Urs Bächtold, Cheese-making expert, ensures the survival of North Korean farmers!
During his around-the-world trip, Urs. Bächtold, cheese maker, will stop in North Korea for a five-month project stint to support the installation of the new dairy processing equipment and to train local farmers.
"I am fascinated by the process of transforming raw milk into a high-quality, nutritional product known worldwide. The necessary knowledge and sense of cleanliness and hygiene along with the hard physical labor are also appealing.  It is especially impressive to observe the ripening process, to see how the bacteria grow and influence the milk as they develop. After the ripening process, you can notice just how this "living" product has developed.  This is always an exciting moment for me. I really want to pass on this interest and fascination to the Koreans."
 
 

Thanks to your donations:  Working together to exchange the milk kettles  (Urs on the right in the picture.)

Urs Bächtold:  "Seeing the joy and pride in their eyes after the work is done makes my heart beat a little faster each time!"
 

Shepherdess with goat kid and Culture multiplication in the laboratory in Kubin
 
 

"Since most of the goats can only start to be milked in mid-May, I should be in many places at the same time right now in order to instruct the farmers in the yogurt and cheese-making techniques.  I plan to travel to all our locations, staying for about two weeks in each place, and do hands-on teaching both in the mornings and evenings as the fresh milk is processed.  We will cover the theoretical concepts each afternoon. This will be an intense work schedule with long days and little rest – but being able to see the learning and improvement will certainly help me to stay motivated and involved!"

No North Korean Farmers to Visit Switzerland Because of SARS Scare

Daniel Gerster, agricultural expert in North Korea: "Beijing is the most important transportation hub in this region. If you want to travel to or from Pyongyang, you nearly always have to fly through Beijing. However, because of the explosion of SARS cases in Beijing, the situation has become critical. Now the North Korean government has closed its borders out of respect for this illness. They want to avoid the appearance of the virus in their country at all costs. This is certainly the right attitude since it would be nearly impossible to care for patients here.

So we are practically cut off from the outside world at the moment. The only remaining scheduled flight goes to Russia once a week.  At first, it was possible to enter the countrys after going into quarantine for 10 days, now they are not even issuing entry visas. All trips abroad by North Koreans have been cancelled.

For this reason, it will not be possible to send our eight farmers to the Bernese Oberland for practical training. Various visits and project inputs by people from around Europe have had to be cancelled as well. Freight transport to and from North Korean has also been severly cut back. In addition, we have had to undergo physical check-ups in order to get permission to travel to our project locations outside the city.  No one knows how longs this will last."

The A-Bomb Threat

In addition to health concerns, there is another worry in the air: fear over an open conflict with America.  The media report from May 5th  stated that a North Korean government expert had threatened the USA with a nuclear attack if Washington levied new economic sanctions against the Pyongyang or if they attacked first.  He emphasized that his country had numerous nuclear warheads aimed at American cities.  It is difficult to judge whether this is just a bluff or if it is, in fact, true since experts doubt that North Korean rocket really have the power to cover such vast distances. Still, no one knows for sure.

This is how we will use your donations over the next two months:

• Airfreight shipment including spare parts to repair Marie-Anne Bühlmann's washing machine (CHF 37.50). For CHF 3000 in shipping costs we can transport goods with a value of CHF 10'000.
• Purchasing equipment that is not available in N. Korea (dairy utensils, fertilizer)
• Anti-tick medicine for the goats (with CHF 600, we can keep 450 animals free of ticks and their diseases for one year)
• ...and lots more!

Goat Cheese for Mrs. Calmy-Rey
The Swiss foreign minister Micheline Calmy-Rey visited our project location in Kubin Ri in May 2003 as part of her East Asian tour which included a stop in North Korea. In addition to talks aimed at finding a diplomatic solution to the nuclear conflict between North Korean and the USA, Mrs. Calmy.-Rey also had the opportunity to see for herself that high-quality goat cheese is being produced in North Korea! She showed great interest in our work and was pleased by our many years of involvement and cooperation in North Korea and the great benefits to the local population.

The Goat Cheese Maker, Urs Bächtold presents a wheel of cheese to foreign minister Mrs. Calmy-Rey

Swiss Farmers Need Your Help!
Our mountain farmers in the Bernese Oberland were so supportive in hosting and training North Koreans last year, despite the many challenges involved.  Eight families were also prepared to host visitors this year.  Since we are now unable to bring visiting farmers from North Korea to Switzerland, these Swiss families will lose valuable workers during the summer harvest.
Would you like to help?  If you are interested in giving your time to help bring in the hay with our mountain farmers, please contact us at: 01 274 84 86.  Thank you!
 
 

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