Carl Ryan Mutya final report for 2024 echange program in Brittany

KARL RYAN MUTYA

T-E Foundation, Inc. / 2024 Exchange Scholar from Mindanao in France

ACTIVITY REPORT

My Week at Le Nivot

My week on Le Nivot is full of new learning, exciting and memorable moments. Monday morning we went to Saint-Thegonnec to visit the origin of Fr. Yves Caroff, and I was amazed of the beautiful church they have, mr. Hubert bought a book with the title “Religious Buildings” and he gave it to me, then we continue to our journey to Le Nivot. Noon we arrived at Le Nivot with mr. Hubert and his wife maam Ara, I was introduced to maam Anaïs Pouliquen and other staff of the school, then we had our first delicious lunch in the school cafeteria, after that mr. Hubert and maam Ara said their goodbye.

In the afternoon maam Anaïs tour me around the school and to the animal buildings and gave me some instructions for my work for the next morning, then we went back to her office to get my things, together with Daniel the care taker of the boarding school they showed me my room, I was a bit tired so I rested in my room, then 7:00 pm Daniel calls me for the dinner and we ate our dinner together with the other students and after that we go back to our own rooms to have a rest. Tuesday morning early in the morning, I woke up with the excited vibe, I take a bath and then go the cafeteria for our breakfast, maam Anaïs bring me to my work place and introduces me to the caretakers of the Pigs, they don’t speak english and that makes a little challenge in communication for me and for them also, they are very kind people and we make a solution to our problem, we used google translator for us to communicate and they gave me instructions for my work, first with maam Karine, I was tasked to feed the piglets and to give them a milk, I was amazed with the number of piglets inside the building, I finished giving them feeds and milks, then we proceed to the cleaning of the pens, next we do some ear tagging for the newly bought sow which is not new for me because we also do that in our school in the Philippines, after we get the weight of the smallest and the biggest piglet in the group or in the litter for the weaning, for the whole day I worked at the piggery with admiration.

Wednesday, third day at Le Nivot, we cleaned the rearing pen because today is the weaning day of the piglets, we loaded the piglets on the tractor to transfer them into the other building for fattening, after we put the pigs in their pens and grouped them according to their sizes, and then we fed the newly transferred piglets and the other pig that was there. I said to myself that their practices in raising pigs are amazing and I want to have like it in the future. Afternoon with Philip we helped to build the new storage facility and their techniques are new and different from what we have in the Philippines. Thursday, at fourth day, I was assigned to work at the sheep with (Clemore), we cleaned the whole barn and removed the hays inside the barn using the tractor, I was amazed because the cleaning process is much easier with the help of machines, after that we put the new hay, then we vaccinated the ewe with antibiotics and dewormers for the lambs, it was the most tiring day in Le Nivot, because had to corner them in a small pen and to do that we have to chase them all. After the tiring day, maam Anaïs and I went to the beach and met her parents, after that we ate our dinner at the restaurant and the food there are delicious, parents of maam Anaïs are very nice people and it was memorable moment to be with them.

Friday, last day at Le Nivot, I was assigned to work with Pierre Yves at the cow barn, in the morning, we do some milking and this is the day I look forward to the most, I experienced to do milking with the machines and I learned the proper method in milking, next we fed the calves and the cows at the barn.

In the afternoon I was told to prepare my self and my things because I was going to be picked up by Cindy to go to their place.

My Weekend at Pascal and Family's place

July 5, 2024 at 6 pm Pascal picked me up at Madec’s place to go to her place at SaintThegonnec to spend a weekend with her family, we arrived around 8:30pm and I was welcomed by her husband Dominic and her daughter Salomé, I settled my things in the bedroom of one of Pascal's children, then we ate our dinner together. After dinner, we rested. The next day Saturday, early in the morning, I woke up feeling excited to the activities we will do this day, we had our breakfast then we prepared ourselves for our journey to the cow farm owned by their friend named Mary and Bastian, we arrived at their place, and we met their very cute dog Roxy outside, and they let us in and introduced us to their family and that’s when I met their children, Monieck and Peter who was kind, Peter started telling a story his experiences and studies in Canada as if we had been friends for a long time and this made me happy.

Madame Mary showed me the records of their cattle, and I was impressed because she showed me the complete details of a cow and compiled it all on his mobile phone, and I was even more amazed when I found out that they have 100 hectares of land for their cows and if I am not mistaken in my memory they have 170 dairy cows and that does not include the heifers, dry cows and calves. Then we went out to visit the place where they milk the cows, and we passed by the calves and we saw something based on them that will be sold next week because it is said to be a meat type of cow, and it turns out they have different other breeds of cattle and almost all of them are Holstein for dairy. Then they tour us inside the milking area and explained the functions of the equipment inside. Then we proceed to the barn where we saw the other cow, and then Bastian explained what are the component of the feeds given to their cows.

All I can say in their farm is WOW!!, visiting this farm really amazed me. After a wonderful visit, we went home first to rest and eat, but before that Salomé introduced me to their two goats and two sheep that I thought were goats too, they were named after beautiful places, then we also went to see their chicken in the back of the house and I also saw one of the most cows in their area. Afternoon, we went to see another friend named Catherine and Hubert Nicolas and their daughter Amandine, they also have cattles , but this time they have dairy type and meat type cattle, they have Holstein and Limousine. Hubert is managing and working his farm alone and I am very Astonished for his diligence. He showed us how to mix the feeds for their cows and he distributed the feeds to the feeding through before he let the cows to enter the barn for their feeds. Later we went to the field to see the meat type cattles the limousine, they have very good size and big muscles, it ignites the fire for my dream of having a sustainable farm in the future. After those exciting moments we went back to their house and have some snack, while eating I noticed the piece of art created by their daughter, she is very talented. My Saturday was full of unforgettable moments, knowledge and inspiration.

Sunday, at the morning together with Mr. and Mrs. Abrgall we to the voting center because they have to vote, after voting they introduced me to the mayor of Saint-Thegonnec buts it was a short introduction because it was very busy that time. After that we went to visit the place of Fr. Yves Caroff's place, and I can say that she is very happy to see the person helped by her brother, she is very amazing woman because despite of her age and her condition, she lives alone and can take care of herself. Later we moved to our next journey, we went to Roscoff ferry port, we made a small tour in the port and ma'am Pascal explained something about the place. Then we went to the other side of Roscoff and we walked with lots of people, roam around the area, this place is timeless. It is very captivating in the eyes. Then we went to the another side of the sea, we walked in the sea side, enjoying the scenery and relaxing our mind, while walking we passed by fallen trees because of the recent storm, and it’s sad to think what happened to this beautiful place during the height of the storm.

We continue walking and we passed by a tunnel based on maam Pascal it was built during world war 2 to avoid being killed in the war. We continued our journey to another farm, this farm is own by Thierry and Sandine FAOU Plouvorn. They have 40 hectares of organic vegetable garden, I can’t quite imagine how he works such a vast garden, I was amazed as he took us for a tour of their machineries garage, there I saw the different types of tractors they use for weeding, harvesting and weeding, and Thierry also loves repairing machines and he has a 50 year old truck that looks very new, and is in good condition.

Then he took us for a tour of their garden, and it was very nice to observe his vast vegetable garden, while we toured their vegetable garden, he talked about the practices they do in their garden, and I was really encouraged by what I saw around us, during our tour, maybe he noticed me happily watching his garden, he offered me to sign a contract with him so that I could work for him, I thought that, I could work in an organic vegetable garden because I am already certified organic agriculture practitioner, but I still want to finish my studies. I want to grab the opportunity he gave, but I thought because I am an animal science student if there is an opportunity to work like a dairy farm I would choose that opportunity.

I am happy because he thought of giving me the opportunity to work with him, his kindness and dedication in life inspires me to have a prosperous life through farming and becoming an agripreneur.

Tour with Jean-Paul

We went to the market to display the vegetables harvested from Jean-Paul and Christine’s garden. After we finished setting up the display, we bought some bread and then, Jean-Paul brought me to the dairy farm owned by François er Gwéna.

There, I got dressed and entered a laboratory that manufactures cheeses, yogurt, butter, and cream. Before we started, we ate the bread we bought earlier, and while eating and drinking coffee Jean-Paul explained my aim at that farm, and that is to get experience how to make dairy products.

We started to wash our hands and sadly, the staff there explained to me that on this day only preparations for selling in the market will be done, but I made the most of my visit.

I helped prepare the butters, I learned how to wrap butter, and I also had the opportunity to work on cheese preparation.

This one day experience was very worthwhile because I learned a lot.

My weekend at Marie Renee's Place

Friday morning, Marie Renee picked me up at Christine and Jean Paul’s place to go to Concarneau. When we arrived there we take a little break and lunch, and then we went to go to a well known town in Concarneau, it is visited by many tourists because of the beautiful scenery, we roam around the town and I was amazed because of the infrastructure in that town are very classic, after we went to the market to buy some groceries. In the evening her grand daughter named Joana together with her boyfriend arrived, we take our dinner and had our celebration for the successful exam of Marie Renee's grand daughter. Saturday morning we prepared because we will visit a port in Lorient, where we saw the boats used for the Olympics, we spent our entire day to visit the port and seaside which feels me relaxed and overwhelmed, we had our drinks in one of the bar at Lorient it was a wonderful experience, and they took care of me very well, I was very thankful that I came in this place and meet this people.

At night we went to see a fireworks display, but before that we had our dinner in the restaurant and Mattys Joana's boyfriend treated me with hamburgers and fries with drinks, then after we went to a bar where we encounter the former student of Marie Renee and it happens he work at that bar, we stop there to warm our self because outside is very cold, and 10:30 pm we went outside and went to seaside to see the fireworks display. Sunday we had our lunch and after Joana and Matthys went back to their place because they have work for Monday, I have a very great moment with them, they are very wonderful person. For us we went again to the fish port, we roam around and get some fresh air it feels very relaxing to walk at the seaside.

After walking we went to visit a friend of Marie Renee, and there we we roam around their house to see the plants, and after we went to have some drinks and I saw a billiard table and we started playing, the billiard there are very different to the billiard I know, but it was a lot of fun. After we went back home and had a pizza for dinner.

My One Month in Bretagne

"A very long month", that's what I’ve said when I first arrived here in Bretagne in France. A month of shaping my skills and learning new knowledge. Although our words are different sometimes we don't understand each other, we still learned to be united, became friends and do the work together.

Every week I meet different people, became my friends, help me forge my skills and treated me as Family. Every weekend, I get to go for a walk with the kind people from the foundation, go to the farms and talk to the owners and I always have amazing new knowledge because of these people, and their amazing perseverance and hard work has become a reason for me to persevere even more and add to that the amazing machinery they use in their farms, this is a reason to dream even higher and work hard for the dream of having my own sustainable farm.

I was very pleased because one of them offered to sign a contract to work with them to have finance for my dream farm, but for now I have to finish my study to make sure that I'm worthy of that contract.

One of the amazing things about my visit here in Bretagne is meeting talented French people, I’ve met great artists and one of them named Chris and the amazing thing is that he can sing a Filipino song, while hanging out he sang a popular song in the Philippines entitled “ Anak” by Freddie Aguilar and he sang it as if he was really a Pinoy, he really felt the song and his voice was very beautiful. When the day came that I was about to go home, I said to myself “it seems like a month goes by very fast”.

Within a month, my happiness cannot be overstated because of the people I met, became friends with, and treated me like a true family member. I am very grateful for the lessons learned, and the skills that have been honed, I would not have enjoyed it if not for Fr. Yves Caroff’s love for the Filipinos, for the people behind the Together Ensemble Foundation and the French people who support the Oblate Galilee Farm.

It is a great honor for me to be chosen to learn and experience life in Bretagne.