Empower Maasai Women & Rejuvenate Terat Dairy

Hello supporters, friends, and supporters-to-be!

The Smart Villages team have just returned from a successful trip to Terrat in Northern Tanzania, involving installing new solar-powered boreholes in the surrounding communities! 

The dairy is making steady progress, with all of the repairs being completed and the dairy facilities being fully functional once again. However, once key ingredient is currently in short supply... you guessed it- milk! 

Due to the fact that it is still the dry season, we are still waiting for all of the the cows to return to the area again, as there is still not a large enough food supply to cater for the big dairy cows required at the dairy. However, this will change once the rains return in the coming months. 

To overcome this, Osidai, who is in charge of the dairy is making an innovative plan to start the dairy on a small-scale, with just milk from a few cows. This will mean that the dairy can start operating as a business again, and will also encourage women from the surrounding area to start bringing milk to the dairy again.

Your donations will help us provide more support to this very worthwhile project, so please give generously!

Thank you,

Iona and the Smart Villages Team

Hello supporters! 

Thank you to everyone who donated to the project over the past quarter, your support is making a huge impact on the lives of women in Terat, and helping provide employment opportunities for a marginalised group. 

Since our last report, the dairy has opened for operations again and ready to start producing batches of local cheese! Currently, a setback for is that there is a shortage of milk, due to many of the cows leaving the area due a lack of food supply. The impacts of climate change are especially pertinent in this area of Tanzania, especially during the dry season. Because of this, many of the cows have moved to other pastures, due to the area surrounding the dairy being heavily hit during the dry season, meaning that there is a lack of a food supply for the cows. All of this means that there is a reduction of milk supplies to the dairy in comparison to other times of the year.

However, there is still work to be done, and the dairy is continuing to operate despite setbacks. Currently, the team at OMASI are working hard to find out ways of producing smaller batches of cheese to keep production running!

As always, we would greatly appreciate if you could share this project within your network or on social media- the team at SVRG and the community in Terat will be very greatful! 

All the best,

Iona & the SVRG Team