option left than spraying twice per week. But it won’t take long till also this is not sufficient. The acaracides used against ticks are really polluting the environment and thus have a detrimental effect for the biodiversity. Also the residues of the acaracides end up in the milk, which is very unhealthy.
- The problem of antibiotics is comparable with the acaracide problem. People use too much antibiotics (there is no control on that, farmers can use as much as they want), so animals and people become resistant. For the milk quality this is also a big problem, because the antibiotic residues end up in the milk, since most farmers don’t discard the milk when they treat the animal with antibiotics.
- It is very hard to get good labour. Most workers only do their job well (work unhygienic, sell some of the milk for themselves) when the farmer is around. Workers are not educated and don’t care about the performance of the farm. Higher educated people don’t want to do farming.
- A big farmer is milking from e.g. 5 to 9 AM, which means that the milk, that is 28-30 degrees, is outside for 4 hours and then still needs to be transported. So before it reaches the cooperative, some of the milk is on this high temperature for 5 hours already (though it should be cooled directly).
- The fluctuating milk price is also a problem. In the dry season farmers can get e.g. 975 Shillings, while in the wet season (when milk production increases) farmers get paid only 500 Shillings sometimes.
What was good to hear is that also an Ugandan farmer confirmed that Muzungu’s (white people) really think different and have a different attitude. Ofcourse I experienced that myself, but now I heard and saw it from an Ugandan farmer himself. He is very different from the other farmers, he is really controlling his environment (Western), instead of the environment controlling him (African). He told that he was ‘brought up’ by Muzungus; most of his teachers were Muzungus. He also became a teacher himself and I can see indeed a different attitude at him and his students. Also his lifestyle is quite English compared to other people. Though, this doesn’t mean it is always better. Ofcourse he earns well, because he really uses his knowledge and is willing to work hard. But for the society it is not always nice to have someone “inflexible”, so not all people like him that much.
Today (Wednesday) I went to a training in where farmers learned about milk quality. It is really shocking to see that farmers have very little knowledge about milk production. But in the same time it is good to see how enthusiastic they are for learning so much in one training and they are already looking forward for the next training!
Tomorrow Hilleke and I go on safari for a few days! Looking forward!
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Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
