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.