Global Village

So a lot has happened since I last wrote. We’ve had more orientation everyday which has given us the opportunity to get to known each other better. We have a few new volunteers--Neil from California, Lauren from New Jersey and Ilana from Jerusalem.
        Thursday afternoon we took a tour of the Global Village before splitting into villages and “families” for the night. It is an incredible neighborhood of structures they’ve built--all representing the different countries Heifer supports. Each house had its own story of a family that was doing whatever they could just to survive. Yet each village also had signs of hope partially in thanks to Heifer (animals, zero-grazing pens, composting toilets, water pumps, gardens, and a tank to collect the Methane gas from pig droppings for cooking). These houses are examples that self-sufficiency is quite possible with the proper tools and education.
        After globe-trotting through Arkansas we were selected through a lottery to form families in each of the villages for the night. One member of each group was required to represent a pregnant mother by wearing an apron with a water balloon inside. Another member of each group received a card describing their disease or physical disability that the group would have to work around. A member of my family received typhoid and in order to cure her we had to buy fresh water (in reality that meant some of our food was taken away to symbolize our loss of resources to pay for the clean water). In the end this left us with only 2 cups of rice for nine people.
        My family was sent to live in the “Urban Slums”; a run-down village created out of scrap metal, cardboard and dirt. As it began to get dark, we wondered how we’d barter for water and firewood from the soul families that had received the precious supplies. Luckily for us, every other group was in the same position and we finally decided to pool all our resources and cook together. It was a hop, skip and a jump through Guatemala and then to Thailand where we gathered everything we had and made a vegetable soup, rice and corn patties. After dinner we all sang along with Neil’s mandolin and Samuel from Haiti sang a few hits in Creole. I hardly slept that night due to the mosquitoes which really added to the whole Thai experience.
        After debriefing our experiences the next day, we headed to the high challenge course where we climbed a 30 ft wall, traversed across different courses in the air and ended with a zip line about 100 ft long. Trying to complete the entire course on little-to-no sleep made it extra challenging.
        I’m really enjoying myself, getting to know everyone at the ranch. Hope you’ll all get to come visit someday--it’s quite incredible!