By Josep Subirana (Veterinary Training Advisor)
13 Apr 2011

On the road, advanced driving skills are required to dodge the herds of cows, ewes with lambs, loaded donkeys, wanderer dogs, wild fauna and people that constantly invade the tarmac. No wonder here why they refer to drivers as “pilots.”

The Brooke sustainable approach means not only training government vets but also leading local farmers who offer services deep into the vast rural heartland of Ethiopia.  These Community Animal Health Workers (CAHWs) are trained by my trainees. 

We leave the tarmac and travel some 30 km on a dusty off-road track until we arrive at a traditional village of scattered circular houses made out of adobe with a thatch roof. This is a malaria affected zone and we must be careful. 

Dasaldengh, a community animal health worker and his family welcome us.  Few “Frenchis” have been in here before and people stare smiling at me and talk in the local language.

I learn 8 words: hello, children, cloud, rain, thank you, beautiful, man and woman, enough to construct imperfect sentences that amuse people and break barriers. It is amazing what few words in the mother tongue of small cultures can make. Some kids (oso) are very amused some run away as if I was the devil.

During the day I observe the context in which animal welfare and health services are given. A lot is done with very little.

Before going to bed we have a couple of salty coffee ceremonies and eat roasted wheat and cheese. I don’t yet realise but I will spend the night with the cow whose spicy cheese I enjoyed. Neighbours join us for the feast.

It is now that I understand why animals and children too can suffer from respiratory problems. Since I arrived the smoky indoor fire place has not stopped, cooking, preparing coffee, baking injera and other bread and roasting wheat pop corn style that we later enjoy with the salty coffee. In the houses there is no chimney and the little window is usually closed.

I sleep the night on the floor in the company of 5 kids, their parents, 1 cat, 1 chicken, 5 cows, 3 goats and a beautiful palomino like donkey and its 4 month-old foal. More unpleasant are some unidentified, biting arthropods. The first word I learned in Amharic “andnen” meaning we are all one, we are all the same, immediately comes to mind.