Aim:- to train prospective artificial inseminators selected from the Province Gitarama. The contact was James T. Rubakisibo, Project Manager of the Lutheran World Federation for Gitarama Province.
The training Centre was situated in the countryside approximately 50 kilometres from Kigali, the capital of Rwanda in the district of Ruyumba. This entailed a journey over a mixture of tar macadam and dirt tracks of approximately 1¬? hours at each end of the day. The average temperature during the day was in the region of 30C. The brick built centre consisted of a classroom, offices, dining room and dormitory. The students travelled from the surrounding countryside and boarded there for the duration of the course.
There were 13 students (10 males and 3 females*) who undertook the course. All the students had reached primary school level of education bar one who was a qualified vet. I also gave ‘experience’ to up to 8 vet technicians. To assist me with translating between the students and myself, I had the help of Angelique and Esperance, both qualified inseminators from the Kigali AI Centre.
The students did not arrive all at the same time due to the distance travelled and although all passed the initial tests, not all had the same tuition and practice time. This did involve recommencing the course at various times for the ‘late arrivals’. This did not distract from the students already well on their way, neither on the ultimate success of the late arrivals.
On Monday 5th December I met with James T. Rubakisibo who had arranged the students for the course. We visited the Centre to assess how to run the course and what was needed. The centre constructed a ‘race’ for holding and restraining the cattle and we also ordered reproductive organs from the abattoir in Kigali. These were collected at the start of the day for the students to practice on before moving onto live cattle.
The course commenced on Tuesday 6 December and finished on Friday 16 December – 2 weeks. The students arrived gradually over the next week, 6 on the first day, 7 on Wednesday, 9 on Thursday, 11 on Friday, 12 on Monday and 13 on Tuesday. Training progressed fairly smoothly, the only problem being the absence of cattle to practise on at times. This was overcome by exchanging the use of the cattle in return for breeding them for the farmers who brought them. This did result in an over abundance of cattle! All the students passed the test set for them on Friday 16 December. The students have had 100 cows programmed for them to breed on the 28 December. This will be the final test which will be supervised by the Kigali AI Centre staff. All the work and practice was carried out ‘in the field’ except for the initial basic theory work and work on the productive organs which took place in the classroom.
Conclusion
The students were all very keen and eager to learn. The course did not have the expected facilities of a UK training centre, but any problems encountered (i.e. lack of cattle etc., basic facilities) were overcome with a little imagination and flexibility.
The students were competent practically and I am sure they will perform satisfactorily in the field. On my return to Rwanda the students will be presented with certificates marking their achievement.
*interestingly out of the 3 females on the course, 2 had lost their husbands, one of whom was pregnant and was sent on the course by her village so as to be able to earn an income to support her family by inseminating the cattle in her village and the surrounding area. |
