Latest News: February 2012

Article published in The Observer, Sunday 12 February 2012 - A British excavation has struck archaeological gold with a discovery that may solve the mystery of where the Queen of Sheba derived her fabled treasures.
Read more: www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/feb/12/archaeologists-and-quest-for-sheba-goldmines

News January 2012

2011 was a busy and exciting year for the Tigray Trust and for the villagers of Maikado. An extremely successful fundraising event in April and several very generous donations enabled us to expand our project area. We are now supporting over 1,000 farms — home to approximately 10,000 people.

Janet Slee — Chairman of the Tigray Trust — and Louise Schofield — its Director — have recently returned from Ethiopia. They have been implementing the ongoing food security and water supply projects.

  • Water supply: We have an ongoing water supply project mending broken hand-pumps and building substantial structures to harness spring water where available. These are fitted with taps for the use of the villagers thus ensuring a supply of clean fresh drinking water - and spring-fed cattle troughs for their livestock.
  • Reforestation: The Tigray Trust is engaged in a reforestation project in Maikado — buying high-value cash-crop fruit trees for the villagers. The Trust originally provided each of the farms with a small orchard of local fruit trees — papaya, guava and turungo (a local citrus). We have now embarked on a rolling program of even higher-value specially grafted trees — including orange, avocado, mango and coffee.
  • Chickens: Our initial 200 farms were all given a flock of Rhode Island Red chickens. Interbreeding between these and native Ethiopian ones has produced a strong, happy, healthy hybrid that lays lots of eggs. Nutrition for the families has improved markedly and surplus eggs and chicks are sold and exchanged at market for other items that the people need. Our additional 800 or so farms were bought chickens in December.
  • Beehives: Many of our farms have now been given beehives with all the necessary accessories and have had training in how to use them. Our Maikado bees are now producing top-quality honey which is sold in the local market.
  • Emergency Drought-relief: The Tigray Trust monitors the level of drought at the beginning of each rainy season and provides the farmers with replacement grain — tef, barley and maize — if the harvest fails.

Our next fundraising event will be held in early April.

Many thanks for your continuing support!

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