A few weeks ago, I shared a story of a Passing on the Gift® celebration held by the group Nueva Amanecer (New Dawn) in Tontolo, Honduras, and included some video of the second of two POG ceremonies.
I want to share one more video of the celebration in Tontolo, this time of the first POG ceremony. The woman on the left is receiving 20 chickens and a rooster from the woman in the middle. What really impacted me about this moment is that you can see the impact of Passing on the Gift on the recipient’s face. She can hardly believe that this moment has finally arrived, and she is overcome with emotion.
As mentioned in the previous post, the Nueva Amanecer group is part of “Sustainable Food Systems in Copan and Lempira,” a Heifer umbrella project that involves 2,058 families in 43 communities in western Honduras. The project is one of the three projects that you can help fund through the Honduras umbrella project match. Any gift you give will be doubled by an anonymous donor and will help thousands of families improve their nutrition and income!
This moment is really special because the chickens represent a lot of possibilities. The process with Heifer even before the chickens has obviously been a long time in the making so now she has something concrete that she can work hard with to improve her situation and that of others. It is the beginning of the beginning.
I am curious how else these chickens could help the recipients. Outside of food from the eggs and meat the benefits may even extend into down or manure–further promoting nutrition..and comfort.
You can see the pride in all of the faces of the women involved. The woman who is passing on the gift is seeing how her hard work has paid off and how she is able to help someone else just as she was helped. The woman who is receiving the gift is not only getting chickens, but she is also getting a fresh start and a chance to improve her life.
This really puts our lives into perspective. I see many of my peers not even get this happy over a new phone or computer. Chickens seem so basic- they are a staple to our diets without many of us even thinking about it. However, these chickens are a life-changing opportunity to the people receiving them.
It seems like a lot of doors open as soon as someone receives an animal. I think it is remarkable the impact one animal can make on a person's life. The economic opportunities a person gains are amazing.
So cool to see the passing of the gift. It would be interesting to know more about the events leading up to this ceremony, how long Nueva Amanecer has been working with Heifer and the effort it took to get to this occasion.
This is really great. I am not sure that there is an equivalent process or even tradition in United States' culture. I think that the Heifer model provides many opportunities for already developed countries to learn how to enable community and social capacity.