Oklahoma Farm Bureau hosts African interns Oklahoma Farm Bureau member Tony Kodesh of Red Rock explains his tractor’s operations to African interns Samuel Kazibwe and Beatrice Namaloba. Pictured from left to right are Kodesh, Kazibwe and Namaloba.
Oklahoma Farm Bureau’s African interns talk with OFB crop insurance manager Scott Bulling at his farm near Orlando to discuss Oklahoma hay production. Pictured from left to right are Beatrice Namaloba of Kenya, Scott Bulling, Samuel Kazibwe of Uganda and April Bulling.
Ugandan radio broadcaster Samuel Kazibwe learns about the cattle operation of Oklahoma Farm Bureau crop insurance manager Scott Bulling during a visit to Bulling’s farm in April. From left to right Kazibwe, Bulling and April Bulling.
28 • Oklahoma Country • Summer 2011
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klahoma Farm Bureau played host to two African interns April 11-25, as they visited America on a food securities grant made possible through key African stakeholders and Oklahoma State University. Radio broadcaster Samuel Kazibwe of Uganda and Senior Agricultural Officer in Food Security Beatrice Namaloba of Kenya were part of a 12-member team that participated in a fiveweek U.S. State Department Professional Exchange Program geared toward improving Africa’s food securities issues. The grant, titled “Improving Food Security by Catalyzing Communication Networks between Key Stakeholders: Linking Media, Policies, and Communities in Kenya and Uganda, was written to improve communication between the African interns and their U.S. counterparts in an overall effort to address food security in Sub-Saharan Africa. Kazibwe and Namaloba spent two weeks with OFB Public Policy and Corporate Communications staff members as they learned about Oklahoma agriculture, Farm Bureau and how the state’s legislative process works. They participated in Young Farmers and Ranchers Legislative Day at the state capitol, toured the farming operations of FB members Tony Kodesh and Scott Bulling, and visited the offices of media outlets such as The Oklahoman newspaper. The two interns also toured Braum’s Dairy in Tuttle, Blue and Gold Sausage Co. in Jones, the OKC Producers Cooperative Oil Mill, Crowe and Dunlevy law firm in Oklahoma City, and American Plant Products in Oklahoma City. Despite Kazibwe and Namaloba’s tight schedule, they also met with officials from the Oklahoma Pork Council, the Oklahoma Wheat Commission, the Oklahoma Conservation Commission and Farm Credit. After their visit to Oklahoma, OFB’s two interns and the rest of their team traveled to Washington D.C. to complete the U.S. exchange experience. In turn, a group of Oklahoma state agency officials and faculty from Oklahoma State University will travel to Kenya and Uganda in July to experience the people and cultures of Africa.