The Importance of Local Knowledge

The importance of local knowledge is a theme that has come up in a lot of my Geography classes at Colgate. The concept has always interested me so I took note of a recent article I found online. The article described a cattle epidemic called Rinderpest, a very contagious, 100% fatal, intestinal disease that also leads to bleeding of the eyes, chills, and eventual death from dehydration. Historical records suggest Rinderpest has been around since 3000 BC and plagued Europe until the late 1700s. In 1889 was introduced to Ethiopia by Italian colonists. Quickly it spread to Sudan, Uganda, Ethiopia and Somalia. Rinderpest, called "green death" by locals, killed 90% of cows in this region and lead to the starvation of 1/3 of Ethiopians and 2/3 of the Maasai people (totaling over a million deaths).

In Europe, Walter Plowright developed a vaccine that suppressed Rinderpest throughout Europe and Asia but it required refrigeration and therefore was impractical in Saharan Africa. Vets and European aids were forced to rally herdsman into villages with refrigeration sources, often unsuccessfully. Jeffrey Manner then developed a version of the vaccine that could withstand temperatures up to 100 degrees Fahrenheit for up to 3 months. Still, it was difficult to communicate with local herders and reach 100% immunization.

The page turned when Darlingron Akabwai, a Ugandan field vet, entered the scene. He made it a point to communicate with seers, tribal prophets, about when and where they could meet to administer vaccines. He also used local terminology and warrior images to convey the importance of the vaccines. Must effectively, he explained the vaccination process to elders and then had them select younger men to attend formal training and become "community animal health workers". Quickly, immunization rates when from 72 to 84 to almost 100%. These "community animal health workers" were better able to identify the disease and handle individual cows. They also were more effective at explaining the process and encouraging public participation. The movement did meet some resistance when outside professional vets realized they were being replaced. This was resolved when Akabwai created positions for them as formal supervisors.

The last recorded case of Rinderpest was in 2000 and on May 25, 2011 the disease was pronounced "gone". This example of incorporated local knowledge and skill was particularly interesting to me because it played upon the idea of knowing the animals and having a personal connection to individual animals, a concept we talked with Changing Works and in Farmer Boy.