Taking a selfie with a cow

“The camera is right here!” I try – successfully! – to get a selfie with a cow at a Megabridge Foundation farm in Kenya. After our visit, Joseph wrote: “We appreciate that you found time to visit our project. Your team was the first “Wazungu” (Swahili for white people) to visit a homestead in the village; a particular honor to the family that hosted the team. The team’s visit to the project has elicited a lot of publicity and interest among the community wishing to learn among others more about the project.” Lucky Nylenda, his wife, and I try to pose with their uncooperative calf. Lucky is a member of the Manyamula COMSIP Cooperative. He has used the low-interest loans to expand his flocks of goats, chickens, and guinea fowls. Finally got a better picture of him! This cute calf was just two days old when we met him. His mother can produce 10-15L per day of milk, which can sell for $3-4! A cow can sell for $275-325. Chickens for Sale Chickens outside the Matungu Community Development Charity poultry house in Mumias, Kenya. When I visited in June, the heavy rains were delaying the construction progress. Now it is done and housing 250 hybrid chickens! Chickens sell for $7 each. The profit from the chickens will add to the group’s loan fund. Evans Okumu, secretary of the Matungu Community Development Charity, shoveling the high-quality chicken feed into bags. Vincent Atitwa, the group’s chairperson, writes: “Sometimes the smallest step in the right direction ends up being the biggest step of your life. Tiptoe if you must but take the step. I believe we have taken the step together with SIA.” Piglets for Women Visiting the Megabridge Foundation piggery in June! A Spirit in Action grant helped the organization buy top quality breeding stock and construct a pig pen to keep the animals healthy and dry. The piggery holds up to 50 pigs. The sows eat a healthy diet of ground oatmeal, corn, and fish.  Piglets will be distributed to women in the community soon, once the heavy rains die down. Most of the women in the area pick tea leaves as day laborers. A piglet is a significant increase in wealth for a family.
One more for the road…. A familiar scene from the trip: sharing the dusty road with cattle. Malawi, 2017.
P.S. If you want to see my selfie with a cow, click over to our Facebook or Instagram page. 🙂  #Chickens #LocalOrganizations #pigs #Cows #Kenya #Malawi