Day 9: 
Today we went to visit two of the PPCs, Garufa and Shanta-Abakh. We drove nearly 200 Km to reach the first village Shanta-Abakh. The road was very bad with no tarmac. The villages are built around boreholes which are managed by the women and they receive revenues from the pastors who bring their cattle to drink (2 Ksh per cow, 1 Ksh per sheep, donkeys and human drink free). We were welcomed by the Pastoralist members and we had a meeting with them where we were able to collect much information that will be used in our analysis. In the afternoon we met with the women who have formed a group to market sheep and goats (cows is male dominated market). It was interesting to find out that the women are very eager to participate in the initiative. Unfortunately so far LIME has not been able to find a buyer for goats and sheep therefore even though the women are organised they have not been able to make any deal. I was targeted by one of the women because she said that every time somebody comes from CARE all they do is taking notes but nothing happens! They have been ready for a year but the draught has claimed many of their animals and they actually need cash to restock the herd. During lunch one of the drivers offered me some camel milk I was a bit hesitant but I tried some and it tasted nice considering that I don’t even like cow milk. 
In the afternoon we went to Garufa which is nearly 40 km away from Shanta-Abakh. This village is very remote and unlike Shanta-Abakh is off the “main road” and therefore less developed. Shanta-Abakh had a police station a mosque and a “hotel” (see top picture). At Garufa they had an area for relief food storage! No matter how many times you see it on TV it is always striking to actually see it with your eyes… As a westerner food is never a concern for us. Sseeing bags of relief food brings me to a reality that I never consider when living in the western world.
I also witness first hand the effect of the draught, dead animals were scattered around the grazing plane! Also seeing the grass made me realize why this people are nomads, even though the area is arid and semi arid there are “oasis” with grass and therefore they need to keep moving around to find these areas on the other hand they need to keep a camp close to the boreholes in order to be able to get access to water.
Today we went to visit two of the PPCs, Garufa and Shanta-Abakh. We drove nearly 200 Km to reach the first village Shanta-Abakh. The road was very bad with no tarmac. The villages are built around boreholes which are managed by the women and they receive revenues from the pastors who bring their cattle to drink (2 Ksh per cow, 1 Ksh per sheep, donkeys and human drink free). We were welcomed by the Pastoralist members and we had a meeting with them where we were able to collect much information that will be used in our analysis. In the afternoon we met with the women who have formed a group to market sheep and goats (cows is male dominated market). It was interesting to find out that the women are very eager to participate in the initiative. Unfortunately so far LIME has not been able to find a buyer for goats and sheep therefore even though the women are organised they have not been able to make any deal. I was targeted by one of the women because she said that every time somebody comes from CARE all they do is taking notes but nothing happens! They have been ready for a year but the draught has claimed many of their animals and they actually need cash to restock the herd. During lunch one of the drivers offered me some camel milk I was a bit hesitant but I tried some and it tasted nice considering that I don’t even like cow milk. 
In the afternoon we went to Garufa which is nearly 40 km away from Shanta-Abakh. This village is very remote and unlike Shanta-Abakh is off the “main road” and therefore less developed. Shanta-Abakh had a police station a mosque and a “hotel” (see top picture). At Garufa they had an area for relief food storage! No matter how many times you see it on TV it is always striking to actually see it with your eyes… As a westerner food is never a concern for us. Sseeing bags of relief food brings me to a reality that I never consider when living in the western world.
I also witness first hand the effect of the draught, dead animals were scattered around the grazing plane! Also seeing the grass made me realize why this people are nomads, even though the area is arid and semi arid there are “oasis” with grass and therefore they need to keep moving around to find these areas on the other hand they need to keep a camp close to the boreholes in order to be able to get access to water.
posted by Riccardo Cosentino at 11:30 PM
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