Many have heard the old quote, Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day, teach a  man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.

After doing research on humanitarian aid efforts in Uganda and India, I discovered there are many ways to end poverty, if only a man or woman, is given half a chance. 

One such project in Africa, is enabling family’s to raise Kuroiler, a hybrid chicken from India. It sounds like an answer to hunger, you not only have eggs or meat for the family, but you sell the  excess to the locals. Through micro loans the grantee is able to buy starter chicks, and the vaccinations needed, if they are fortunate enough to find an agency to assist them. 

 My friend Andy, lives in Uganda, and could not seem to find assistance to become self sustainable through farming or agriculture,despite the multiple efforts put forth by various charity’s. When I learned that Kuroiler chicks are about a dollar each, I sent Andy the money to buy them. After seeing the success of others, I was counting his chickens before they hatched! 

Andy had no training to raise chickens, that others received through various programs, and it wasn’t long before he started loosing chicks. I tried to help him by sending information I had found, but he didn’t have the money to set up an ideal environment for the chicks. Constant stable temperature, high protein chick mash, and vaccines to prevent respiratory diseases, seemed to be the answer for success. To make matters worse he found the chick mash he was buying was tainted, which is common in Uganda, they use maze that is molded, or fillers that are low in nutrition. I found that many in Africa are making their own chicken feed, and keeping their Kuroiler’s disease free organically, using Aloe Vera, and Cayenne Pepper, since chickens do not have a ” heat sensor”  like we do, Cayenne doesn’t effect them. Thankfully with some food changes, and some medication, Andy was able to save at least half of the chicks he invested in.

I have learned that some things can be done by a leap of faith, or trial and error, but chicken farming is not one of them. It is my hope that with help from others Andy can one day earn a living by selling eggs to local markets.