News

Update on Camel projects in Kenya

Dr. Bernard Muyeya, Bóthar’s Overseas Programme Director, recently made a trip to Kenya to see how our camel projects are going there. Here is the report of his visit.

At the request of the Chief Executive of Bóthar, I travelled to Kenya to assess the development and progress of the Kenya Camel projects. One of the projects was for the benefit of the rural people in Barpello Parish, East Pokot, Baringo District.

Fr. David Conway, an Irish priest living in Kenya, leads the camel projects in this area and kindly made all the arrangements for my visit. I arrived at Kenya Airport and travelled with Fr. David to East Pokot which is 200 Km by road from Nairobi. It is very difficult to travel by road in this region of Kenya. A regular car would be unable to make the journey. Luckily the parish had funded a special vehicle to tackle this journey!

I travelled throughout the East Pokot region on Thursday, visiting various camel projects.
The local tribe of East Pokot is the Pokot Tribe. The Pokot Tribe farm on the steppes of the Rift Valley and herd their cattle in the grassy valleys. The climate is semi-arid with average rainfalls of 12 to 20 inches. It is difficult to grow crops in the area since it is dry almost throughout the year. Therefore, at Fr. Conway’s request, Bóthar has been funding camel projects in the region. Camels are sources of food security and they adapt well in the harsh environment of the valley.

In the last number of years we have noted an increasing number of Pokot Tribesmen returning to farming with camels, rather than cattle. The main reason for the change over is that camel milk is continuously available to the farming family. The availability of camel milk throughout the seasons mean that the Pokot families have a constant source of nutritious milk.

Camels have the capacity to maintain their lactation during the dry season and even to a certain extent, under drought. The lactation of other cattle ceases under the harsh climatic conditions in areas such as East Pokot.

I was very honoured to meet with the Kisur family. The Kisur family have 10 children. The children have been brought up by their mother since the death of their father a number of years ago.

The family received a camel through the Bóthar Kenya Camel Project in 2002. The camel has already calved three times, producing two females and one male. The first female calf was passed on to another caring family in their village. The male calf was sold at 7,000 Kenya shillings earning the family much needed income for medicine, education and clothes.
The camel is producing almost 4 litres of milk a day. Most of the milk is consumed by the family. The surplus milk is used to make cheese and yogurt. The children are happy and healthy mainly due to their nutritious diet.

I would like to thank all the people who made my trip to the Camel project in Kenya a success. I would like to especially thank Fr. David Conway, John Kisur and Joseph. I would also like to thank Sr. Ester Mwaniki and her friends who prepared a wonderful dinner with good bye cake at their Convent especially for me.

Also I cannot forget to thank the project people who allowed me to see how they live their lives and shared their experiences with me.

Back to Spring 2006