First-hand experience with Sustainable Agriculture Program

I spent 2 weeks camping and vaccinating chickens. One week was in Monduli and the other in a village a few kilometers away. We trained 4 community vaccinators in each village by going with them for the first half of the day vaccinating chickens and having classes in the afternoons about the disease we were vaccinating against, how the vaccine works and how to properly use it, and general chicken care. My third week of camping was in the same village, working on building hafirs for water storage and training villagers on making sack gardens. Most of the teaching was done by demonstrations and physical work and walking the villagers through how to make each thing. My final week was spent manning a GSC BIA booth at the nane nane agricultural festival in Arusha.

The best thing was being able to camp in rural areas, especially Lashiane, because we were able to have first-hand experience with Maasai culture, which not many people have had. I was most immersed during my 3^rd week of camping, when I was the only SA volunteer left in the country so I camped with only Tanzanians.  This and my homestay provided me with the most insight into Tanzanian culture.

-from Karen G., GSC Volunteer Tanzania, Sustainable Agriculture Program

Further information about Sustainable Agriculture Program  can be found at http://www.globalservicecorps.org/site/tanzania-agriculture-and-food/

What Our Volunteers Say About Sustainable Agriculture Program

My work was divided between two different subjects. I did both community trainings in BIA and was one of the first groups to start the chicken vaccination program against Newcastle Disease. We did community trainings in Laiser (a sub village of Ilkaryon and Monduli (twice), and we did chicken vaccinations in Ilkaryon and Monduli. The trainings consisted of partially classroom lessons, where we would teach the basics of BioIntensive Agriculture, and partially of practical application of the lessons. With the group, we built a compost heap, dug a double-dug bed, and made a nursery and a sack garden. During vaccinations, we would travel by foot throughout a certain village for several hours in the morning vaccinating chickens and explaining the program to farmers, and in the afternoon would conduct lessons with the vaccinators about the disease and about their responsibilities.

I think the work we were doing was very important and I could see the effects it was taking as we revisited certain areas and saw progress that had been made, so in that sense it was very rewarding and I felt like I was doing something.

My time with my homestay family was amazing, they treated me as a daughter and I felt completely at home with them. I had many talks with them about the difference between American and Tanzanian culture, which provided me with an insight I would never have otherwise been able to gain. I learned so much from them, and they completely transformed my experience. I also thoroughly enjoyed camping, because it was a great way to establish camaraderie with my fellow volunteers that may not have formed otherwise. To put it simply, my favorite parts were homestay, chicken vaccinations, camping, and the relationships I developed, both with people in Tanzania as well as with other volunteers.

-Selena E., GSC Volunteer Tanzania, Sustainable Agriculture Program

To learn more about how you can participate on this and other sustainable agriculture and food security projects, go to http://www.globalservicecorps.org/site/tanzania-agriculture-and-food/