Starting

Joanne ~~ Monday was a cool and sunny day at the Urukundo Home. We met with Eugene, the farm manager, and discussed various agricultural projects that we could help with.

But first we checked on the animals - they have many many chickens (layers and broilers), lots of rabbits, one momma pig with 8 piglets, two cows, a calf and two goats. Eugene is very interested in trying to improve the farm and it's fun watch him, Kira and Dave sharing farm ideas even thought the translation is iffy. Especially when they are speaking about terms such as hypocalcemia and carbon (anthrax).

The farming is challenging as all the animal's pens and buildings are built on a steep hillside, resulting in issues with drainage, especially during the wet season, which can lead to illness for the animals. Rwanda is definitely "the land of a thousand hills" as there are few flat fields.

Dave and Paul set up the egg hatching incubator which they will hopefully use to hatch their own chicks. There are only two suppliers of chicks and perhaps Urukundo could be a third.

We checked out the many gardens where beans, peas, corn, carrots, lettuce, cucumbers, potatoes, cassava and lots of cabbage grow.

In the afternoon we took a trip to town to scout out where to buy supplies - there are no hardware stores, but many small stores selling various supplies. It is a food idea to comparison shop.