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    Mar­kets open up to Sam­buru camel milk

    A pro­ject that gives women pas­tor­al­ists mar­ket for their camel milk is in­su­lat­ing them dur­ing dry times when men mi­grate with an­im­als in search of pas­ture and water leav­ing them vul­ner­able.

    Dubbed Sam­buru Camel Pro­ject, the pro­ject sup­ports the pas­tor­al­ist way of life in Kenya by re­du­cing the vul­ner­ab­il­ity of women like dur­ing the dry sea­son. For years, women, chil­dren and the eld­erly in Sam­buru would suf­fer when men would mi­grate with their cattle and goats in search of water and pas­ture. But the camels offer the women of this semi-no­madic com­munity a drought-res­ist­ant source of food and in­come dur­ing lean times.

    Camels also act as a stash of emer­gency cash for women dur­ing the dry sea­son. A herd of an­im­als serves as a pas­tor­al­ist's bank ac­count; when there is an emer­gency, the fam­ily will sell a goat or cow to raise money. But when the herds mi­grate, women are left without ac­cess to their fam­ily's cap­ital.

    Selling camel milk provides the women with an in­come of their own. Sam­son Le­bi­til­ing, chief of the vil­lage of Ngrunit, said he has seen the women's abil­ity to provide for their fam­il­ies in­crease ex­po­nen­tially after re­ceiv­ing the un­gu­lates.

    "It as­sists the chil­dren to get school fees," he says. "If someone is sick, (the women) will sell a camel and take the pa­tient to the health cen­ter." Work­ing with the Kenya Ag­ri­cul­tural Re­search In­sti­tute, women from the pro­ject have also made dried meat, cheese and other milk-based products. And as an added be­ne­fit, camel own­er­ship has helped to in­crease the status of women in this com­munity.

    "Be­fore, the cows and the goats were owned by my hus­band; all the own­er­ship be­longed to him," said Leisin­gobanai one of the be­ne­fi­ciar­ies of the pro­ject. "But now since I have got a camel, we own all the an­im­als to­gether. I just thank God and the people who gave me this camel."

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