home / click here to return to main page
Vet takes skills to Africa
(May 2005)
The Diocese of Gippsland has completed the first stage of a community
development project in its companion diocese of Gahini, in Rwanda .
With Rwanda still recovering from the effects of genocide a little more than ten
years ago, Gippsland Anglicans were looking for a practical and sustainable
project to help their brothers and sisters in what is still one of Africa 's
very poor countries. The answer involved cows. Gippsland is one of Australia 's
major dairying areas. In Rwanda cows are as much a cultural icon as producers of
milk and meat and the gift of a cow is a covenant of relationship.
The Anglican Women of Gippsland decided to raise money through a "Cash for Cows"
campaign to provide a cow for each of the country pastors. Many of them minister
without a regular income and a cow has the potential of providing milk for the
family as well as an income supplement.
Beyond this, a proposal emerged, with the support of the dairy industry, to
introduce better dairy bloodlines to Rwanda through artificial insemination.
This was inline with Rwandan Government policy and produced an invitation from
the Government to be involved at a level beyond just the Church.
Bishop of Gippsland, the Rt Revd Jeffrey Driver, has just returned from Rwanda ,
where he led a group including a veterinary specialist, Dr John Cavalieri. In
terms of the dairy project the trip was largely a fact finding one. However, Dr
Cavalieri spent time training a local veterinarian and an "AI" program was
started, introducing Jersey, Friesian and Brown Swiss bloodlines from Australia
.
The dairy herd development project will take some time to establish, but already
there is a deeper relationship between the dioceses of Gippsland and Gahini.
PICTURE: Dr John Cavalieri, from Werribee in Victoria , at work in the Diocese of Gahini in Rwanda , introducing Australian dairy bloodlines to African cows and cementing relationships between the companion dioceses of Gippsland and Gahini