Going to the Creamery one more time

When I was growing up in the parish of Ballymacelligott in Co. Kerry in the 1940’s, the four main centres in the community were the church, the school, the creamery and the sportsfield.  One of my earliest memories is my father taking me to the creamery, perched beside him on the horse and cart.  The neighbours all greeted him, “good morra Pat, you’ll soon have help” and fussed over me.

When I was nine or ten, I pleaded to be allowed to take the milk myself in the donkey and cart.  Later, I graduated to the horse and cart and the tractor.  The creamery was a meeting place where young and old, the Church of Ireland and the Catholics chatted each morning while the milk was being separated.  There was no generation gap and homespun philosophy was available to all free of charge.

In 1957, when I went to study for the priesthood I thought I had made my last visit to the creamery.  However, on 26^th June last, I found myself at the official opening of a creamery in the Mwera hills in Malawi.  The welcome which the Bóthar party and I received was much more lively and colourful than that of my childhood.  The women in their traditional dress sang, danced and embraced us.  I stood next to the Minister for Trade and Private Sector Development, Dr. Martin Kansichi, as he cut the tape.  We then had the guided tour of the Mwera Co-Operative Milk Plant.  The equipment was sourced in Ireland by Harry Lawlor and put into place on the ground by David Mitchell, all through the good offices of Bóthar. The plant is now run by the local co-operative committee.

A plaque was then unveiled to the late T.J. Maher:

“Dedicated to the memory of T.J. Maher, Ireland.

Founding Chairman of Bothar.

President of the Irish Farmer’s Association.

Members of the European Parliament.

Friend to farmers worldwide”.

About four hundred people including a large number of children then sat down on the grass to listen to several speeches interspersed with singing, dancing and a masked pageant.  The local community was en fête.  People from the neighbouring communities were also present and hinted that they would like to have a similar plant.  Indeed, the Mwera plant could well be a template for the rural areas in any African country. 

Next day, I had the privilege of passing on a heifer from the Kanenekela family who got a Bóthar cow in 2003 which they named “Alinafe: God is with us”, to the Chabanthu family who had prepared their zero grazing unit and the enclosure. The heifer, who was obviously a pet, had a rope put on her for the first time and took it as a personal insult!   Fortunately, we thought of a bunch of the peanut grass which was stored overhead and this softened her mood.  The woman who was giving away the cow was crying as she said, “I give you this heifer with a warm heart. I never thought I would have anything like this to give to anybody”. The young woman who received the heifer had a little baby strapped on her shoulder and they both looked extremely happy as the heifer left for her new home. 

It is now the normal pattern for somebody who receives a heifer to begin to save money to construct a red-brick house with a corrugated iron roof.  They buy one sheet of corrugated iron per week and in a year or two they have greatly improved their housing.  I woke in the middle of the night entangled in my mosquito net and felt like the heifer that had been tied up for the first time!.

In my words to the Mwera community at the opening of the new plant, I recalled how the Lord had promised to lead his chosen people from the oppression of Egypt into the “Promised Land”.  This was described as, “a land flowing with milk and honey”.  Malawi is very far indeed from being the “promised land” with all its problems of poverty, A.I.D.S. and political instability. But Bóthar has been sending cows and honey bees hoping that one day it will flow with milk and honey!  I appreciate that we have a very long way to go “to make poverty history” but the longest journey starts with the first step.  Bóthar is taking that brave step and I believe that Bóthar, as  always, is on the right road.

Signed: __________________________       

                        Most Rev. Dermot Clifford, DD,

                        Archbishop of Cashel & Emly.