Samburu and Interviews!

by Harrison Blizzard and Amy Rawlinson

Another great week in Kenya began with heading out to Ruuju School to complete some food insecurity interviews with the Women’s group. Many of the members were there to gather lumber for the building of maize storage cribs that are being built throughout the community. We finished the day dancing with the women as they thanked us for all of our help the past couple of months. On Tuesday we headed to the Samburu National Reserve with the VanLeeuwen family and two veterinarian students doing work here this summer. We had a great time with the family and students and even got to witness a lion hunting a warthog. We headed back on Wednesday and had to say goodbye to the VanLeeuwens as they were making their way back to Nairobi. They will be our last Canadian visitors during our stay. It was back to work on Thursday when Harrison headed out to do more interviews with Hannah on food security and Amy was busy preparing a report on infant feeding for the Machaka orphanage. The women were so grateful for our visit and the information collected will greatly help this community in years to come. We even met a woman who has goiter (the result of a deficiency in iodine). As unfortunate as it is, it is very interesting to see nutritional deficiencies of these sorts here in Kenya as we do not see them often home. It helps us realize that problems that we have successfully tackled in the developed world are still an issue in other parts of the world. Friday was a day at the compound to catch up on some report writing and preparing for a busy week next week of interviews back in Ruuju. This weekend we will be heading out with our friend Salome to hike out to a waterfall. There is no shortage of exercise here that’s for sure! Above is a picture of us with the VanLeeuwen family and vet students Valerie and Laura before their departure.