“Who am I, you ask? I am made from all the people I have encountered and all the things I have experienced” – Ming D. Liu
This week was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. And it wasn’t only because of my 19th birthday! We at Fire Sky officially launched the Moletši Ankole Project in partnership with Kgosi Moloto III of Moletši as a way to help local community farmers improve their cattle and gain access to the hardy and strong Ankole cattle.
Despite our usage of sexed semen, we still have a lot of bulls here at Fire Sky. As our new President Anton de Swardt highlighted in his speech at the AGM this month, surplus young bulls are an endemic problem. Everyone has got them and no one has quite figured out what to do with them. These bulls have fantastic genetics and features (as they are from the top of the already impressive Ankole breed and all that comes with that), but there are just too many of them. More than we could ever use.
Fire Sky believes that we have a win-win solution. It solves our surplus bull problem. For the community, this provides an opportunity to up-breed their existing herds and will help them survive in this time of extreme heat and drought – and for future extreme weather we cannot predict. After all, what is the use of us creating this Ankole breed if we aren’t able to help people with it?
The launch and handover of Nefula -the Kgosi’s bull- was a momentous occasion, with surprise visitors such as Speaker of the National Parliament Thoko Didiza joining (and insisting to take selfies with me)! I had the unbelievable opportunity to explain some of the reasons for this project to the people of Moletši and the Moletši Tribal Council. This council represents the interests of millions of South Africans, and their questions made it apparent that they have a deep care for their people and want to do right by them.
My uncle André always spoke very highly of the Kgosi and who he is as a person. In the time I’ve come to know him I can only agree. It is an honour to run this project alongside him and do the small part I can to make the world a little bit better each day. It’s what Oom André would’ve wanted. This one is for him.
For more info on this project and Fire Sky Ankole: https://www.fireskyankole.co.za/2024/09/04/moletsi-community-project/
