Bóthar creamery project brings hope

A Cork woman is helping the economy of a terror-stricken part of Africa by developing an Irish country creamery there.

The Rusizi area of Rwanda on the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo hopes to open its Irish-style local creamery this summer.

The creamery development has been made possible by Limerick-based Irish aid agency Bóthar. Heading up the Bóthar creamery project on the ground in Rwanda is Aideen O’Leary, from Glounthaune, Co Cork, daughter of Cork hurling legend Seánie and sister of Ireland scrum-half Tomás O’Leary.

It is envisaged the enterprise will turn the Rusizi farmers into exporters of what is referred to locally as ‘white gold’ to mineral-rich DRC.

Rusizi will package and sell milk and yoghurt products into the Congolese city and the region of Bukavu, which has a shortage of quality dairy produce.

Rwanda is marking the 20th anniversary of the genocide which saw more than 800,000 members of the Tutsi tribe slaughtered over a 100-day period.

Bóthar has made raising the outstanding funds required to complete the ambitious project, at a total cost of almost €400,000, the focus of its Easter Appeal.

The aid agency needs to raise over €100,000 to buy and install machinery from Turkey, South Africa, and Britain so the creamery can open in the summer — 125 years after the first Irish co-op creamery was set up in Dromcollogher, Co Limerick.

The project comes under the Rwandan Ministry for Agriculture’s “Girinka” — meaning “give a cow” — programme. Under the agreement with the ministry, Bóthar will hold a 30% share based on its investment in the project for two to three years. At the end of that period, this shareholding will be purchased by local farmers and investors.

Speaking from Rwanda, where she has been based for the past 18 months, Ms O’Leary said that, thanks to donations from the Irish public, the Rusizi is going to have a viable export business that will change lives locally.

“There are so many Irish cows here, and other high quality cows that have been donated from Holland, in particular, that the milk quality from the creamery is likely to be the best in Rwanda and perhaps all of Africa,” said Ms O’Leary.

“Another reason for the high quality is the weather, which is perfect for dairy production. We have rain, water, and plenty of feed so the milk and yoghurt from this creamery will be highly sought-after, particularly across the border in Bukavu, which has a hinterland population of five million people.

“There are loads of dollars in Congo as it is such a mineral rich nation. The one thing they haven’t got is milk; so this little community, thanks to Bóthar and the Irish people, is set to take advantage of that.”

Peter Ireton of Bóthar said: “There’s massive excitement in Rusizi over this creamery. We have found over the years that recipient families treated the donation of a Bóthar heifer like they had just won the lottery so we can only imagine what this means to them.

* Details for donating to the project are at www.bothar.ie