Look Who's Talking Sh*t...

We are humbled, and overjoyed to be recognized by Dr. Jane Goodall!

Through my recent role as a judge for the G Project, I became aware of an inspirational project in Africa led by Rita Rayman and her husband Jeff – a project which they describe as micro-finance but the currency is sheep. The Jane Goodall Institute’s success in protecting habitat for chimpanzees in Africa depends on creating programs that are controlled and embraced by the local people. Our community-centered conservation programs in Africa empower local people to build sustainable livelihoods while promoting regional conservation goals such as reforestation and ending the illegal, commercial bushmeat trade.
That is why I am pleased to endorse Rita and Jeff’s project, aptly named The Sh*t Starts here. The concept is simple - by providing sheep to farmers who compost the manure into fertilizer, crop yields increase, food production increases, and people are able to generate an income.  I believe that these results decrease the need for poaching and create stable communities which work with us to protect and conserve the environment shared by all Earth’s living creatures.
I commend Rita and Jeff for their commitment to this innovative, effective program and I wish them great success in the future.
Jane Goodall, Ph.D., DBE
Founder, the Jane Goodall Institute &
UN Messenger of Peace

2014 Promises To Be A year Full Of Sh*t...

Remember the G Project contest back in the summer of '13, and the amazing support you all gave us with your votes?

Well, we are proud and excited to announce that G Adventures/Planeterra has partnered with us to change people's lives!

G Adventures aims to ensure an ethical, authentic and unforgettable life-changing experience for everyone through Sustainable Travel.

Planeterra Foundation was founded by G Adventures as a way to give back through travel. 

Planeterra taps into G's global network of travelers, working as a social enterprise, investing in the futures of the people and the places G travelers visit.

Sponsoring a cooperative today and designating a portion of travelers' funds to future cooperatives.

http://www.planeterra.org/mightysite/destination-preservation-pages-23.php

And all the wonderful details can be found on our website, http://www.theshitstartshere.com/The_Sh_t_So_Far.html

Thanks to G Adventures/Planeterra, there will be lots more 'little shitters' helping to change people's lives.

Planeterra - Funds - Environmental Preservation | Planeterra

www.planeterra.org

Planeterra - Funds - Environmental Preservation

And Cause We Just Can't Stop Talking About This Sh*t...

September was spent visiting with group leaders from various cooperatives in both Musanze and Nyungwe in Rwanda, and Barlonyo, Ober Bar, Gullu and Kamdini in Uganda, giving us a chance to learn about the challenges, as well as the successes, of this incredible initiative.

Animal health is a primary concern and illness, disease and feral dog attacks are a problem.

The most successful rearing comes from locally sourced animals that are already accustomed to the environment and don't have to be purchased at market or trucked in from longer distances.

But the positive aspects of the initiative far out-weigh the negatives as crop yields are up for everyone, and extra income improves living circumstances.

increased income  allows for entrepreneurial efforts like this tomato tree farm - the product of a coming together of various members of the WOMEN's Cooperative in Rwanda

...as always, the shit starts here as babies continue to be born, a source of great happiness for all families involved.

group leaders from both the WOMEN's and AMIZERO cooperatives in Rwanda provide updates and testimonials including the fact that there is, in many homes, a new-found equality and harmony between husband and wife as the husband recognizes the benefits of his wife's contributions to the family through TSSH.
So TSSH is a peace initiative as well.

Encouraging Paul to understand just how big this little project really is! Paul rocks!

Causing a bit of a sensation in communities rarely visited by foreigners as we visit some farms to see independent entrepreneurial initiatives.

tethering allows easy manure and urine collection...supplemented with greens and a bit of soil and...

making fertilizer is this easy, IF you have the necessary ingredients!

VOILA, we've got gorgeous, enriched, organic and most important, constantly renewable fertilizer!

always wonderful to run into members of our initiative (note the tag on mum)

updates on births, pregnancies, sterility, attacks from feral dogs, disease, and how the co-ops are addressing these challenges after one year in the initiative.

and, as always, dramatic scenery surrounds!

catching up with Andrew, head of our inaugural graduating co-op, to hear what's been going on since they completed the terms of the contract.

And Now For Some Completely Different Sh*t...

In addition to being the neighbourhood of another co-operative we will be working with in northern Rwanda, we are excited to tell you that the picture below is the site of the future Sunzu Village Library/Community Centre and women's co-op that The Guardian Project (parent of TSSH)  is helping to build with Dan & Francis Klinck and a slew of community and TSSH co-operative members!

site of the Sunzu Village Library and Community Centre

 We will be providing the funds for the materials and labour. 

We are also sourcing children's books to stock the shelves and hoping that a certain dear friend of ours, (a most excellent elementary school librarian with the Toronto School Board), will be helping with set-up and training, including a one month stint with us up in Musanze.

The view into the valley below

Jeff contemplates all that will be!

Jeff, Dan and John of Peace with just a small number of the very many kids (and young adults) who will benefit from this project.

We will merely be providing the means leaving all the building to the locals. 

With the best of intentions, all too often, people volunteer to build a house or school while locals mostly stand around watching. We believe a community is best served when as many jobs as possible are provided to them so they can have the dignity of earning a wage for honest labour. 

Our focus is on a hand up, not a hand out.

John of Peace, the Foreman, along with his assistant and Dan, examine the fruits of labour. Everything is done by hand here. The leveling of the land, Gathering and stacking of rocks . No machinery. And the quality of the workmanship is excellent.

As you can see, the retaining wall is up. Next comes the foundation! Expected completion is summer, 2014!

More Sh*t From The Ugandan Field...

Subsequent visits to Kamdini and Gulu were equally insightful and rewarding, even if the project stumbled a bit in Gulu.

Shockingly, we are the first group/project/initiative/whatever to reach out to the somewhat isolated people of Kamdini in over 20 years.

Their gratitude was overwhelming, especially as, in these early stages, they have not yet felt the fuller benefits of this incredible little initiative.

The cooperative leader, a charismatic father-figure, fluent in english, informed us that the cooperative had decided to pool their limited fertilizer to enhance the yield of a multi-acre corn field the cooperative is sharing, thus maximizing benefit.

Discussions of being able to grow excess beans and corn to put aside in case of future drought or crop failure were also very heartening.

We are continually amazed at the insight and cleverness of many of the cooperative members we are working with.

The usual issues of animal health were raised.

These issues are universal, and so we have adapted our sensitization/contract to reflect these realities.

Jeff with 'Sir' a most eloquent and distinguished cooperative leader whose name we could never get our mouths around. Hence the 'Sir". His incredible knowledge of english, as well as his love of order and planning, he attributes to vestiges of British colonial days.

Instruction and amusement...the laptop continues to offer an enriching experience.

happily showing off a some of a good yield of beans...and pride in being able to offer the bagful as a gift to us.

 Connecting with the Women's cooperative in Gulu started out rather disappointingly.  It became very clear, quite quickly, that most of the 100 women who had received goats in the last few months had merely passed the animals on to their family members living outside Gulu.

Leader Grace Arcan (seated on the mat in black t-shirt and black&white skirt) translated back and forth as we attempted to explain that the spirit of the initiative, and especially that the commitment to the contract must be upheld.

Our efforts to facilitate life improvement for these women cannot be used as a free animal grab for extended families that know nothing about The Shit Starts Here or it's mission.

 While all of the women in this large cooperative come from challenging circumstances, the majority of them have the added history of having been 'Bush Brides' (read sex-slaves) for Joseph Kony and his LRA soldiers.

Grace (bottom) and one of Josephy Kony's very own 'brides'

The last thing we want to do is abandon them.

Things are the way they are. How can we move forward and change direction so that the project can be salvaged?

And so began discussions around composting and crop yields. 

Reproduction and nurturing.

Long-term thinking.

We've decided to slow down a bit with further distribution of goats with the Gulu cooperative until a few meetings down the road when we can establish that the project is back on the right track.

Even if the women are choosing to raise the animals on farms outside the town, it must be in keeping with the guidelines established in the contract. 

Still, it wasn't a total disappointment, as some of the women had in fact been upholding the terms of the contract and raising their goat themselves, using the manure to make fertilizer. 

We visited the homes of two of these women, who were both pleased to report a good crop yield even though the composted fertilizer was added late in the growing period

A proud moment for an industrious woman!

Always happy to see tagged animals. These goats are especially young as Solomon had trouble sourcing older ones. The manure is immediate but reproduction will take a while longer.

Hopefully more positive news will come from his particular cooperative in the coming months.

This Sh*t Never Ends...

A short flight from Kigali to Entebbe, and an 8hr challenging drive later, with Solomon, our Manager Of operations, so expertly and thankfully at the wheel, we were in Lira, N. Uganda...but please, let us digress.
Ugandans bud in line, EVERYWHERE!
Traffic is beyond chaotic as drivers create their own multiple lanes causing constant jams, and make high speed passes so close you can hear them whisper.
Potholes in the north are so deep and wide you could bath in them and so numerous that navigating around them is like being on an amusement park ride.
Definitely not for the weak stomached, as one of our volunteers learned the hard way!

Catching up with co-operatives in Barlonyo and  Ober Bar. So far roughly 250 goats have been distributed, and the remaining 200 will be sourced in the coming months. 

It's a lot harder here in Northern Uganda as Joseph Kony and the LRA killed or stole most of the farm animals and many families just don't have the means to start up again. 

In many cases, we've had to truck them in from more distant markets.

everywhere we visit, grandmothers to children, everyone is sooo eager!

The laptop proved a wonderful addition- sharing project related photos...and shots of our kids and grandkids!

Solomon Adiyo, our General Manager of Operations in Uganda leads the meeting with the Barlonyo cooperative leaders. While everything is great, it's not all perfect and we're also dealing with every-day ailments, miscarriage, still-birth, infant mortality and a serious lack of vets. James, the co-operative leader (in the blue shirt) gives us the stats.

Esther (Solomon's wife) and Jeff handing out fruit tree sapplings to take back to the farmsteads for planting in the newly re-energizing soil.

 

 

Unlike Rwanda, composting is a new concept to many in northern Uganda so we're a teaching initiative as well. 

 

 

Showing pictures helps illustrate the concepts. The grandmothers of Ober Bar are eager to learn more.

Off to see the fruits of the Grandmothers' labours

Women are also saying that farming feels less like toil when you have something to show for it.

Hello little shitters!

Twins are always a bonus!

Always a buzz to see our tags!

Proud to show off what will be the best yield of carrots ever! Earlier vegetable harvests were quickly scooped up at market by other women from neighbouring communities who couldn't believe the quality of the crop! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From the right, George, Solomon, Jeff and Esther, discussing the science of the compost pits that are contributing to the robust crop yields.

Sh*t's Hitting The Fan Again...

Sorry for the delay. 
In late September we finally revealed our secret.
After our very own little Summit In The Mountains in Musanze, Rwanda, bringing together Canadians, Rwandans and Congolese,
we were excited and proud to announce 
that we have partnered with Belay Global 
to 
take our shit into Eastern Congo!

Belay will be providing us with the funding to deliver 1,000+ goats to a coffee co-operative run by Gilbert Makelele, operating on the island of Idjwi, in Lake Kivu, near Goma.
The coffee cooperative stretches across 14 territories in the Eastern DRC and is purposely positioned to operative in the "red zones" where there is ongoing conflict among the many conflict groups. The cooperative was started to bring peace and prosperity to the region, providing a positive alternative to rebel fighters, poachers and the economically deprived. 

Essentially "trading conflict for coffee." 

Read more! at http://africanconfidential.com/?p=1238
The co-operative includes struggling farming families, war widows, women who are victims of rape and torture, and ex-rebel soldiers who have laid down their weapons, all hoping to make a better life growing coffee.

And so we have become a peace initiative as well.
Shit really IS changing the world.







watch this video
CPNCK Film 2
http://vimeo.com/73475618




Meanwhile, our heartfelt thanks go out to Elaine Schimer, from Florida, who heard about our initiative while visiting Rwanda earlier this year, and provided the funding to deliver 36 sheep to a small co-operative of Twa- traditionally forest dwelling hunters- who have agreed to leave Volcanoes National Park and take up farming instead.

And, three days ago, we participated in the tagging of over 280 goats for a co-operative near Nyungwe National Park, thanks to some generous donors back home.

jeff is the pied piper!

show me 10 fingers!

connecting name and number

receiving the tag for their sheep

signing the contract

And the next day we met with our next Nyungwe co-operative, an industrious and motivated group who requested pigs, as sheep and goats do not do as well in their location.