From Garden to Plate: A Sustainable Nutrition Journey in Kenya

 By Katie MacNeill

I have been involved with Farmers Helping Farmers for the last four years, and I was excited when given the opportunity to visit Kenya for a third time with the organization. I have been here for almost two weeks now working as a nutrition volunteer alongside James, the community nutritionist in Kenya. Our work’s divided between dairy clubs, women’s groups, and primary schools.

With the schools in previous years, we provided nutrition education to the grade 5 students through nutrition clubs. This year we are changing to teacher-led nutrition education to help our messages reach more individuals and become more sustainable. With this change the teachers will now educate the students on our messages about gardening, hygiene and food safety, protecting zinc and iron in foods, and filling your plate with colour. 

Following the classroom lessons, they will do practical lessons allowing the children to garden many nutritious and easily accessible vegetables, and cook traditional meals while incorporating many of the things they were taught to grow. This will be done using the 4K clubs, which stand for Kuungana, Kunfanya, Kusaidia, Kenya. Translated this means Unite, Act and Help Kenya. These clubs are implemented in schools to help educate children on farming skills, sustainability and entrepreneurship to help fight hunger, improve nutrition and enforce positive attitudes towards agriculture.

We have visited three schools that have implemented this so far. The teachers are confident and thankful that they have the opportunity to take this next step. With the practical lessons starting, the students have shown a great deal of pride in the vegetables they have started to grow along with the recipes and nutrition messages they have been taught. I am excited to see the impact that this change has on the sustainability and reach of nutrition education in primary schools!

Faces from the Field: Reflections of a Volunteer Horticulturalist

    It’s really hard to put into words what we see and feel here in Kenya. It can be challenging to explain to loved ones and colleagues back home, especially as they battle freezing temps and chest-high snow banks. Despite the lovely sunny skies, the days here can be long, especially given the drought conditions much of our project area is facing. Each day the group of us (7 in our house working on different aspects of the project) sit down and have dinner together reflecting on our days, sharing the low moments and the laughs. As the day's reflections come to mind I see the faces of the people we work with; bright and joyful, grateful and generous. So I wanted to share a few snapshots of what I have seen, heard and felt along the way so far! 

  Betty - a very welcoming individual with a gorgeous crop of potatoes started from our clean potato seed project. Showcasing two different plantings, these potatoes will provide both clean, high quality seed and ware potatoes for her hoursehold. Her hard work in the field following the training she received as part of our new potato plantlet program has really paid off! After unearthing some really nice potatoes in the field Betty took us on a tour of the rest of her farm. Proudly showing off her chicken coop and improved chickens; Betty reflected fondly on the chicken training she received from Victoria Bowes last year and spoke of how the chickens brought nutrition for her family and income with the sale of some eggs. She was proud to be a past participant of FHF dairy training, excited to hear of our new small ruminant work and was incredibly grateful for her water tank, the basis of her connection with FHF.

 

   Stephen - the school gardener at King’O primary school. I was blown away by both the quality of the cabbage Stephen was growing and his nearly fluent English! We left Mwenda, our translator and longtime FHF horticulturalist behind to chat with the cookhouse staff, and we took a stroll through Stephen’s FHF sponsored screen house together. We discussed how farming is seemingly easy on paper but much less so in practice. Stephen spoke of Mwenda’s guidance and recommendations as the reason for his incredible garden’s success. Modest as he was, the proof of Stephen and Mwenda’s teamwork is certainly paying off, which I saw first hand amongst the children enjoying their super githeri for lunch - chock full of extra veggies! 

 Pasqualina - one of the cooks at Ruuju primary school wore her FHF hat and jacket with pride as she chopped cowpea leaves to add to the super githeri they were preparing for the students’ lunch. She told me how grateful she was of the knife she was given from nutritionist Colleen Walton on a prior visit from Canada, that it reduced her kitchen prep time. She was excited to hear that Colleen and more of the nutrition team would be returning again in May and was hopeful to be able to participate in more training for their FHF improved cookhouse. 

 Ester - a thoughtful farmer with a gorgeous bougandelia tree and blue shutters I recalled fondly from my last visit to Kenya. Ester is grateful to be an early adopter of the plantlet/rooted apical cuttings she received as part of our clean potato seed project. Despite battling cutworms in part of the field (a challenging pest and a learning opportunity for all of us), Ester was pleased to reveal well-sized, virus free seed potatoes to us. We will carry forward Ester’s learnings to our training sessions with hers and other women’s groups across Meru County in the next couple weeks. These portraits just skim the surface of the smiling faces we encounter as we walk into shambas, school gardens and meet with women’s groups. Every one of them with a story to share of the impact FHF is having. To think, it’s only been one week here! As we gather around the dinner table each night I can’t help but think of all the other faces behind the stories I hear from the others around our dinner table. Then I extrapolate that to include the rest of the group staying elsewhere too, 19 of us total. I’m so grateful to be surrounded by such hardworking, passionate, dedicated people, Kenyan and Canadian alike!  

Asante sana, Kendra

Under the Kenyan Sun with Hooves

By the Vet Student Team

 

The first week in Kenya flew by! There was a lot of time spent talking and learning about the livestock here. Most of our time has been spent between the local donkey and dairy groups in the region, but we have had the opportunity to dabble with the poultry and newly formed small ruminant projects. There are so many different projects going on that it has been nice to get a chance to participate in all aspects of the “boots on the ground”work going on here.

The 4 vet musketeers after the first walk-in clinic

Everyone has been very welcoming, sharing endless mugs of tea, and laughs. We held seminars to share information on cattle and donkey welfare, but to also understand the issues affecting farmers in the region. The dairy team held sessions for two new groups in Kiirua and Ruiri, where we went over six essentials to maximize milk production. Over the next year these groups will continue to meet with Farmers Helping Farmers (FHF) staff covering topics such as nutrition, making silage, cow comfort, and breeding in more detail. At the end of year, we hope farmers will feel better equipped to tackle dairy production in Kenya. 

The donkey seminars consisted of “punda” (donkey) owners who had the opportunity to learn “pressure & release” halter training, a new type of knot to tie their donkeys, as well as an introduction to innovative harness and cart designs focused on donkey welfare.

Happy donkey grazing

To wrap up the week we participated in a whirlwind cattle health clinic in Mbaaria where nearly 500 cattle were vaccinated, dewormed, and treated by the FHF vet team and veterinarians and paravets from Meru County. Ng'ombe (cows in swahili) received anthrax, BVDV, and Lumpy Skin Disease vaccines, while many dogs were dewormed and vaccinated against rabies. The farmers were especially enthusiastic about the anthrax vaccines, as there had been cases in the area not 3 weeks prior. The health clinic included farmers from the surrounding area, some of whom walked with their cows over 5km to attend! We had the opportunity to see some incredibly interesting cases, including East Coast Fever,m Habronemiasis, and Anaplasmosis, as well as participate in their diagnosis and treatment. It was a day of laughter, hard work, and organized chaos under the hot Kenyan sun. 

The organized chaos of the first walk-in clinic

There has been a lot to see outside of seminars and clinic days. There are people transporting goats and furniture on Boda Boda’s, which are Kenyan motorcycle taxis. Baboons on the side of the road, hoping you will toss them a snack. Crops and water being hauled by donkeys and oxen, and mangoes around every corner. Perhaps the most exciting thing we have seen so far are the elephants on the way to and from the office. We are sure that Kenya will continue to surprise us and cannot wait to see what the next two weeks bring!

Sharing the road with two oxen pulling a cart

Improving Welfare for Working Donkeys in Meru County, Kenya

    By Dr. Martha Mellish

     Equus asinus—the donkey—known locally as punda in Kiswahili and ntigiri in Kimeru, does a lot of work for families in Meru County, Kenya. Despite their importance, working donkeys often labour with harnesses that compress the airway, leading to coughing, breathing difficulty, and reluctance to work.

    The Working Donkey Project in Meru County, supported by the Sir James Dunn Animal Welfare Center and Farmers Helping Farmers is now in its third year and focuses on improving donkey welfare through practical, community-driven solutions. In 2024, our concerns about airway compression with the current harnessing were confirmed through direct visualization of donkey airways, guiding the development of a prototype cart and harness system designed to reduce pressure on the neck and improve breathing.

    In 2025, the project expanded to include community conversations, seminars, and demonstrations. Five donkey carts have been constructed in partnership with a local welder with the goal of a demonstration of a potentially more welfare friendly cart and harness.

        However, challenges remain. We continue to have difficulty identifying a harness design that is both welfare-friendly and adaptable to local materials and repair skills. In addition, frequent flat tires on the carts have highlighted the need for easy repair kits.

    This year, our team returned to interview the same donkey owners surveyed last January, gathering feedback on welfare perceptions, cart performance, and design improvements. Alongside this work, we provided basic donkey health clinics, including deworming and vaccinations.

By openly addressing challenges and working collaboratively with donkey owners, this project continues to evolve toward sustainable improvements for working donkeys—and the communities that rely on them.

Catching Up with Old Friends

By Teresa Mellish

Ken and I were thrilled to see Rhoda Sanayo ole Sein on the first Sunday after we arrived in Kenya. We were so thrilled to see her after many years of not seeing her at all.    She came to live with us in PEI for a few months  when she was in PEI on a year long exchange program in 1988.  She lives on the family farm near Nairobi where they have Simmental cattle and Dorpa sheep.  In addition, they have turned their  family farm into a Conservancy and offer disc golf for entertainment.   

Some of our group went on  a tour of the farm.  I stayed at the house and caught up with Rhoda about our families.  Just a wonderful visit. We could hardly believe how our families had aged after 38 years!!

 Water and elbow grease: change makers

By Dr. Jill Wood

    This is Nkando. It is very dry and rocky with little vegetation other than cacti and acacia trees. It is where I have been working with our partner women’s groups for the past week.

The women are farming a variety of ways as best they can in this harsh environment. Goats, we have discovered, do surprisingly well here. They are able to browse the shrubs and short grasses and find what they need. We are excited about the introduction of small ruminant training for our women’s groups this year.

    None of the women here milk cows though; there simply isn’t enough of the high energy feed dairy cows need to produce. The women have responded very favourably however, to our poultry program. Chickens do just fine here and the women are especially attentive poultry keepers. The birds are valuable to them given the limited alternative livestock options in the area. 

    Like the vast majority of the women’s groups we work with, the Nkando women’s groups were provided with water tanks when they first signed on as Farmers Helping Farmers partners in 2021. Water is so fundamental to everything else we do. This cannot be stressed enough and is of particular importance in a dry area like Nkando. By reducing the need to walk to the nearest kiosk for water (where water has to be paid for), the women have more time to devote to their shambas and are better able to provide water for their livestock and gardens. 

     Success cannot come from water alone though. The women must be dedicated to using the water judiciously and strategically and must work hard to maintain coops, weed gardens, tend to saplings and feed azolla ponds. These are just a few of the examples where I could see farmyard access to water making a huge difference in Nkando. 

    On our way to a training session, we stopped by the Grace Sisters tree nursery where they had recently sold many of their trees to neighbouring schools for planting. Numerous members were inside the screenhouse tending to the new plants they had started in order to maintain their supply of products. Avocado trees, lemon trees, meru passion and tree tomato were all thriving in the Kenyan sunshine. 

    On another day, we stopped by member Rosemary’s shamba after a group training session because I had learned she had an azolla pond and I was hoping to see one. Azolla is an aquatic plant that is high in protein and makes an excellent supplement to chicken feed. The ponds are easy to maintain with timely additions of water and manure and provision of shade. Rosemary did not know we were coming, but everything looked like it had been prepared for company! Her chicken’s waterers were full, her goats water trough was full and her azolla pond had lots of healthy looking azolla growing.

     I asked if she was worried about the rains not coming and things getting so dry that she may have to give up the azolla pond. She told me no, she was not worried because if her tank did not have rainwater, she would be able to purchase water from the local water line with the income from her egg sales. She said the azolla pond only required water top ups about once a month and even when it was very dry, twice per month. She was confident that was something she could keep up with, even during dry spells.

     So let’s think about that…. The azolla helps reduce her feed costs and maintain a healthy flock. That healthy flock lays eggs that nourish her family and provide extra income. The extra income can pay for water that will keep the azolla pond flourishing… it is a beautiful circle of success. When Farmers Helping Farmers helps with a few of the basic start up needs (water, seeds, chicks and knowledge) and you add in the elbow grease and perseverance of these incredible women, you see the wheels of positive change in motion.

Last blog of the summer by Maggie Grover

Last blog of the summer!

Maggie Grover, August 10, 2015

It is hard to believe that 10 weeks has gone by so quickly and that our internships have ended. The final few weeks were not only busy with finishing up the projects, but also full of new, fun experiences.

I (Maggie) also had a chance to visit the Meru side of Mount Kenya and help with the Farmers Helping Farmers (FHF) project that has been started there. As Mira and Sarifa have previously mentioned, it was really interesting to see the differences in the management styles of cattle in this area, as well as such a new and rapidly growing dairy with such a promising future. Some of the major differences I noticed were that most farmers have larger herds of cattle, graze their cattle, and use more natural breeding as opposed to artificial insemination (AI). These different management practices resulted in different health implications; the tendencies I noticed were that the grazed cattle were in better body condition, but had considerable number of ticks, and I even saw one that had severe skin cancer from sun exposure.

While there, I also had the opportunity to spend an afternoon with the two Atlantic Veterinary College students (Emily and Krista) at the Mother Maria Zanelli Children’s Home, which is run by the Sisters of St. Theresa’s. I was extremely impressed with the facilities and the staff, and we had a lot of fun helping out with meals and playing with the children…they were very excited to learn “Red light, green light” and “Hot potato”!

Photo 1: Maggie (back) and Emily (front) with a group of children showing off their “Hot potatoes” (donated homemade dolls from PEI) at the Children’s home in Meru.

When I returned to Mukurwe-ini, Emily came with me. It was a great week for her to visit, as we continued working on farms from the nutrition project, while also having the chance to accompany a local veterinary technician on his calls. The Wakulima Dairy has one veterinarian and four technicians whose services are available to members; it is a great system in which farmers can use their credits to pay for these services. Patrick is one of these technicians, and was kind enough to let two students (per day) accompany him for a couple of days. It was very interesting for us to see how veterinary services work in this area; in general, the veterinarian is usually called to challenging cases, and the technicians are called to treat the more common problems and to do AI, which is the primary method of breeding in this region. Despite being extremely busy (visiting 10-15 farms/day), Patrick was an amazingly patient and informative teacher and we learned so much in such a short period!

Photo 2: Maggie helping treat a cow for metritis (infected uterus) following calving.

That week, we also taught at our last primary school. Once again, I was blown away by the attentiveness and enthusiasm of the pupils and the questions that some of them had, which demonstrated some impressive critical thinking. As veterinary students, these teaching experiences have been invaluable to us. Not only have we been able to share knowledge that we are well versed in and that we believe is important in the daily lives of these children, but we have also been able to strengthen our communication skills while being inspired by the motivation and studiousness of these children. At the end of the lesson, we were actually told an unfortunate story of a women in the area who died of rabies only a few years ago; this tragedy really reinforced the fact that the diseases we taught about are very relevant and of real concern.

Photos 3 and 4: Students at Mweru Primary School going over the review activity on zoonotic diseases.

After teaching, we had the opportunity to spend the night billeting with some local farmers. Both Joyce and Esther are directors at the Dairy and were gracious enough to host two students each in their homes. It was a really enjoyable time full of cooking, meeting friends and neighbours, and engaging conversations! We also toured their farms, checked their cows for mastitis, and discussed some ideas for changing stalls to improve cow comfort.

 Photo 5: Mira helping Esther cook our delicious dinner

Photo 6: Maggie and Mira have morning chai (tea) with Esther (right) and her friend Mary (left).

At the end of the week, we also had a chance to visit the University of Nairobi Veterinary School. We had a great tour of the facilities, and even got to try some yogurt made by the Department of Food Science that shares the campus. The campus was fairly quiet, as the veterinary students are out on 2-month rotations around the country; in Kenya, this is part of the curriculum for all students in second to fifth year.

Last week marked our final week of work, but we were fortunate to continue having new opportunities! The Dairy has several extension officers whose roles are working with and educating farmers in different topics. On Tuesday, Sarifa and I attended a training session that Elias, one of the officers, was holding for a new group of farmers. Farmers can come together and form a group (this one had 10) that can then request free training on subjects of their choice. This particular day, the topics were on cow comfort and calf nutrition, and we were excited (but a little surprised!) to get to teach the portion on cow comfort.

The following day, Mira and I accompanied Elias to several farms to see some silage making. In the past year, the Dairy has invested in several new chaff cutters that are available (free of charge) for members to borrow to make silage. In addition, when a cutter is borrowed, an extension officer also comes and helps/teaches the farmer the entire day that they are making the silage! This investment certainly seems to be paying off, in the past year, the number of farmers making silage has gone from 40 to over 200! This is very exciting as it means more reliable feed sources during dry periods, which translates into increased milk production and increased profits. It was really interesting to see the process on different farms, since each farmer has to work with what they have available and what they can afford. We saw a wide range of storage methods, from 200 kg bags to 1 tonne plastic-lined crates, to 2 tonne pits! 

Photo 7: Elias (left) and Susan (right) packing maize silage into a bag that will fit 200 kg.

Photo 8: Mira checking out one of the crates that Elias is packing approximately 1 tonne of silage into.

Elias also brought us on a tour of the Dairy’s Demo Farm. This is a plot of land that they acquired just over a year ago and on which they are now growing several crops including Calliandra, sweet potato vines, desmodium, maize, and Napier grass. The crops are used for both educating the farmers, and growing seeds to provide to members (again, free of charge!)

Seeing Elias and the other Wakulima Dairy extension officers at work these two days and learning about all the services they provide to farmers was really impressive and inspiring. It was very evident that they really care about their jobs and that farmers are benefiting from their help.

On Thursday, Mira and Sarifa had the opportunity to accompany Patrick on calls again, while Shauna and I visited the final farms of the nutrition project. These last visits brought the number of farms I had been to up to nearly 150 and yet, I continued to be moved by the eagerness and generosity of the farmers.  In fact, while not surprising, it was definitely a nice treat to finish off the visits being invited into one last farmer’s home for chai and food!

Photo 9: Enjoying some chai and lunch at Supa Café, our favourite spot in town. From left to right: Maggie, Shauna, Priscilla, Jeremiah.

Friday was my final day in Mukurwe-ini, and it was definitely a great end to an amazing summer! The morning was spent helping our chef Samuel prepare a huge spread of Kenyan food including chapatis, Mukimo (potatoes, greens, and maize), beef stew, chicken, and stir-fried vegetables. That afternoon, we had a party to thank all the incredible people (and their families) that we have been fortunate to work with this summer. The party extended well into the evening, and was a blast of delicious food, heartfelt speeches and thank you’s, and bittersweet goodbyes. It was really nice to have a chance to express our gratitude to everyone, including (but not limited to) our awesome drivers, talented chef, skilled translator, incredible laundress, and all the wonderful employees of the Dairy.

Photo 10: Sarifa, Samuel, and Matthew (Shauna’s husband) working hard preparing food for the thank you party.

Photo 11: Maggie making mukimo for the thank you party.

This summer was truly a once in a lifetime experience. I began the internship with the hopes of helping farmers improve their milk production and maybe learning and improving a few skills myself, but in the end, got so much more. As student interns, we did get to share the knowledge we have from our schooling, and were extremely fortunate to actually see some nearly instantaneous results; extension officers told us that one farmer went from getting 8L to 15L of milk/day solely as a result of the stall changes we made to improve cow comfort. However, I had no idea this experience would be such an exchange of knowledge; for everything that we taught, there is no doubt in my mind that we received 10-fold back in return. In the past 10 weeks, I have learned more than I could have imagined about veterinary medicine, farming, teamwork, communication, Kenyan culture, and being resourceful, generous, and appreciative for all the wonderful people and things in my life. On behalf of Mira, Sarifa, and myself, I would like to offer my sincere thanks to all those that made this unique opportunity possible, including all those who donated time or money to our fundraising, Veterinarians Without Borders and all their sponsors, Farmers Helping Farmers, and all the wonderful people we were privileged to work with in Mukurwe-ini!

Photo 12: Group photo with all our wonderful colleagues and their families

Photo 13: The 3 student interns with our amazing laundress and friend, Ruth and her son Cedric.