source GAIA package: Sx_MilitaryTimes_M6200810803080328_5675.zip Origin key: Sx_MilitaryTimes_M6200810803080328 imported at Fri Jan 8 18:18:01 2016
LAMU, Kenya — It was as if the goats knew how big the needles were.
As the Kenyan and U.S. Army veterinarians prepared the 14-gauge needles filled with medicine, the goats, big and small, cried out, sounding much like scared children.
Within minutes, with help from local herders, the goats were inoculated with five shots and a topical dewormer to ward off a variety of diseases, including some that are unique to this region on the southeast border of the country.
The few goats who tried to run away were brought back to the wooden pen by herders, who grabbed onto ears and legs and dragged the animals back to the vets.
The effort was part of a recentveterinary civic action project — or VETCAP — organized by the Army Reserve’s 350th Civil Affairs Command Functional Specialty Group and supported by the Manda Bay Civil Affairs Team of five soldiers and one sailor.
The 350th is based at Camp Lemonier in Djibouti, and its primary operations have been veterinary and medical civic action projects. During this deployment, the team has visited more than 19 countries and treated more than 60,000 animals.
Over time, the 350th also has developed and fine-tuned its overall mission in the Horn of Africa.
“We’ve developed the philosophy ‘Don’t look at the doughnut, look at the hole,’” said Lt. Col. John Hustleby, team chief for the 350th’s functional specialty group. “The doughnut represents what everyone has been doing in Africa. The hole represents stuff nobody is doing. We look for areas that are underserved.”
The Manda Bay team, which helped with the VETCAP in Kenya, is based in the area full time and brought valuable local knowledge to the mission.
Capt. Andrew Tiches, the team’s leader, said they are working to help the local residents, many of whom are poor and have trouble traveling from one island to another in this coastal area dotted with tiny islands.
In this area, which is very tribal, promises that are made must be kept, Tiches said.
“Everything spreads by word of mouth, so once you’ve said it you’ve got to get it done,” he said.
Staff Sgt. John Gutowski, team sergeant for the Manda Bay team, said, “Our biggest thing is building relationships. That is our biggest mission, maintaining and building new relationships. It’s a benefit for both us and the Kenyan people.”
The team focuses on health care, education and water, and must balance local sensitivities with their mission, he said.
“I don’t come in and tell [the locals] what they need,” he said. “This is their home. I’m a visitor. You’re not that American who knows better.”
The Manda Bay team is responsible for an area 400 miles long — the entire Kenyan Swahili coast, stretching from the borders of Tanzania to Somalia.
“When you talk about 400 miles in American roads, it’s not bad,” Tiches said. “If I go 100 miles here, it’ll take all day.”
The team often travels to their destinations by speedboat, cutting through canals and onto the Indian Ocean.
On Feb. 17, during a visit to Pate Island, a 40-minute boat ride from Lamu, the service members had to contend with the tide, which changes quickly and unpredictably. That morning, the tide was so low that they had to trudge through mud and sludge, sometimes knee-deep, for more than half a mile to get to the island from the boats. Some took off their boots and rolled up their pants while others walked in their boots, extra socks at the ready, to protect their feet.
During the VETCAP, the American vets stayed mostly in the background while the Kenyan vet and his technicians took center stage.
“We want the Kenyans to see the Kenyan vets treating them and not just us,” said Capt. Karin Hamilton, a vet assigned to the 350th.
The VETCAP, which took the Americans to eight mostly remote, austere sites in and around Lamu, is part of the overall effort by the Americans to foster relationships with the local residents and help them take better care of the livestock they rely on so heavily to survive.
In just three days, the local and American vets vaccinated almost 500 goats, bulls, cows, dogs and donkeys. The soldiers expected to treat about 5,000 animals during the VETCAP, said Lt. Col. Vicente Perez, the mission commander.
One of the challenges faced by the local vets is their inability to travel from island to island, Hamilton said. The vets, led by Dr. Schweitzer Mbogo, the vet for Lamu district, don’t have their own boat and can rarely afford to rent one for the day.
“They have the technical abilities, they just don’t have the money to transport themselves or buy the drugs,” she said.
Also, the locals typically cannot afford the medications their animals need, Hamilton said.
“I’m guessing the animals are treated pretty rarely,” she said.
The animals on Siu, a remote village on Pate Island, had not been treated for about a year before the VETCAP arrived in the village Feb. 16, she said.
Hamilton said the goal of the VETCAP was not to treat the animals once and leave; the hope is that the locals will see that healthier animals produce more milk and meat.
“Ideally, people will see the value of treating the animals,” she said.
Mbogo, who has been working in Lamu for seven years, said his biggest challenge is educating the local farmers about the latest technologies and newer, more productive breeds.
“A lot of the diseases are preventable,” he said.
“We are very grateful to the U.S.,” he said. “They facilitated our transportation, they provided the drugs, and we get to educate the people. Under normal circumstances, we can’t cover these areas as much as we’d like.”
Mbogo said he hopes the local farmers start to understand how they can improve the health of their herds.
“It’s an eye-opener,” he said. “I’m sure people will see the benefit of improved health, improved productivity. They’ll see that these control measures are very helpful.”
The Kenyans are the Americans’ focus, Perez said.
“My hope is there is an understanding among the local people about what we’re trying to do,” he said. “We have the same needs, we have the same problems, we are all human beings,” he said. “We’re just trying to help.”
Tiches agreed.
“I seriously want to leave it better than I found it,” he said. “You’re not going to be able to give everyone a flat-screen TV, water and a pair of Nikes, and it’s not about the numbers. When you leave you have to know you did something.”
