Day 14: June 14, 2009
It was around 2pm on Friday, June 12th, Lindsay and I had just taken our Global Challenge group, a group of awesome middle schoolers from Lexington, Kentucky, down to the challenge course to do the High Challenge when the clouds began to swarm the skies.
The High Challenge includes several ‘elements’ including a twenty-five foot climbing wall, tight-rope challenges and a zip-cord. The High Challenge and Low Challenge (a lower-to-the-ground group of elements that are done on the morning before the kids spend a night in the Global Village), are team and trust building exercises that get the participants thinking and working together.
The kids had just put on their harnesses and Ken Herren, the Education Coordinator on the Ranch, and the Challenge course volunteers were moving into their positions; Alicia manning the dismount of the zip-line and Stephen at the top of the wall to help the climbers transition from the wall to the zip-line. Ken had just gotten three participants to form a belay team (the belay team’s job is to keep tension off the rope so that the climber doesn’t plunge to their doom), and the first climber was about to approach the wall when a lightning bolt struck the horizon, ending the High Challenge before it even began.
We took the participants inside to play some team building games (mostly games to keep them busy and preoccupied from the disappointment of not being able to do the High Challenge). The story progressively got worse. After a couple hours of games, we arranged to have them picked up and met them back at the Heifer Hilton for their final debriefing before they left.
Lindsay Kuehn told them a story that Ken gave her that would make them think about the direct and indirect effect we all have on world hunger and poverty. The story came from an old eastern philosophy about heaven and hell:
Picture a table with mounds of delicious food. Sitting around the table are starving people, skinny, famished. They are suffering, holding three foot long chopsticks, trying desperately to feed themselves, but every time they pick up a piece of food they are unable to bring it to their mouths because of how long the chopsticks are.
Picture that same table, but instead of starving people, there are happy healthy people sitting around the table talking and laughing. Instead of trying to feed themselves, they used their long chopsticks to feed the person across from them.
The point of the two visualizations is that heaven and hell is what we make it. We hold the power to bring happiness and fulfillment to the world and it lies in our compassion and our willingness to help each other because we are all brothers and sisters of this global community. There is a thin line between heaven and hell and the solution is simple if we would all come together.
After I went home to Valley View, I soon found out that our power was out because lightning had stuck a power pole by the Global Village Barn. For the next two days, our food would slowly grow warmer as we rushed to eat and store what we could in coolers.
By the end of the second day, we were told that we could put our food in the fridge in the house down by the entrance to the Ranch, the Gate House. You see, the power had been reconnected to most of the Ranch, but a couple building and all of the volunteer housing was still without power; us lowly volunteers did not seem to be a big priority to the power company. I was beginning to think this was all a farce and we were being tested in some sort of Heifer Volunteer disaster drill.
So, along with the food, most (if not all) of the volunteers had temporarily moved into the Gate House, like refugees, (or in domestic terms), or IDP (Internally Displaced Persons). Saturday night thirty of us all crammed into the tiny living room, eating what we cooked together or separately and watched Robin Hood: Men in Tights. It was good times and awesome to see so many people crammed into one area for something other that alcohol and drunken banter (even if if was to share the comfort of air conditioning and electricity.)
Apparently the storm had caused a Tornado in the next town, Conway, and the residuals had left us powerless on most of the Ranch. The incident did not faze us much except for some spoiled food. Besides the whole experience did nothing more than bring us all together and prove just how close-knit of a community we really are.
By late Sunday afternoon, we were told that we could move back into our houses because the power was back on, but we hung around another hour or four, watching movies, cleaning and thoroughly enjoying each other’s company just for a little while longer.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Friday, June 12, 2009
Day 2: June 2, 2009
On day two, I continued shadowing Olivia with our group from the day before, debriefing them on their experience of staying the night in the Global Village.
The villagers had just finished their breakfast which included: a basket filled with a container full of oat mill, one of sugar and a handful of raisins that they had cooked over a fire they had built and prepared down in the Urban Slums. They met us back up at the Global Village Barn and Josh and Olivia each took a group (one took Guatemala, the other took the Urban Slums) back to their dwellings to complete their chores for the day. I stayed behind with a few from each group to wash all of the dishes that they had used to cook their meals the night before.
Some of the chores that the villagers must complete are: cleaning-up their area, the fire pit and the squat toilets. Then, they water the crops in Zambia, Thailand and Guatemala. After that, they feed the chickens, goats, ducks and then walk and feed the goats. After the chores, everyone meets back at the Global Village Barn and we begin the debriefing process.
Debriefing consists of asking a series of leading questions about their experiences in the village and relating them to how they compare and contrast to their lives back home in the ‘real world.’ Then, we do a few activities before releasing them to shower-up and head to lunch.
After lunch, I met up with Jacob at Metzger to meet the rest of the Ranch staff and tour Metzger and where the office supplies and material that I will be using for the duration of my summer education volunteer program, or Summer Action. Then, Jacob gave me a stack of training DVDs that covered most of the practices and policies that I missed during the two-weeks of training.
I met back up with Jacob around five and he and I drove into town to pick up some groceries, beer and socks (the latter of which I had forgot to pack in my suitcase before flying here).
The villagers had just finished their breakfast which included: a basket filled with a container full of oat mill, one of sugar and a handful of raisins that they had cooked over a fire they had built and prepared down in the Urban Slums. They met us back up at the Global Village Barn and Josh and Olivia each took a group (one took Guatemala, the other took the Urban Slums) back to their dwellings to complete their chores for the day. I stayed behind with a few from each group to wash all of the dishes that they had used to cook their meals the night before.
Some of the chores that the villagers must complete are: cleaning-up their area, the fire pit and the squat toilets. Then, they water the crops in Zambia, Thailand and Guatemala. After that, they feed the chickens, goats, ducks and then walk and feed the goats. After the chores, everyone meets back at the Global Village Barn and we begin the debriefing process.
Debriefing consists of asking a series of leading questions about their experiences in the village and relating them to how they compare and contrast to their lives back home in the ‘real world.’ Then, we do a few activities before releasing them to shower-up and head to lunch.
After lunch, I met up with Jacob at Metzger to meet the rest of the Ranch staff and tour Metzger and where the office supplies and material that I will be using for the duration of my summer education volunteer program, or Summer Action. Then, Jacob gave me a stack of training DVDs that covered most of the practices and policies that I missed during the two-weeks of training.
I met back up with Jacob around five and he and I drove into town to pick up some groceries, beer and socks (the latter of which I had forgot to pack in my suitcase before flying here).
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Day 1: Monday, June 1, 2009
Day 1: Monday, June 1, 2009
I woke up at around 6:45am, got dressed and walked the 10-minute walk that it takes to get to the Conference Center and Dining Hall to get some organic coffee while I waited for Jasmine to arrive and start the orientation process. After she came in around 8am, I met her in person for the first time, and she sent me up to the Metzger Education building to wait for Keisha Patterson (Volunteer Manager) who would go over the orientation process (policies and forms) with me.
I walked over to the Metzger Building and met a few more people and talked to Jacob (Metzger is where his office is located). Then, I wandered into a room with a TV and a DVD player and helped my self to one of the many Videos that were there. The video that I watched was one narrated by Oscar-nominated Ed Harris, and it presented (among other things) how cow manure can be converted into natural gas to be used to cook in homes! I had never heard of such of such a thing; fantastic.
After the video ended, I wandered back into the main area of Metzger and Jacob told me that Keisha was actually waiting on me back in the Conference Center. So, I hurried on over and met Keisha and another person who was being orientated and filling out forms, a woman named Olive from Nashville, who is a veteran volunteer and even has a building named after her. She works in the gift shop.
During the orientation, Keisha went over all of the policies and things that needed to be known and followed that are included in the Ranch Volunteer Manual: The Alcohol Policy – Alcohol is only permitted in designated areas, primarily in and around designated volunteer housing (later I would also discover that Perry County is a “dry county” and it is a fifteen mile drive to the liquor store), No Drugs, Smoking is only permitted in designated areas, There are monthly house inspections to make sure we are keeping the volunteer houses clean, the Disciplinary Policy, the Dress Code, and, oh yeah, under no circumstances are you to feed the cats or pet the dogs. The dogs and cats on Heifer Ranch are constantly working to keep the ranch clean of vermin and protect the livestock. So, petting them and feeding them distracts them from doing their job.
After orientation was lunch, my favorite! On days that I work, one meal, lunch, is provided, and it is so good; organic vegetables and meat that is grown and raised on the Ranch and all of the coffee, juice and water I can drink. After a brief backslide in which the last couple weeks I was in LA, I was eating red meat (which totally kills my stomach), I am back on my vegetable and fish only diet (with the occasional poultry). So, here at Heifer it is easy for me to stick to the discipline of my diet.
After lunch, I was instructed to head to the meeting point for the Global Village Tour. I was to be shadowing Olivia, a volunteer who has been here since late last year. Also shadowing was Joshua, who has been here since the beginning of the Summer Action program, which started on May 18th.
The group that we “facilitated” was a church group from the north. The group consisted of middle school kids, mainly, and their youth leaders that chaperoned them. Our job as facilitators is to create the learning environment and leave the disciplining to the chaperones. Olivia led the facilitation and Joshua and I chimed in occasionally, but mainly our job was to learn.
Inside the Global Village Barn, Olivia started the facilitation by talking to the group about the History of Heifer International, did a few exercises and posed some questions to get everyone talking and thinking about the things that are important in their lives. It was also to get them talking and thinking about their “quality of life,” the type of homes they live in, the family situation, foods that they eat, etc. Then, she did an exercise that involved a map of the world that was painted on the floor. This exercise was to test the group’s knowledge on the population of the world, the areas of which are most inhabited, and of those areas how balanced is population vs. consumption. It was startling to learn how many people inhabit some areas of the world and consume so little, when the United States makes up less than six percent of the entire population of the world and we consume more than areas that are more than double our population.
After the discussion and exercises, we took the group on a tour of the Global Village, or GV. The global village consists of life-size models of homes that exist in the world and are, at best, middle-class by world standards (extreme poverty by US standards).
First on the tour is Guatemala. This is one house on a family farm. It houses around four or five people. There is a garden, well water and an indoor stove/fireplace. This house is middle-upper class by world standards:
On down the trail passed the lake is Thailand. The houses, built mainly from bamboo and timber, are raised off of the ground to protect the families from the severe flooding from the monsoon season:
Then, on down the trail about a football field length away, we stop at a “Squat Toilet” aka “Turkish Toilet:”
Then, we start to loop around the lake, not far from the Squat Toilet is a Zambian hut:
Over the hill from Zambia is the refugee camp:
From there, we walk back into the wilderness, up the hill to a lower-class Appalachian home which is said is a Kentucky home, but I have seen similar in the “Hollers” of West Virginia, not too far from where I grew up. This house has a television, but the inhabitants have been unable to make payments on there utility bills. So, there is no electricity or running water. The occupants have one pin of chickens and one of rabbits.
The last village is the Urban Slums, which is styled after the way that 1/7 of the total population of the world lives. These are makeshift housing on the outskirts of large cities. The inhabitants in these areas moved to the urban areas in search of employment, but due to the inability to find work and their exhausted resources (money), they have been forced to make camp outside of the city and beg, borrow and steal to survive.
We walk the group back to the Global Village Barn, where we started. Then, there is a lottery; each member of the group draws a number. Each of the numbers is different, but a chart that was created according to group size, allocates each group member to a specific subgroup. This church group was a small group. So, they were divided into two subgroups; one was going to spend the night in Guatemala and the other the Urban Slums.
The Guatemalan group received a basket with the supplies and food that a middle-class family in Guatemala would receive; a modest portion of rice, eggs, and one onion while the Urban Slums would only receive 1/3 of a cup of rice per person. Guatemala would have all wood and water rights. That means that Guatemala has unlimited access to water and would receive a bag of wood and kindling and the Urban Slums group would have to beg, barter or steal from Guatemala to have water or fire.
One member from each group was selected by a random number to be pregnant. The pregnant group members would have to wear an apron with a water balloon in it for the entire duration of the groups’ Global Village experience. The balloons had to be on that person at all times and not be damaged or busted when they returned to be debriefed the next morning.
Also, there was another person selected from each group who would receive a “Crisis Card.” Before we, the facilitators, released the groups into the Global Village, these holders of the Crisis Cards had to make an important decision based on their particular crisis.
In Guatemala, the Crisis Card holder hurts their leg and needs medical treatment, but the hospital is a distant journey that will cost a lot of money. The Guatemalan Crisis Card holder can either choose to give up half of their group’s food to pay for the journey to the hospital, or wear a splint tied around their leg for the night.
In the Urban Slums, the Crisis Card holder has contracted a virus and is given the option to give up half their food to be treated or be bed-ridden for the night with another member of the group having to constantly stay by their side.
Both Crisis Card holders chose not to deprive their families of food and supplies; Guatemala opting to wear the splint and the Slums to remain bed-ridden.
We wished them luck, gave them their supplies and sent them on their way. They were told that a basket containing food that they would use to prepare breakfast in the morning would be set out for them in the Global Village Barn and would be available to them at 7AM; we would meet them back in the Barn at 8AM for their debriefing.
The Villagers set off and Olivia, Joshua and I cleaned up the barn and went back to our respective dwellings.
I went home to Valley View and Jacob came by to pick me up for his cookout that he was having at his place just down the street from the Ranch. Once we got to his place, I prepared the grill while he went to play a game of soccer with some of the other Heifer Staff member and some volunteers.
By the time Jacob returned and the guests showed-up, I had a blazing grill full of charcoal that was so hot that it almost instantly burned every piece of meat that was laid on it. Perhaps I used too many charcoals.
I met a lot more people at the cookout and saw some of the familiar faces that I had met earlier in the day or the evening before when I arrived. The party wrapped-up around 11PM (as I would learn most parties do on weekdays) because most everyone had to get up early for work- some as early as 6AM.
I too went home, set my alarm, checked my email, popped an Ambien and anticipated the more, wondering what had become of the Global Villagers.
I woke up at around 6:45am, got dressed and walked the 10-minute walk that it takes to get to the Conference Center and Dining Hall to get some organic coffee while I waited for Jasmine to arrive and start the orientation process. After she came in around 8am, I met her in person for the first time, and she sent me up to the Metzger Education building to wait for Keisha Patterson (Volunteer Manager) who would go over the orientation process (policies and forms) with me.
I walked over to the Metzger Building and met a few more people and talked to Jacob (Metzger is where his office is located). Then, I wandered into a room with a TV and a DVD player and helped my self to one of the many Videos that were there. The video that I watched was one narrated by Oscar-nominated Ed Harris, and it presented (among other things) how cow manure can be converted into natural gas to be used to cook in homes! I had never heard of such of such a thing; fantastic.
After the video ended, I wandered back into the main area of Metzger and Jacob told me that Keisha was actually waiting on me back in the Conference Center. So, I hurried on over and met Keisha and another person who was being orientated and filling out forms, a woman named Olive from Nashville, who is a veteran volunteer and even has a building named after her. She works in the gift shop.
During the orientation, Keisha went over all of the policies and things that needed to be known and followed that are included in the Ranch Volunteer Manual: The Alcohol Policy – Alcohol is only permitted in designated areas, primarily in and around designated volunteer housing (later I would also discover that Perry County is a “dry county” and it is a fifteen mile drive to the liquor store), No Drugs, Smoking is only permitted in designated areas, There are monthly house inspections to make sure we are keeping the volunteer houses clean, the Disciplinary Policy, the Dress Code, and, oh yeah, under no circumstances are you to feed the cats or pet the dogs. The dogs and cats on Heifer Ranch are constantly working to keep the ranch clean of vermin and protect the livestock. So, petting them and feeding them distracts them from doing their job.
After orientation was lunch, my favorite! On days that I work, one meal, lunch, is provided, and it is so good; organic vegetables and meat that is grown and raised on the Ranch and all of the coffee, juice and water I can drink. After a brief backslide in which the last couple weeks I was in LA, I was eating red meat (which totally kills my stomach), I am back on my vegetable and fish only diet (with the occasional poultry). So, here at Heifer it is easy for me to stick to the discipline of my diet.
After lunch, I was instructed to head to the meeting point for the Global Village Tour. I was to be shadowing Olivia, a volunteer who has been here since late last year. Also shadowing was Joshua, who has been here since the beginning of the Summer Action program, which started on May 18th.
The group that we “facilitated” was a church group from the north. The group consisted of middle school kids, mainly, and their youth leaders that chaperoned them. Our job as facilitators is to create the learning environment and leave the disciplining to the chaperones. Olivia led the facilitation and Joshua and I chimed in occasionally, but mainly our job was to learn.
Inside the Global Village Barn, Olivia started the facilitation by talking to the group about the History of Heifer International, did a few exercises and posed some questions to get everyone talking and thinking about the things that are important in their lives. It was also to get them talking and thinking about their “quality of life,” the type of homes they live in, the family situation, foods that they eat, etc. Then, she did an exercise that involved a map of the world that was painted on the floor. This exercise was to test the group’s knowledge on the population of the world, the areas of which are most inhabited, and of those areas how balanced is population vs. consumption. It was startling to learn how many people inhabit some areas of the world and consume so little, when the United States makes up less than six percent of the entire population of the world and we consume more than areas that are more than double our population.
After the discussion and exercises, we took the group on a tour of the Global Village, or GV. The global village consists of life-size models of homes that exist in the world and are, at best, middle-class by world standards (extreme poverty by US standards).
First on the tour is Guatemala. This is one house on a family farm. It houses around four or five people. There is a garden, well water and an indoor stove/fireplace. This house is middle-upper class by world standards:
On down the trail passed the lake is Thailand. The houses, built mainly from bamboo and timber, are raised off of the ground to protect the families from the severe flooding from the monsoon season:
Then, on down the trail about a football field length away, we stop at a “Squat Toilet” aka “Turkish Toilet:”
Then, we start to loop around the lake, not far from the Squat Toilet is a Zambian hut:
Over the hill from Zambia is the refugee camp:
From there, we walk back into the wilderness, up the hill to a lower-class Appalachian home which is said is a Kentucky home, but I have seen similar in the “Hollers” of West Virginia, not too far from where I grew up. This house has a television, but the inhabitants have been unable to make payments on there utility bills. So, there is no electricity or running water. The occupants have one pin of chickens and one of rabbits.
The last village is the Urban Slums, which is styled after the way that 1/7 of the total population of the world lives. These are makeshift housing on the outskirts of large cities. The inhabitants in these areas moved to the urban areas in search of employment, but due to the inability to find work and their exhausted resources (money), they have been forced to make camp outside of the city and beg, borrow and steal to survive.
We walk the group back to the Global Village Barn, where we started. Then, there is a lottery; each member of the group draws a number. Each of the numbers is different, but a chart that was created according to group size, allocates each group member to a specific subgroup. This church group was a small group. So, they were divided into two subgroups; one was going to spend the night in Guatemala and the other the Urban Slums.
The Guatemalan group received a basket with the supplies and food that a middle-class family in Guatemala would receive; a modest portion of rice, eggs, and one onion while the Urban Slums would only receive 1/3 of a cup of rice per person. Guatemala would have all wood and water rights. That means that Guatemala has unlimited access to water and would receive a bag of wood and kindling and the Urban Slums group would have to beg, barter or steal from Guatemala to have water or fire.
One member from each group was selected by a random number to be pregnant. The pregnant group members would have to wear an apron with a water balloon in it for the entire duration of the groups’ Global Village experience. The balloons had to be on that person at all times and not be damaged or busted when they returned to be debriefed the next morning.
Also, there was another person selected from each group who would receive a “Crisis Card.” Before we, the facilitators, released the groups into the Global Village, these holders of the Crisis Cards had to make an important decision based on their particular crisis.
In Guatemala, the Crisis Card holder hurts their leg and needs medical treatment, but the hospital is a distant journey that will cost a lot of money. The Guatemalan Crisis Card holder can either choose to give up half of their group’s food to pay for the journey to the hospital, or wear a splint tied around their leg for the night.
In the Urban Slums, the Crisis Card holder has contracted a virus and is given the option to give up half their food to be treated or be bed-ridden for the night with another member of the group having to constantly stay by their side.
Both Crisis Card holders chose not to deprive their families of food and supplies; Guatemala opting to wear the splint and the Slums to remain bed-ridden.
We wished them luck, gave them their supplies and sent them on their way. They were told that a basket containing food that they would use to prepare breakfast in the morning would be set out for them in the Global Village Barn and would be available to them at 7AM; we would meet them back in the Barn at 8AM for their debriefing.
The Villagers set off and Olivia, Joshua and I cleaned up the barn and went back to our respective dwellings.
I went home to Valley View and Jacob came by to pick me up for his cookout that he was having at his place just down the street from the Ranch. Once we got to his place, I prepared the grill while he went to play a game of soccer with some of the other Heifer Staff member and some volunteers.
By the time Jacob returned and the guests showed-up, I had a blazing grill full of charcoal that was so hot that it almost instantly burned every piece of meat that was laid on it. Perhaps I used too many charcoals.
I met a lot more people at the cookout and saw some of the familiar faces that I had met earlier in the day or the evening before when I arrived. The party wrapped-up around 11PM (as I would learn most parties do on weekdays) because most everyone had to get up early for work- some as early as 6AM.
I too went home, set my alarm, checked my email, popped an Ambien and anticipated the more, wondering what had become of the Global Villagers.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Map of Heifer Ranch
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
The Journey to Heifer Ranch
A couple of weeks ago, I had expressed my concern that I would not be able to make it to training by the first day (May 18, 2009) because my grandfather, in West Virginia, who had taken ill and recently passed-away. I had left West Virginia a couple of months ago to take care of him and be with my family. I left my schedule open to be where I was needed. Because of the circumstance I did not think I would be able to adhere to my commitment to the Heifer International summer Education Volunteer program.
After my grandfather passed away, I emailed Jasmine Hardy, the Volunteer Administrative Assistant at Heifer Ranch, and informed her of my circumstances. I expressed my concern that the time between my grandfather passing and the first day of the volunteer program didn’t leaver much time for me to return to LA to pack my things.
After exchanging email messages, Jasmine called me and we discussed the circumstances. She told me that she would present my situation to Heifer and get back to me and tell me if I was permitted to start the program two weeks late.
I flew back to LA, spending time with my girlfriend, Kristina, who drove with me from LA to Lake Isabella, CA to help me pack-up my things. I went back and packed my things as if I were heading to Heifer Ranch, though I did not know what the decision of Heifer would be, but I knew whatever happened, things would work out the way they were supposed to – they always do.
A few days after I arrived in California, I received an email and a phone message from Jasmine at Heifer informing me that I was to report to Heifer Ranch on the morning of Monday, June 1st. Immediately, I got on Orbitz.com and made my flight arrangements to fly out on May 31st.
When my flight had landed, I had been over 48 hours without any real sleep. Sure, I had slept on the planes, but that can not ever be counted as real sleep unless you are riding first class – given you have not had 2 layovers on a 2,000 mile trip. Even before I deplaned, I was already sweating from the tremendous heat and humidity of the Arkansas summer. I would later learn that it was not expected to get much cooler for the rest of my visit. In Florida, where I went to college, I had grown used to extreme heat and humidity, but since I moved to California, I had grown accustomed to (and even spoiled by) the dry desert air. I am malleable and knew that the heat would not be of my greatest challenges that lay before me in the coming months.
When I landed in Little Rock, I deplaned and called Jacob, who Jasmine told me would be picking me up, as I made my way to Baggage Claim. When I got to Baggage Claim, I inspected my bags (mainly my photo and video gear) to see if everything was present and not broken. Everything seemed to be A-OK – except for the appearance that everything had been rummaged through by TSA (which is to be expected when you stuff your bags full of external hard drives (which I’m sure look suspicious when viewed through the x-ray scan. So, with my bags in hand, I marched out into the late afternoon sun to wait for Jacob who texted me that he would be arriving shortly.
Jacob Sheatsley is the Project Education Coordinator at “the Ranch” and a good friend of mine who I have known for over twenty years since the days of Maxwell Hill Elementary School all the way through the whole public school adventure until we graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1999. From there he went off to college at Appalachian University in North Carolina, and I moved to Huntington, WV to study at Marshall University then onto Orlando, Florida to study film at Full Sail University. As it usually does, time and distance came between our friendship, but we would touch base periodically and see each other back in our hometown of Beckley over the holidays and always could jump right in to conversation like we hadn’t missed a beat.
Several years ago, over the holidays, Jacob had told me about Heifer and the work that he was doing there. I think, at the time, he was a volunteer. The things that he told me about the program and about Heifer and the work that they did to end world hunger and care for the environment was inspiring. It was not until a few years ago that I was browsing the Internet when I came across the Heifer website.
After I graduated from Full Sail I took nearly a year off before starting graduate school, the online Entertainment Business Master’s Program at my alma mater. The program requires that you do one year of volunteer work with a non-profit organization. I started thinking about what my thesis would be and decided to create a business plan for a media company that provides video and Internet marketing solutions for Non-Profits whose goals are social advocacy and positive environmental change. Once I wrote the first draft of my business plan, it was time to research non-profits that shared my goals of social and environmental betterment; I thought of Heifer International.
I studied Heifer’s website, read about the history of the organization, about the founder, Dan West and his vision and ambition to end world hunger by taking literal the old proverb about teaching someone to fish as opposed to just giving them one. Instead of fish, he used cows, heifers (as well as other livestock) purchased and raised through donation dollars and exported the livestock to families in need, and educating those families on how to live completely sustainable lives. These families in turn were encourage to “Pass the gift” by donating the offspring of their animal to other families in need, in order to ‘pay it forward’ and create an infection of goodwill that could save the world.
I fell in love with the ideals and convictions of the Heifer organization and was eager to find out how I could get involved, volunteer and learn about the inner workings of this wonderful group.
At the time I was doing all of this research and planning, I was preparing to head back to my hometown of Beckley, West Virginia for the holidays. I knew that I would be seeing my old friend Jacob, and I was looking forward to talking to him and learning more about Heifer, the work that they do and how I could get involved.
Over the holidays, I met up with Jacob at his parents’ house for their family Christmas party and we talked about, among other things, Heifer and the volunteer program. I told him about my interest in coming out to the ranch. He answered some questions that I had and invited me to come and see the ranch for myself.
As fate would have it, I went to Florida after New Years to spend some time with my girlfriend, Kristina. She was in the process of moving out to Los Angeles and had booked her flight for the first week of February. She had planned on leaving her car behind and making arrangements to get it at a later time. I offered to drive her car for her from Orlando to Los Angeles to save her from having to be without her vehicle, save me some money on a plane ticket (gas prices had finally fallen to the point that it was actually more economical to drive her Honda Civic across country and not fly) and the trip would give me the opportunity to make a slight detour to Perryville, Arkansas to visit my friend and see Heifer Ranch for myself.
During my five-day journey cross-country, I stopped in Perryville, visited Jacob for the evening and got up in the morning and met him at the Ranch and he took me on a brief tour of the grounds before I loaded back up in the car and made my journey back to LA. I already knew that I wanted to volunteer and my short visit to Arkansas and to Heifer Ranch only furthered my eagerness to apply.
On the drive from Arkansas to Los Angeles, I contacted my school, informed them of my plans and drafted a letter of intent. I got online and filled out an application on the Heifer website and waited to hear back from someone.
It wasn’t long before Jasmine had contacted me and set an appointment for her to interview me via phone. A couple of weeks later, she contacted me and conducted the interview which was a series of questions about me, my history and why I wanted to volunteer at Heifer. I also had to fax her a release for Heifer to run a criminal background check on me. She thanked me for my interest and told me that she would be getting back with me to notify me of the status of my application.
I wanted to get started as soon as possible. There are two volunteer terms for the volunteer program; one in the spring and the other in the summer. There is also an option to volunteer for an entire year. A year of service qualifies the participant to receive a monetary award from Americorp, a federally funded program that rewards volunteers by giving them money to go towards their school tuition. The current award from Americorp for a year of service is around $6,000 (the Obama administration is currently working to pass legislation to increase that amount).
I got back to LA and started working on the post-production on a hip-hop video that had recently been shot by a colleague. My mother and step-dad came to visit me for a weekend, and then shortly after they left, I drove to pick up Kristina at the airport. Kristina and I spent a few weeks with each other (the longest we had been together since I had moved from Central Florida in April of last year) and then I got a phone call from my mother that my grandfather was in the hospital and dying. Three days later, I hopped on a plane to West Virginia and headed home to be with my family. I would stay there for nearly three months, helping my family and staying most nights watching my grandfather at the hospice house so that my mother and grandmother could get some rest. Sadly, my grandfather passed away in late April.
While I was in West Virginia, I was contacted by Jasmine who informed me that I had been accepted into the summer volunteer program. I was excited and eagerly accepted the invitation though I had increasing concerns that there would be a conflict of schedule because I had very little time to get back to LA and pack for the summer. Plus, I was worried that about my grandmother and leaving her alone so soon after the passing of my grandfather. Nevertheless, I boarded a plane mid-May and headed back to California to pack my gear for Arkansas.
Once I had got back to LA, I realized that there was no way that I was going to be able to make it to Arkansas by the start date. In my initial blog post, I had stated my plan to take a train from LA to Arkansas. I quickly had to veto that because that was 4 days of travel; 4 days that I could not spare. I called Jasmine and informed her of my predicament and told her that I could not foresee that I would be able to make it to the ranch before June 1st. She told me that she would get back with me. A few days later, she got back with me and gave me the good news; I had been granted permission to come late. I was going to miss the two-week training period, which would be vital, imperative to my work as an education volunteer. I knew I would have to work hard to catch-up, but it was a challenge that I was eager to step up to.
So, back to the airport in Little Rock… Jacob picks me up, helps me load my things into his Volkswagen and he asks me if I am hungry; I always am. He said that because it was a Sunday, it would be difficult to find a place that would be open. Apparently, Arkansas is a place that takes their Sabbath Day very seriously. However, we were able to find a quaint little pizza place that served an amazing little Greek pie and dollar cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon.
Over our meal, we caught up, chatted about everything from The Ranch, his work on ecological awareness, his travels abroad to my goals, intentions and aspirations as a volunteer at Heifer. After our meal, we made the 45-minute drive from Little Rock to Perryville, Heifer Ranch, and my room at the Volunteer House, Valley View, where I would lay my head every night.
When I arrived at Valley View, I was greeted by about 15 housemates whom I will be sharing the Heifer experience with for the next few months. “Oh, so you are Sean. We were wondering if you were going to ever show-up!” seemed to be the most common greeting.
I met my roommate, Drew, who works in maintenance and over-sees the repairs and issuing of all of the community bicycles on the ranch- yesterday I put myself on a waiting list for a bike so I can more easily get around the 1,500 acres that will be my home for the summer.
After I got partially unpacked, I walked across the gravel road and behind the community building across from the Valley View house to where I was told there was a campfire and people congregating. I sat down at the fire and met several more volunteers; Chance (Maintenance), Becca, Forrest, and Alex (a German exchange who had just gotten back from New York and was featured on the Late Show with Jimmy Fallon).
After hanging-out for a little while, I went back into Valley View where I met some more of my housemates; Brandy and Ashley (who stay on the other side of the common area adjacent to my room), Mary,Ari, and several others whom to I apologize, I am still trying to learn your names.
Severely sleep deprived, jet-lagged, and needing to wake up early the next morning (Monday) to meet Jasmine to start my orientation, I popped an ambien and crashed in my twin bed – after Brandy helped me find some sheets for my bed and a towel for a much needed shower.
Monday, April 13, 2009
A Little Over a Month Before I Leave for "The Ranch"
On May 15th, I will board a train in Los Angeles, California and set out on a 54 hour journey to Little Rock Arkansas. From there, I will catch a ride an hour and a half away, to a little place called Perryville. From May 18th until August 15th, I will live and work as a resident volunteer on the 1,500 acres that is Heifer International's Learning Center or "Heifer Ranch."
Heifer International is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1944 by Dan West, with the goals of “Ending Hunger and Caring for the Earth.”
Dan West served as a relief worker, feeding hungry children during the Spanish Civil War
The rations of milk that he was giving out was not enough to fulfill the profound need of the people who were dying off in large numbers due to starvation. Dan West said, "These children don't need a cup, they need a cow!"
With that in mind, West Returned home to form Heifers for Relief, whose goal was to provide the starving families with livestock and training to enable impoverished people to lead sustainable and dignified lives.
In 1944, West started donating heifers to needy families, who would in turn agree to donate the offspring of the donated cow to another needy family, thus “pass[ing] on the gift” so that the gift of food is never ending. The goal of Heifer International is much like the old proverb; Give a person a fish, them for a day. Teach a person to fish, they can feed their self for a lifetime.
Heifer International's Headquarters is located in Little Rock, AK and has provided aid to families in need in over 120 Countries for almost 60 years.
As a summer resident volunteer, I will "help carry out Heifer's mission by facilitating educational programs, assisting with farm operations, hosting drop-in guests and filling vital administrative roles."
It is going to be a huge adjustment going from the hustle and bustle of Hollywood to rural Perryville, Arkansas and the farm life on Heifer Ranch, but it is an experience that I am very much looking forward to and believe it will be an educational and spiritual experience of a lifetime.
While there, I will keep a daily journal, that I will publish to my blog every night with photos and videos of my experiences on the ranch and more information about Heifer International and the work that they do both domestically and abroad.
Cheers.
Heifer International is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1944 by Dan West, with the goals of “Ending Hunger and Caring for the Earth.”
Dan West served as a relief worker, feeding hungry children during the Spanish Civil War
The rations of milk that he was giving out was not enough to fulfill the profound need of the people who were dying off in large numbers due to starvation. Dan West said, "These children don't need a cup, they need a cow!"
With that in mind, West Returned home to form Heifers for Relief, whose goal was to provide the starving families with livestock and training to enable impoverished people to lead sustainable and dignified lives.
In 1944, West started donating heifers to needy families, who would in turn agree to donate the offspring of the donated cow to another needy family, thus “pass[ing] on the gift” so that the gift of food is never ending. The goal of Heifer International is much like the old proverb; Give a person a fish, them for a day. Teach a person to fish, they can feed their self for a lifetime.
Heifer International's Headquarters is located in Little Rock, AK and has provided aid to families in need in over 120 Countries for almost 60 years.
As a summer resident volunteer, I will "help carry out Heifer's mission by facilitating educational programs, assisting with farm operations, hosting drop-in guests and filling vital administrative roles."
It is going to be a huge adjustment going from the hustle and bustle of Hollywood to rural Perryville, Arkansas and the farm life on Heifer Ranch, but it is an experience that I am very much looking forward to and believe it will be an educational and spiritual experience of a lifetime.
While there, I will keep a daily journal, that I will publish to my blog every night with photos and videos of my experiences on the ranch and more information about Heifer International and the work that they do both domestically and abroad.
Cheers.
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