Two projects, one veterinarian, a sustainable brighter future

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Phillip Butterfield
  • Operation Pacific Angel 2011 Public Affairs
COM, Timor Leste --  It has been said, "If you give a person a fish you can feed them for a day, if you teach them how to fish you can feed them for a lifetime. This passage is hallmark of two projects in the mountains of Timor Leste.

U.S. Air Force Maj. Douglas Riley, 13th Air Force large animal veterinarian, has come to Timor Leste as one of only three veterinarians in the U.S. Air Force to teach the people here how to better tend to their farm animals medical needs and simultaneously build a stronger economic future.

"What we "Timor Leste and the U.S. Air Force" are trying to do is make the animals healthier," said Riley. "Then in turn the Timorese can sell the animals and get more money put into their economy. But, one of the main hurtles in our path is brucellosis, a disease caused by a bacterium."

Brucellosis is a disease than can infect cows causing them to miscarriage their young and be transmitted from animal to animal as well as humans, said Antonino Dokarmo, Timor Leste Department of Agriculture and Business animal health chief.

Riley's team, consisting of a driver and Mr. Dokarmo, are teaching the local livestock workers and ranchers how to test for brucellosis by taking blood samples and being observant of other signs of this devastating disease. They are also teaching the livestock workers and ranchers how to identify, cure and prevent other illnesses such as fly strike, screw worm infestation (a form of devastating fly strike), and hardware disease as well as a host of other common diseases of Timor Leste .

"We as developed countries can come to places like Timor Leste and set their ranchers up with the latest in ranch technology and immunize all of their life stock," said Riley. But, if we don't teach them the basics, then all the advancements and everything we gave will not mean anything when it breaks down and there's no one to fix it. That's why we are here, is to set them up for success by teaching them the basics of heard health and management."

This will be an ongoing project that will take several years and visits to ensure the Timorese people are on the road to prosperity... no quick fixes, said Riley.

However, bovine were not the only animals on Riley's to do list. He and his team have had an ongoing relationship with a village in Pairear, where pigs are the animal in question and their new living arrangements required inspection.

In Pairear, the crops are in pens and the animals are free to move about the village at will. This is a complete 180 degree's from countries like the U.S. where pigs are in pens cared for and are able to reproduce and be sold for top dollar at market. Plus, putting pigs in pens also helps develop co-ops.

A co-op is where a rancher will raise pigs and he will pay a farmer to grow grain for the pigs to eat. With good grain the pigs grow fat and healthy and produce more pigs, which requires more grain to be grown. This ultimately leads to more money that the rancher will get after selling his pigs...more pigs, more grain, more money for all.

With eight projects in the works across Timor Leste, Riley and his team will be educating the Timorese people in large animal care and management, assembling the building blocks for a sustainable and bright future.

"The future of Timorese people is in their hands, if we are patient and persistent educators then they can achieve anything and we will have completed our mission," said Riley.