Sending Ronnie to Rwanda

This year our partners in Bothar, the Irish livestock aid agency, are celebrating their 25th anniversary with a multi-species livestock shipment to Rwanda.This "Flying Ark" is carrying Irish dairy heifers, dairy goats, pigs, chicks and artificial insemination (AI) straws to Rwanda where their Rwandan partner organisation will use them to kick-start several livestock initiatives.

To mark our long relationship with Bothar, VIVA undertook to fund the transport of the 260 pigs on the "Flying Ark". Our  "Send Ronnie to Rwanda" campaign kicked off in June when we took a stand at the International Pig Veterinary Society (IPVS) congress in the RDS where 3000 pig vets from across the globe had gathered. The IPVS President, Pat Kirwan, led the initiative raising €1,100 over the three days of the congress. Shane McAuliffe (Swine Technical Manager with Interchem Ireland) then partnered with Truly Irish Country Foods (a commercial venture by Irish pig farmers) and with the help of his fellow farmers and colleagues in the industry raised over €11,000 for Ronnie's flight.

On Monday, October 10th, Bothar's "Flying Ark" took off from Shannon Airport for Kigali in Rwanda. The pigs will give struggling Rwandan farmers the keys to a successful business. 130 families will get two pigs each and will then pass on a piglet from the first litter of these animals to another farmer in their community. This ripple effect will continue on long after the project itself ends.

Check out Day 1 of the airlift below

VIVA Wheelers celebrate 10 years of cycling

The cyclists enter the Doolough Valley

This year to mark the 10^th anniversary of the VIVA Wheelers, the 47 cyclists and hikers returned to one of our iconic locations, Westport. Blessed by the weather, with a mercifully dry day following downpours on the Friday, the participants raised almost €12,000 for VIVA’s overseas projects bringing the 10-year total to a magnificent €247,000.

The cyclists enjoyed some of the finest scenery the west of Ireland has to offer with the Doolough Valley near Leenane the highlight of the route. The hikers climbed the 445m high Diamond Hill in the Connemara National Park which offers panoramic views of the islands of Inishturk, Inishbofin and Inishshark along with the Twelve Bens mountains and Connaught’s highest mountain, Mweelrea.

At the celebratory meal in the Castlecourt hotel in Westport that night, presentations were made to the following participants who have taken part in every one of our events:

Syd Nagle, Donagh McDonnell and James Madden

In addition, 6 participants that have taken part in all six of our Irish “Bike ‘n Hikes” were honoured:

Roy Gallie, The Fabby Family, Jim Higgins, Cathy Waddell, Ascinta Kilroy and Mary Sadlier.

Lastly, a presentation was made to Pat Murphy, who was the inspiration behind the concept of the VIVA Wheelers.

The icing on the cake was the meeting with An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, who was in the hotel for another function but who took time out to chat with some VIVA Wheelers.

Finally, a special word of thanks to our long-term sponsors, Zoetis (who sponsored our dinner) and Veterinary Instruments Ltd (who sponsored the food breaks). In addition, the support of XLVets, Veterinary Ireland, Prime Health Vets, Interchem and Duggan Veterinary over the years is also appreciated.

An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, meets with (L to R) Mary Rafferty, Mike Burke, Eddie Downey (IFA), 

                 Brendan Mimnagh, Perpetua McNamee, Gearóid Connolly, Margo Harty (kneeling)

National Ploughing Association sponsors Ugandan Educational Bursary

Our largest project at present is based in Mbale in eastern Uganda. Over 400 farming families have come together to form a farmer’s co-op which is now working with VIVA and our local partner, Heifer Uganda, to improve their circumstances. These farmers are arable farmers growing crops such as maize, millet, sorghum, cassava and groundnuts. The major intervention in this project has been the introduction of animal traction for ploughing and cultivating their crops and so far 276 oxen and 69 ploughs have been distributed. The project has been a huge success with household food production having tripled. As a result over 400 families (100,000 people) are now food secure and can afford two balanced meals a day. This is mainly due to increased acreages being planted and, even more importantly, timely planting due to the ready availability of the oxen and ploughs. The sale of surplus produce has generated cash incomes which have helped to pay school fees, allowed farmers buy more land or diversify into other activities.

The current phase of the project is concentrating on helping these farmers with post-harvest handling and marketing of their produce in addition to climate change adaptation strategies. With the project ending in 2016, VIVA is now concentrating on ensuring the sustainability of the project. To this end we have been working on an educational scholarship to send two farmers from the co-op to the famous Baraka Agricultural College in Kenya to pursue a course in Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development.

Today we are delighted to announce that this scholarship is being generously funded by the National Ploughing Association which this week hosts the National Ploughing Championships, the biggest outdoor event in Europe and the highlight of the agricultural calendar in Ireland, in Co. Laois. VIVA are delighted that one of Ireland's premier agricultural organisations has come on board for this project.

The two students, Solomon Ajak and Julius Itiakorit, have now commenced their studies and on completion in 2016 they will return to their communities and mentor fellow farmers helping them to increase their production.

Links:
VIVA -   www.viva.ie
Baraka College -   www.barakaagricollege.ac.ke/
Ugandan Project - VIVA newsletter - 2013 (our 2013 newsletter has a nice graphic which summarises the project)

VIVA Golf Classic coming up

The annual VIVA Golf Classic is almost upon us. This year the Classic returns to one of its favourite courses, Tullamore Golf Club's mature 18-hole parkland championship course, on Friday, July 31st.

The entry fee for a team of four is €200. With a meal provided on the day and many great prizes this is a day not to be missed. With over €72,000 raised for VIVA projects since 2003 this is a vital fundraiser in ensuring that we continue to support our overseas projects.

To book your team contact:

Brendan Mimnagh  086 8509697

Tony McManus      086 1076542

"Altamira Jordan" settles in in Mayo

"Altamira Jordan", the prize heifer in our 2014 draw has settled in well after her journey last year from her home on Brendan & Joan O'Connor's farm in Co. Cork to Liam Garavan's farm in Westport, Co. Mayo.

If you would like to own a heifer like "Altamira Jordan" our annual Heifer Draw has just been launched. Again, we have great prizes including a pedigree Limousin Heifer, a €500 holiday voucher and a €250 voucher for Trailblazers Biking and Hiking Shop (Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim).

Tickets are only €5 and can be bought online on our homepage or if you'd like to order a book of tickets to sell please email mike@viva.ie

(Thanks to Cathy Waddell for the photos)

The 2014 Mike O'Leary Trust Travel Bursary Lecture

Charlene Grice & Dr. Joe Collins

The 2014 winner of the Mike O’Leary Trust Travel Bursary was Charlene Grice, a third year veterinary student in UCD. Charlene travelled to Uganda in July 2014 to visit our animal traction project. This is the tenth year of the Bursary which sponsors a veterinary student each year to spend a month visiting one of VIVA's overseas projects. The Mike O'Leary Trust was established to honour the memory of Kerry vet, Mike O'Leary, who died tragically of cardiomyopathy in 2003 at the age of 39. His family and friends have undertaken a number of fundraising initiatives over the years to raise funds for the Travel Bursary in addition to supporting the Irish NGO, GOAL, and cardiomyopathy research.

According to Charlene “it was truly amazing to witness how hard working these farmers are and how far and how quickly they have been able to progress. The average initial investment in each farm is actually less than €250 so it is quite impressive”

On March 31st Charlene delivered a lecture in UCD's Veterinary College on her experiences in Uganda to her fellow students. She was joined by Dr. Joe Collins who spoke on his experiences volunteering with Animal Care Egypt (ACE) who provide veterinary services to working equines in the Luxor region in Egypt. Both lectures gave a very interesting overview to students of the important role played by livestock and working equines in rural communities in the Developing World.

Heifer Draw 2015 launched

Our annual Heifer Draw has just been launched. Again, we have great prizes including a pedigree Limousin Heifer, a €500 holiday voucher and a €250 voucher for Trailblazers Biking and Hiking Shop (Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim).

Tickets are only €5 and can be bought online on our homepage or if you'd like to order a book of tickets to sell please email mike@viva.ie