{"id":27277,"date":"2021-01-02T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-02T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biovision.ch\/story\/ich-wuensche-mir-ein-haus-mit-ziegeldach\/"},"modified":"2022-11-01T12:30:21","modified_gmt":"2022-11-01T11:30:21","slug":"ich-wuensche-mir-ein-haus-mit-ziegeldach","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.biovision.ch\/en\/story\/ich-wuensche-mir-ein-haus-mit-ziegeldach\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00abI\u2019d like a house with a tiled roof\u00bb"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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People\u2019s health takes priority in our projects. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, we have therefore cancelled all project visits to East Africa by Biovision staff for the current year. But I still have a very clear recollection of a visit on 4 May 2017 to meet Bishar Dulo in Boji, a village in the semi-arid expanses of land north-east of Mount Kenya.<\/p>

The dominant local colour is ochre \u2013 the colour of the sand. White limestone shines through in between, along with greenery from thorny bushes and trees. It is noon and the village is dozing in the oppressive heat. The winding path to Bishar Dulo\u2019s house leads me past oblong mud houses on spacious plots of land.<\/p>

The widow and mother of six from the Borana community has dressed up for our conversation, and welcomes me with one of her grandchildren in the shade of a tree. Three of her adult sons are cattle herders and often have to take their herds a long way from the village in a constant search for water and pasture. And that is becoming increasingly difficult, says Bishar Dulo.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Witwe\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\u00abThere were droughts in the past too, but they occurred much less frequently than today, perhaps once every ten years.\u00bb\n<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Bishar Dulo, Witwe und sechsfache Mutter aus Boji in Kenia<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Recently, however, the area has been hit by extreme drought every two to three years. That is why her sons are often away for long periods. And since herdsmen earn very little, she not only has to provide for four grandchildren, but also has to support her sons.<\/p>

\u201cIt used to be much easier for me. My husband died seven years ago. He was the head of the family and we shared the responsibility,\u201d she explains. At that time they had more goats to sell in the town. That was enough for them to live on. \u201cNow there are only 15 animals in my herd, and my income is very low.\u201d<\/p>

On account of her difficult situation, Bishar Dulo was selected by the village community as a camel owner for the Biovision project \u201cCamels for Drought Areas\u201d. Camels are much better adapted to drought than small livestock or cattle. This helps make farmers more resistant to the effects of climate change. Once the mare gives birth to a foal, Bishar Dulo will have milk for her own use and for sale. \u201cIf the baby is a female, I will continue breeding with her. If it\u2019s a male, I will sell him,\u201d she says with anticipation.<\/p>

When I ask her about the greatest wish she would fulfil with the income, she does not hesitate to answer: \u201cI\u2019d like a house with a tiled roof,\u201d she says confidently with a smile. When I retire to a hot room under a tin roof in the evening, I can relate to Bishar Dulo\u2019s wish very well. And when coronavirus finally permits travel again, I will go back there to see what has become of her dream.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the life of Bishar Dulo, a widow and mother of six from Boji in Kenya. As a camel owner for the Biovision project \u201cCamels for Drought Areas\u201d she can support her family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":14214,"template":"","exclude-from-search":[],"newsletter":[],"region":[228],"projektthema":[454],"themen":[248],"class_list":["post-27277","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","region-sub-saharan-africa","projektthema-kamele-en","themen-agriculture-en"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-18 08:34:51","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"newsletter","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biovision.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story\/27277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biovision.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biovision.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/story"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biovision.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story\/27277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biovision.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biovision.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"exclude-from-search","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biovision.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exclude-from-search?post=27277"},{"taxonomy":"newsletter","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biovision.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newsletter?post=27277"},{"taxonomy":"region","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biovision.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/region?post=27277"},{"taxonomy":"projektthema","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biovision.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/projektthema?post=27277"},{"taxonomy":"themen","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biovision.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/themen?post=27277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}