Category Archives: World Ark

Milk Gone Bad?

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We all know the best way to tell if your expired milk has really soured is to open up the cap and take a not-so-large whiff.  But what if the carton changed color when it spoiled, saving your nose from sniffing rotten milk?  We may not be too far from that.

A recent article posted on Slate.com and included in their special food issue lays out the cutting edge technology that we can expect to see in food packaging. Don’t spend much time thinking about cutting edge food packaging technology?  Me, either, but it’s pretty cool…and kind of scary.

Take, for example, a sensor that can detect when protein begins breaking down that can be found on some seafood packages. Yep. That exists.  Or a box of grapefruit juice that actively works to make the juice not as bitter, using nanoparticles.  Here’s an excerpt from the article that describes the process:

A team of scientists led by Dr. Joseph Hotchkiss, director of the School of Packaging at Michigan State University, has been trying to use intelligent boxing to improve the taste of grapefruit juice. They’ve “impregnated” the polymers on the inside of grapefruit juice cartons with enzymes that unravel bitter citrus compounds. Basically, these enzymes saw sugar molecules off of the compounds, allowing them to float freely (and sweetly) in the liquid. But the enzymes themselves remain embedded in the carton’s inner lining, so they can’t end up in the newly sugary juice.

If you’re somewhat alarmed, I was too. Nanoparticles in my juice? But here’s the thing, this new kind of packaging doesn’t have to be added directly to the product in order to work.  Or so they say.

The article does mention that the FDA  doesn’t yet categorize nanoparticles as dangerous, but does indicate that they affect the “identity” of foods.

So what do you think?  Would you prefer a label that could talk to you, or do you prefer reading the nutrition information?

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The 5 B’s

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I’m wishing there had been a bit more buzz about this being designated Pollinator Week by the U.S. Senate. Here it is already Thursday, leaving just three more days to officially geek out about bees and such until Pollinator Week, always the last week in June, rolls around again in 2013.

There’s plenty to geek out about. The worrisome decline in bee populations over the past few years is putting our food supply at risk. After all, every third bite or sip we take is dependent on pollinators. Butterflies, bats, birds and beetles are pollinators too, but bees do most of the work. There’s actually more than the five B’s, since small mammals, moths and wasps pollinate, too.

Still, we can be hopeful that pollinator-dependent food crops (coffee, chocolate, melons, apples, pears, peaches, vanilla, etc.–pretty much everything) will make it. Hives of entomologists are working on the mysterious colony collapse disorder, the term used to describe the unexplained disappearance of an alarming number of honeybees in North America and Europe. And perhaps it’s a good sign that New York City is suddenly finding itself with more bees than it can handle.

Factoids abound at the Pollinator Partnership website, which is up year-round. The niftiest feature is a tool that lets you enter your zip code to find out what you should plant in your yard to promote pollinator health.

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Help Megan Move Mountains in Haiti with Colorado Climb

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Megan Bean is an 11-year-old fundraising dynamo. Her father is Rob Bean, head honcho for The Big Moo Canoe for Heifer International. He just organized and led a marathon canoe trip in May to raise money for Heifer Haiti’s REACH program. Stay tuned for more about the Bean family in an upcoming issue of Heifer’s World Ark magazine.

Together they’ve raised more than $25,000 in donations. Dad describes Megan as a “fireball of energy and creativity” and said she has been an integral part of Big Moo Canoe since the first efforts back in 2007. “She was adamant to do something of her own this year and thought a hike might be a fun way to raise awareness for Heifer.”

In just a few weeks, Megan will hike Mount Grays and Mount Torreys in Colorado, two 14,000-footers. She plans to take the adventure in early August and will choose the actual day based on weather forecasts for the area.

World Ark: Your fundraising project is very ambitions for an 11-year old, what inspires you to work so hard to help others? 

Megan: Well, it’s pretty simple. I have been raised in an environment where I learned to give generously and care for others graciously. I have wanted to do a 14-er for a while. I really love camping and hiking, and I had heard lots of stories from my parents’ climbing mountains and wanted to make my own project. I had heard a lot about Haiti’s disaster, and a little, but just enough, about Heifer’s REACH program through my dad’s project. I decided to turn my ambition to the aid of others. In the future, I would like to have a Horsetooth for Haiti climb where people could come to the base of Horsetooth Rock, get outside, and hike up the mountain with me in support of Heifer. But I’ll decide that next year. (Horsetooth Rock is just outside of Fort Collins).

Who do you want to help with your fundraising adventure?

My project will help Haiti. I hope to help small towns where aid is less often sent. This might sound a little weird, but I was watching “Oprah’s Next Chapter” and she was with Sean Penn in Haiti. Granted, I’m not sure who he is, but it showed how hard peoples’ lives were even two years later. I hope to help make sustainable living for the people of Haiti so life can get back to maybe a little better than normal. One of my favorite quotes is “Your life is a message, make sure it’s inspiring.”

Please help Megan in her efforts to help the people of Haiti through Heifer gifts of livestock and training. Go to her home page to donate now. We’ll keep you posted here on when she summits and how much she’s raised. Or, follow updates on The Big Moo Canoe’s Facebook page.

 

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Can We Wait Until 2030 to See Poverty Reduced?

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I saw an Associated Press blurb on Monday that piqued my interest. Amidst the varying news reports (mentioned by Brooke here) that climate change and drought are raising the world’s food prices, and the others pointing to rising poverty and hunger rates in the United States, the National Intelligence Council says that world poverty rates could be reduced by half by 2030.

The AP article was interesting to me on a couple of levels. First, the NIC pointed to a rising middle class in the growing economies in India, Vietnam and Indonesia as the driving force behind the poverty reduction; and, second because 2030 is less than two decades from now, which doesn’t really seem all that far off.

Photo taken from the Nations Online Project

But can we, or better, should we, wait until 2030 to see those numbers drop that dramatically?  I don’t think so. Sure the article is great news, and, yes, Heifer already works in both India and Vietnam, helping turn small farmers into small businessmen and women. Plus the article says that poverty reduction in these economies will continue despite economic upheaval, too. Even better!

So if what Christopher Kojm said on Saturday is right, that, “several hundred million people, armed with the resources and education will produce new technology to meet demands for food, water and energy,” don’t you think we can help them along?

I do. Heifer is already working to help create this burgeoning population of people.  And we’re working harder and faster than ever before in areas that need it most—including the United States. Why don’t you help us?

 

 

 

 

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Coming To A Mailbox Near You

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It’s that time again. The latest edition of World Ark should be hitting mailboxes around the country.

The August issue is chock-full of interesting facts and figures, gorgeous photography and an article all about grasscutters. Don’t know what a grasscutter is? Check out the story about the new livestock that is making farmers in Ghana very successful.

Or dive into one of our Heifergraphics on water usage. You might be surprised to know that it takes A LOT more water to brew a gallon of coffee than it does to brew a gallon of tea, for example.

You can also visit the highlands of Peru through this issue. Writer Brooke Edwards tells how Heifer has helped diversify the alpaca population in the Andean mountains aided by some stunning photography by Dave Anderson.

So be on the lookout for your copy. If you don’t get World Ark in the mail, never fear! Our online page-turner edition can be accessed with the click of your mouse.

Happy reading!

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Poverty in the U.S.: The Stories You Don’t Hear

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The home page for Bus 52 where you can keep track of where the bus is going and view the videos of where they've been.

It’s easy to become mired in hunger and poverty statistics. As people the world over struggle with economic stagnation, and more and more people slip below the poverty line, it’s not often that stories of hope and happiness make the airwaves. So I was particularly struck by a story I saw on The Huffington Post last week which highlighted the work of Bus 52. 

Bus 52 is a documentary film project led by five young people who are traveling the United States on a converted school bus. Their aim is to tell the stories of people and/or organizations who are having a positive impact in their communities. While they don’t focus solely on what’s being done to combat hunger here at home, the article in the Huffington Post focused on that subject in particular. And I have to say, it was nice to hear some positives for a change.

Take the Generous Garden Project in South Carolina, for example. Local Bo Cable started an organic garden for the folks of Greenville after he saw a need in the area and after noticing that food banks had a dearth of fresh vegetables. “We just give it away,” Cable says in the Bus 52 video. “No questions asked.”

There are a number of other projects highlighted like the free cafe for the needy run by student volunteers at The University of Kansas, or the urban farming project run by Nat Turner in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans. All admirable, and all reminiscent of how Heifer is working to help achieve food security and grow agricultural jobs through our Seeds of Change initiative.

So take a minute to remind yourself that there’s a need right here at home, and another to be inspired by all the things that are being done in communities just like yours.

Is there a happy story in your community that maybe we don’t know about? Tell us!

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That Drive-Thru Isn’t Just Bad for Your Waistline

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A new study from the University of California at Riverside has even more bad news about the effects that swinging by your favorite fast-food chain to gobble up a delicious burger could have. And it’s not what you might think.

Photo credit mag3737

The study found that commercial char-broilers emit as much pollution cooking just one hamburger as an 18-wheel diesel engine truck driving 143-miles on the freeway. That seems like a lot. The crazy part is, it doesn’t really matter what the burger is made of—it all has to do with the device cooking them. Veggie patties on a commercial char-broiler are just as bad.

But that’s no reason to stop grilling up your favorite patty—of any variety—in your backyard. The study also said that grilling releases fewer particulates into the air than charbroiling.

What do you think? Can you give up the drive-thru for the sake of our air quality?

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It’s That Time Again

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When the newest edition of World Ark will be appearing in mailboxes around the country. Our special Holiday issue includes three country features in addition to Heifer’s Most Important Gift Catalog in the World.

Women’s empowerment is highlighted in two stories this issue. Puja Singh, Heifer Nepal’s communications and networking officer, takes a look at how projects in Bangladesh are helping women find opportunities that were once denied to them. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton also weighs in on why women are key to successful development work in an expanded Asked and Answered interview.

Our Managing Editor, Donna Stokes, also writes about the USAID | Yaajeende project in Senegal, where participants received sheep as part of what will become Heifer’s largest animal distribution ever. Photographer Olivier Asselin illustrates the essay with gorgeous photos from “The Day the Sheep Came.”

The third feature story in the issue addresses habitat conservation in Malawi. Austin Bailey traveled to the project near Kasungu National Park to see a Heifer project that provides families with sustainable sources of animal protein, fuel and savings, so that they no longer need to illegally hunt in the park for food.

And if any of our faithful readers remember Ryan Bell from last year’s Holiday issue, well, he’s back. After a wildly successful campaign in which he raised $8,000 for Heifer, Ryan has launched a new effort to raise $25,000 for us. Ryan recently underwent a few surgeries to help lengthen his jaw bone and was so inspired by his own physical transformations that he wants to give his own “Gift of Transformation” to those in need, no matter how long it takes for him to raise the money.

So get out and check your mail, or check back soon at www.heifer.org/worldark for the online edition of the magazine. Happy reading!

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Want Banana Chips With That?

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Imagine this: It’s lunch time, and you take a bite out of your juicy, delicious burger. You reach into the drive-thru bag for some of those salty, crunchy-on-the-outside, soft-on-the-inside-french fries, but come up instead with…banana chips?

A Heifer farmer in Ecuador shows off part of his banana crop.

It could happen. But is our favorite salty side dish endangered?  Not exactly, but climate scientists are warning that as the planet’s temperatures increase, potatoes, which prefer cooler climates to grow in, might be edged out by warmer temperature crops like those from the banana family, especially in developing countries.

The scientists behind the news were asked to examine what effects a warming climate would have on the worlds most important agricultural commodities. The found that people in the developing world will likely have to adapt what they eat as crops like potatoes, but also, rice, corn and wheat—the main source of calories for many families who struggle to find enough to eat—suffer from the warmer temperatures and a decrease in land available to cultivate them.

Dr. Philip Thornton, who helped author the report, said that bananas and plantains may be a good substitute for potatoes in certain locations. “It’s not necessarily a silver bullet, but there may be places where as temperatures increase, bananas might be one option that small-holders could start to look at,” he said. 

It’s happened before, said Bruce Campbell, program director of the Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security research group. He noted the adoption by Africans to eating rice, which wasn’t typical there just a few decades ago. Heifer has also helped in similar situations, providing camels to the Maasai people who lost their cattle to drought.

It may not be ideal, but it’s just one way people will have to cope with a changing world.

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Giving Independence

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It’s hard not to be pleasantly overwhelmed by the kindness of others when you’re in my business. For each issue of World Ark, I get to write about donors who love Heifer’s mission so much that they go to great lengths to provide a gift of livestock to the families in need all around the world.

Meghan and Ryan Bell in June 2012

But one donor in particular has really inspired me, and I find it a true pleasure to have gotten to know him and his family over the past couple of years.

Ryan Bell was born with Treacher Collins Syndrome, a disorder that causes malformations of the face. The 11-year-old from Wallingford, Conn., has endured 37 surgeries, and just last week had a tracheotomy—a device which helped him breathe—removed. But Ryan knows his birth defect is nothing compared to what some families face.

An animal lover, Ryan convinced his parents in 2009 that their annual giving should go to Heifer International, a nonprofit dedicated to ending hunger and poverty by providing gifts of livestock and training to families in need around the world. In two short years Ryan  raised nearly $9,400 for the charity. We profiled Ryan and his little sister, Meghan, in last year’s Holiday edition of the magazine when they were hoping to raise $850 for a camel.

Ryan before the surgery to lengthen his jaw (left) and after. He has since had his tracheotomy removed.

Well, Heifer donors came through for Ryan and Meghan, and the pair raised more than $8,600 last year. But this year, Ryan has upped his goal. Inspired by a surgery that helped lengthen his jaw and open his airway, Ryan has become set on raising $25,000, or Heifer’s “Gift of Transformation.”

I’ll let Ryan tell the rest, but you can read his whole story and his quest to raise the Gift of Transformation in the most recent edition of World Ark:

“I was excited when I saw the Gift of Transformation in the gift catalog because it reminds me of the transformation that I went through this year. I wasn’t excited to do this surgery and I wouldn’t have chosen it for myself. The doctor took my underdeveloped jaw and transformed my airway. It was a transformation for me,” Ryan said.

That transformation serves as his inspiration, he said.

“I want to give my own Gift of Transformation to the world. I want to send herds of heifers, llamas, and goats, flocks of sheep and chickens, a pen of pigs, a school of fish and a gaggle of geese to an underdeveloped area of the world and let a transformation take place as the gift is received, utilized and passed along. A Gift of Transformation can affect the lives of people in an entire village or community.”

“I don’t want to rely on a trach to breathe. I don’t want extra medical equipment and it would be great to not need a nurse or parent around at all times. I want my independence, just like these people want to be independent and take care of their own needs. They just need a different kind of assistance for their transformation; they need us.”

To help Ryan meet his goal, go to his Team Heifer page.

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Clinton: Value Women the Same as Men

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While her days as the U.S. Secretary of State are drawing to a close, Hillary Clinton used an opportunity last week to again call attention to the plight women around the world.

Clinton made similar remarks in an interview with World Ark magazine, which we published in our Holiday issue. Long a champion for women, Clinton acknowledged both in her speech last Thursday and in the interview with Heifer, that there are still great strides to be made before women and girls are seen as equals to men.

“As the mother of a daughter, and as someone who believes strongly in the right of every person, male and female, to have the opportunity to live up to his or her God-given potential,” Clinton said, “it pains me so greatly when I travel to places around the world and am received almost as an exception to the rule, where the male leaders meet with me because I am the secretary of state of the United States, overlooking the fact that I also happen to be a woman.”

“We are on the right side of history in this struggle, but there will be many sacrifices and losses until we finally reach a point where daughters are valued as sons, where girls as educated as boys, where women are encouraged and permitted to make their contributions to their families, to their societies just as the men are,” she said.

The speech followed Clinton’s acceptance of a humanitarian award given by Concern Worldwide, an anti-poverty organization.

Clinton’s interview also appears in the first World Ark tablet edition, as well, which you can download from the App Store on your iPad or from the Google Marketplace for your Android tablet.

 

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Ryan Bell Gives Gift of Transformation

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Ryan Bell

Ryan surpassed his $25,000 goal on December 14. He's currently at $27,705. Let's help him get to $30,000.

I have to admit, I was skeptical. When I wrote and blogged about the second of the two stories on Ryan Bell, I fully expected it to take much longer before he reached his goal of raising enough money for a $25,000 Gift of Transformation.

But this remarkable young man proved me wrong. Again. Ryan reached his goal lofty goal late last week, and his Team Heifer page continues to bring in money. I’m truly grateful to have been able to tell his story; to have gotten to know Ryan and his family.

But the best part of all of this? Ryan isn’t done. He’s not satisfied with reaching his goal years before he expected to. When I contacted Ryan’s mom, Laura, last week, she was going to text him at school to tell him the news. He was thrilled, she said. Their conversation went a little like this:

Laura: “It made his day!  So, that afternoon we looked up the new total and I said, ‘You know, at this rate you might be able to add a camel to your goal.’  You know my son by now… He said, ‘Mom, I think we should add an Ark!’”

Right now he’s more than half-way to reaching his NEW goal of adding $5,000 more to his remarkable total. If you want to help Ryan, you can go to his Team Heifer page and donate.

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The Cost of Inequality in India

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The horrifying story of a young woman who died after being brutally gang raped in New Delhi is putting inequality in India in the international spotlight. The murder of 23-year-old Jyoti Singh Pandey is spawning widespread protests and a push for major change to the chauvinism and oppression Indian women face.

The need for change became even clearer this week, as political and spiritual leaders continued to openly blame women for inviting assault by being out in public after dark or wearing skirts. And on Wednesday, a lawyer for three of the five men accused of raping and torturing Jyoti Pandey said Pandey and her companion were solely responsible because they were out together after dark, but were not married. Wow.

The moral argument for addressing gender inequality in India is clear. And surprisingly, the economic argument is clear, as well. A survey of 2,500 women in several Indian cities revealed that nearly 82 percent of the women are leaving work earlier since the infamous Dec. 16 attack to avoid being away from home after sunset. The survey indicates that one in three women in Delhi reduced their work hours or quit their jobs altogether to avoid making themselves vulnerable to attacks. This drop in productivity will only add to India’s poverty.

India is one of the world’s poorest countries when measured by per-capita income, and the country’s failure to invite women into the workplace and support them there is a major factor. Only 35 percent of Indian women work. Just think of the potential forfeited when millions of women opt out of the workplace.

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An Ode to Bolivia

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This monkey named Boris chased chickens and stole sun-dried beef in the village of San Jose del Cavitu, so the locals now keep him as a pet. Boris is well cared for, but will happily pickpocket strangers given the chance. Photo by Jason Woods

I’ll hedge and say that it could have something to do with jet lag, or changes in altitude, or even something in the water, but anytime I visit a new country where Heifer works, auspices of magic immediately distract and I spend much of my trip wondering if, perhaps, I’m hallucinating. It’s never anything ghostly or alarming, just sights so surreal that I’m bewitched, amazed, delighted. Is there such thing as a traveler’s high?

My first surprise, upon landing in Santa Cruz, was the flurry of kisses that didn’t let up the entire 9-day trip. The customary Bolivian greeting between two women or a man and a woman is a kiss on the cheek. It’s a bit awkward at first, but who can quibble with such a charming welcome? Far superior to a handshake, in my book.

Clusters of butterflies gather on roadsides and on trails in the Amazon region of Bolivia. Photo by Jason Woods

And then, consider the capybara. These squee-worthy creatures populate the roadsides and riverbanks of the Bolivian Amazon. The world’s largest rodent, capybaras look like sleek, super-sized guinea pigs and can grow up to 100 pounds. When startled, capybaras emit kazoo-like sounds and immediately belly flop into the nearest body of water. Seriously! Neither I nor my travel companions managed to snap any capybara photos, leaving me to question, in retrospect, whether such an adorable creature actually exists.

We were further enchanted by the pink dolphins splashing in the rivers and the parrots and toucans flying overhead. “Is that an emu?” I asked our driver as we zipped down a muddy road. Turns out it was a rhea, a giant bird native to South America that can reach up to 90 pounds and nearly six feet tall.

Monkeys whooped at us from the trees as we sped by on motorbikes, headed to the shadowy chocolate forest where giant blue butterflies looped through the trees. Did you know that the juicy white fruits inside chocolate pods turn a bright purple when you chew them? I must report, however, that the charm of the chocolate forest ebbed under attack from the clouds of mosquitoes that nibbled our faces and left bloody specks on our clothes. We were also under siege from chiggers, although we didn’t realize that until hours later when we peeled off our socks.

But back to the kisses. The best part of the trip, of course, was the people we met. The purpose of our visit was to chronicle the work and progress of Heifer project participants who are amping up chocolate harvests, protecting the forests and working together to process cocoa at high quality and large quantities to secure good prices. They’re doing a pretty phenomenal job of it. This success story will appear in World Ark magazine later this year, although I may give a few glimpses of their work on this blog before then.

Hilaria Moye of San Jose Del Cavitu displays the skull of a jaguar her husband killed while out hunting. Photo by Jason Woods

Pastel dolphins and snuggly rodents aside, Bolivia is a real place with real challenges. Our visit was limited to the lowlands of Bolivia, where wild fruit is abundant and starchy crops like corn, yucca and rice grow easily, but malnutrition is still a problem because protein and nutrient-rich vegetables are harder to secure. Jobs outside the agriculture sector are rare, so incomes are low to non-existent. Some of the project participants are prosperous enough to live in houses made of bricks, but others live under palm thatch roofs held up by sticks.

The tools Bolivians have to overcome these hardships are a culture built on community and a fruitful ecosystem that can provide ample food and incomes if it’s well protected.

Elizabeth Franco Rodriguez, the president of the chocolate gatherer’s group in northeastern Bolivia’s Jasiaquiri village, is well aware of both her country’s charms and challenges. The hot, hard work of chocolate harvesting isn’t so great when you come home covered in ticks, or when the mosquitoes infect you with dengue fever, she said. But it’s a family event, and she usually brings children, nieces and nephews along. At her home, shared with extended family, everyone stays busy. Chocolate seeds ferment in the sun, children grind yucca to make starch, and Rodriguez’s sister-in-law makes cheese in the breezeway. But that evening, when the work is done, the whole family will go into the nearby town of Baures to spend a couple of hours mingling and resting in the plaza, along with hundreds of others. It’s back to the forest to harvest chocolate again the next day, and the mosquitoes would no doubt be waiting. Rodriguez never complained.

“I just find it so exotic and beautiful,” I told her as we tromped through vines and underbrush. The translator conferred with Rodriguez, and she nodded. “She says yes, it’s that way for us, too.”

Check out this tree trunk covered in thorns. Amazing! Photo by Jason Woods

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Heifers on the Red Carpet

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The awards season is here, and we at Heifer International are beyond delighted to accept this nomination!

This week we learned that we’re finalists for a min Best of the Web Award for work on our brand new tablet edition of World Ark magazine. min, short for Media Industry News, is a resource for magazine and media professionals to learn about the latest trends in the field. Heifer is a finalist in the digital magazine category, competing against the likes of dash magazine, EBONY.com, EE Times, Golf Digest, Golf Magazine, Popular Science and WIRED.

World Ark, the quarterly print magazine for Heifer donors and anyone interested in hunger and poverty, has had an online presence for years. But in December of 2012 we launched an interactive tablet edition for iPads and Androids that incorporates news from the field, facts about development work around the world and ways readers can get involved, along with dynamic, gorgeous design by the talented screen wizards at Bates Creative. This tablet version is free and available on the App Store or on Google Play. The Spring 2013 edition should be available within the week.

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Here’s a sneak peek of the cover of the Spring tablet edition.

Sure, we’re new to this scene and just beginning to get a handle on the amazing new ways we can reach, inform and inspire readers via a tablet format. But we’re hopeful this nomination will help us spread the word about the brilliant and hardworking Heifer project partners that we feature in each issue.

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Typhoon Bopha’s Aftermath

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The last time I posted here I was on my way to the Philippines to interview project participants who had lived through Typhoon Bopha. I told you that I’d be posting about my experiences. But we had no Internet, much less reliable electricity. Since I’ve been back I’ve thought a lot about my trip. It was one of the hardest trips I’ve taken. Below is a short reflection piece on my time there.

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I’ve seen real poverty before; heard the most heart-wrenching stories from war widows in Kosovo and survivors of the Khmer Rouge. I’ve witnessed the excitement that a gift of a goat brings and the incredible act of Passing on the Gift. But what I saw and heard in the Philippines was a level of devastation I’ve never encountered.

I was in Mindanao just six weeks after Typhoon Bopha tore through the island. As we made our way to the project sites it was as if we were inching our way closer and closer to a war zone. Palm fronds, bent permanently in the direction the winds were blowing, gave way to decimated villages.

Not only are the physical scars obvious—homes in pieces, partially rebuilt or gone completely; people living under tarps; men cutting away rotten portions of wood in an effort to save any materials from damaged houses; layers of silt and mud deposited in rice and corn fields; crops dead where they were planted, trees down—there are now psychological and emotional scars.

 

Ester Talledo talks about life after Typhoon Bopha.
Ester Talledo talks about life after Typhoon Bopha.

 

 I spoke to parents who say their children are afraid of the slightest winds, with mothers who have nothing to feed their families, and with fathers who are out of work because of factory closings or farm damage.

The typhoon ripped away hopes along with homes and livelihoods. All the Heifer beneficiaries here wanted was to provide their children with a life better than the one they had known. But with no food, no income and no job opportunities, it’s only a matter of time before kids will have to drop out of school.

What I learned in my 10 days there was the meaning of urgency. Typhoon Bopha was a minor blip on the Western world’s radar. But these people need help and they need it now. They have no food and won’t until the rice is harvested in the next few weeks.

In my five years with Heifer I’ve learned that each trip to the field leaves an indelible mark, and that each also comes with its own perils of the heart. I’ve been home from the Philippines for three weeks now, and though the images of crippled palms and makeshift homes are as clear as the day I was there, it’s the words of Ester Talledo that will remain with me forever: “While we’re alive there’s still hope. We will stay strong.”

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Heifer’s Disaster Rehabilitation Fund is reserved for to help Heifer participants who are victimes of events like Typhoon Bopha. Please give if you can. 

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Water-logged: A Water Use Infographic

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Water is a vital resource for agriculture, sanitation and for all human existence. Yet 780 million people do not have access to clean water. In recognition of World Water Day on March 22, Heifer International is highlighting the need for those struggling to emerge from poverty to have reliable access to water.

If you already turn the faucet off while you brush your teeth, thanks. Every little bit counts when it comes to respecting and preserving our planet’s supply of clean water. But there are plenty of other choices we all make each day about what we eat, buy and wear that affect our water supply even more.

Graphic by John Houser

This World Water Day, take a moment to consider everything that water makes possible. Tell us in the comments what steps you have taken to make sure there’s enough clean water for everyone.

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Young Heifer Fundraiser Nominated for National Scholarship

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Ever since we received a letter about Ryan Bell almost three years ago, we’ve known there was something extra special about him. He hasn’t had the easiest go in life, but he’s never let his differences stand in his way. And despite his hardships, Ryan has always wanted to make life easier for others.

As a 10-year old, Ryan convinced his family that they really could be doing more with their annual penny auction fundraiser that benefited both Heifer and a local charity. He just wasn’t satisfied with the amount they were able to donate.

In the past two years, with the help of his family, friends and his community, Ryan has raised nearly $40,000 for Heifer International. And he just doesn’t quit. When Ryan reached his lofty goal of raising $25,000 for Heifer just before Christmas of 2012, his first thought was that he should go for another Gift Ark, or $5,000 more. When he reached THAT goal, he immediately said he wanted to go for $50,000.

Ryan Bell shows off the certificate he received indicating he was nominated for the Kohl's Cares Scholarship Program. Ryan's teachers nominated him for his work fundraising for Heifer International among other volunteer endeavors.

Ryan Bell shows off the certificate he received indicating he was nominated for the Kohl’s Cares Scholarship Program. Ryan’s teachers nominated him for his work fundraising for Heifer International among other volunteer endeavors.

His giving spirit hasn’t just captured the attention of those of us here at Heifer, either. Laura Bell, Ryan’s Mom, just let us know that Ryan’s team of teachers at his school in Connecticut recently nominated him for the Kohl’s Cares Scholarship.

That scholarship is given by the retailer every year to recognize “young volunteers across the country for their amazing contributions to their communities,” the Kohl’s website says. The criteria for the scholarship indicate that volunteer efforts must have occurred in the last year, and that winners are selected based on the benefits and outcomes of their volunteer service.

With Ryan’s record of fundraising, and his reputation at school as a Student of the Month and as part of the Student Government group where he’s organized other fundraisers, his team of  teachers put together the nomination form and essay and submitted it on Ryan’s behalf.

“He was too funny,” Laura said. “The six teachers called him into a room which was otherwise empty. He said it looked like he was in trouble and they joked with him that he was and then presented the certificate. He was so excited!”

Laura said there are winners at the local, regional and national level, but Ryan won’t find out if he’s a winner of the local scholarship until May.The regional winner will be announced in June and the national winner in July. Prizes range from a $50 gift card to the store up to a $10,000 in scholarship for National Winners.

Whatever the outcome, we’re proud just to know Ryan. It’s an honor knowing he’s our supporter, and is sharing our mission with others. So good luck, Ryan! We’ll be anxiously awaiting to hear whether you’ve been selected for the scholarship. You should know you’re already a winner to all of us here at Heifer.

To help Ryan reach his $50,000 goal, visit his Team Heifer page. 

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Container Gardens From Malawi

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Kasungu Sustainable Agriculture & Natural Resource Management PrHere’s a clever idea from the industrious women of Gideon village in Malawi, who grow heaps of healthy greens right beside their front doors.

Grace Banda, a 28-year-old mother of four, keeps a line of burlap sack gardens planted with cabbage in front of her house. It saves her from trekking to her garden when she needs something green for cooking, and it could save you a trip to the grocery store.

To make your own container gardens using Banda’s method, you’ll need a large burlap sack, gravel, a tin can with both ends cut out, potting soil and goat berries. If you’re plum out of goat manure, compost works fine, too.

Kasungu Sustainable Agriculture & Natural Resource Management PrStep 1: Put the can in the bottom of the sack and fill it with gravel. Pour equal parts soil and compost around it, up to the top of the can.

Step 2: Slide the can up to the surface of the dirt, refill it with rocks and fill the area around the can with the soil and compost mix.

Kasungu Sustainable Agriculture & Natural Resource Management Pr

Step 3: Repeat step 2 until the sack is full.

Step 4: Cut staggered openings about 6 inches long along the sides, and plant seeds in the holes.

Kasungu Sustainable Agriculture & Natural Resource Management PrThe cylinder of gravel inside the sack helps distribute and drain the water, ensuring that none of the plantings get too wet or too dry.

If you try your hand at sack gardening yourself, please send us a photo. Thanks!

Photos by Russell Powell

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Malaria=Poverty=Malaria

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Today is World Malaria Day, which might have slipped your mind. That’s understandable. The United States eradicated malaria in 1951, and unless you’ve done much traveling it’s probably never topped your list of things to worry about. But for half the world’s population, the 3.3 billion people threatened by the deadly mosquito-borne illness every day, malaria isn’t so easy to forget.

Malaria symptoms include fever, headache, chills, vomiting, anemia and respiratory distress. Children infected with the disease are extremely vulnerable because they haven’t had time to develop any level of immunity.

Malaria is a mean disease that preys on the poor and the innocent. In 2010, 90 percent of all malaria deaths occurred in sub-Saharan Africa, the region of our planet that’s home to the highest proportion of undernourished people. Poor people with limited resources and limited access to health care often can’t afford housing with screened windows and doors to protect them from infected mosquitoes. And once infected, people suffering from malaria lose work days and the paychecks that go along with them, deepening their poverty. This is a handicap faced by countless Heifer project participants who can find themselves incapacitated by malaria multiple times each year.

Most deaths from malaria claim children under the age of 5. That means that every single minute of the day, a child dies of malaria. Pregnant women also face heightened risk.These numbers will knock the breath out of you, but luckily they’re better than they used to be. Malaria mortality rates have fallen by more than 25 percent since 2000. And with continued use of mosquito nets and insecticides, the hope is that the disease will continue to loosen its grasp.

The theme for World Malaria Day 2013 is “Invest in the future. Defeat malaria.” The disease still kills 660,000 people each year, according to the World Health Organization. But not everyone agrees on the numbers, and in fact, the Seattle-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation puts the death toll at 1.2 million per year. I know that number will be stuck in my head for a while.

Happily, we know that bed nets, insecticides and improved housing can slow or stop the spread of malaria. We also know how to treat it. It’s just a question of resources. If, after reading this, you’re having a hard time getting malaria off your mind, visit the WHO’s World Malaria Day 2013 website to learn more.

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New World Ark Magazine Out Now

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For the people of Sayon in the southern Philippines, a typhoon was a new and terrible experience. So when Typhoon Bopha ripped through their small village in December, most were unprepared. Many people there lost their homes and livelihoods, which for Heifer project participants, that meant seeing livestock and crops wash away. In the May edition of World Ark, which is in mailboxes this week, you can read about Heifer’s work in the aftermath of the typhoon, and how we are implementing Disaster Risk Reduction training so that people can take steps to mitigate the effects of future natural disasters.Cover

Or you can read about what it’s like to scale Mount Kilimanjaro, which is exactly what writer Kelly MacNeil did as part of a team with employees from Heifer partner Elanco Animal Health. The team collectively raised more than $8,000 for Heifer with the climb.

And while you’re reading, check out the interview with former first lady Laura Bush. She is chair of a program at the Bush Institute that empowers Egyptian women at a critical time for democracy and women’s rights in their country.

We also have stories from a Heifer literacy project in Cambodia, and a fascinating look at what affect climate change is having on the pastoralists in the Sahel region of Africa.

As always there are gorgeous photos and intriguing infographics to peruse as well. The page-turner edition is a great way to view the magazine, but don’t forget to check out World Ark’s app on the iPad and Android tablets, too.

Happy reading!

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Happy International Day of Families

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Teghenik, Armenia — Heifer beneficiary Tsovinar Davtyan prepares cheese, the sale of which supports her children and grandchildren. Photo by Geoff Oliver Bugbee

Teghenik, Armenia — Heifer beneficiary Tsovinar Davtyan prepares cheese, the sale of which supports her children and grandchildren. Photo by Geoff Oliver Bugbee

“Families hold societies together, and intergenerational relationships extend this legacy over time. This year’s International Day of Families is an occasion to celebrate connections among all members of the constellation that makes up a family. It is also an opportunity to reflect on how they are affected by social and economic trends – and what we can do to strengthen families in response.”

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message for 2013

 

When Heifer International measures the impact of its projects and programs, it doesn’t just count individuals. Gender and Family Focus is one of Heifer’s Cornerstones for Just and Sustainable Development, and the family unit is central to our work. In fact, we count on strong family bonds and the cooperation that comes with them. Family members are invested in each others’ success, even when they know the fruits of that success won’t be reaped until they’re gone.

“I have seen whatever I would like to see in my life, I don’t need anything more for me. Everything is for my grandchildren,” explained Tsovinar Davtyan, 67, a grandmother of four in the Armenian village of Tekhenik. She cares for her family’s cows because she knows the benefits will last for generations.

May 15 is the United Nations International Day of Families, and this year’s focus is on fostering inter-generational solidarity. That’s a challenge for families in the Philippines, Bolivia and other places where job opportunities are few so young people set off to find opportunities elsewhere. This is where Heifer steps in, helping to build agricultural opportunities locally to keep families intact.

Click here to support a family in need through Heifer International.

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Hot Off the Press: World Ark May Issue

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The latest edition of World Ark should be hitting mailboxes around the country this week, but don’t worry: You can get a jumpstart on reading right here.

In this issue we address the problem that too often hunger and poverty are overlooked in this land of plenty, and tell you howHeifer’s new projects in Appalachia and the Arkansas Delta are addressing these pressing problems. Read how Heifer is planting Seeds of Change in these regions.

Though we’ve just celebrated Mother’s Day, we put together a photo essay honoring Heifer mothers. In nearly each project we visit, mothers tell us how the  life-giving gifts and training from Heifer have allowed them to care for their children and families in ways they never before dreamed. You can see the slideshow and learn about just some of the remarkable women in our projects here.

In Ecuador, magazine contributor Jaman Matthews follows 20-year-old Cesar Guale Vasquez on his quest to return heirloom seeds to rural farmers. Read about the seed-saving project in Ecuador’s coastal plane that’s bringing local varieties of vegetables back to dinner tables there.

And sometimes, we’re overwhelmed by the giving spirit of our donors. That happened when we learned about a congregation in Joplin, Mo., who raised more than $5,000 for Heifer last year, despite losing their church to the deadly EF5 tornado that hit the town last year.

You’ll find all these articles and much more in this issue. Let us us know what your favorite parts of the magazine are in the comments.

 

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In India, a Mother and Daughter Learn Mutual Respect

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Story and photos by Katya Cengel

Suman Kumari was in 5th grade when her parents pulled her out of school. Her father told her she had studied enough for this lifetime.

Moti Meena, right, and her eldest daughter, Suman Kumari, in their home.

“At rebirth from the womb of some other mother, then you can study whatever you want, or to whatever standard [grade] you want,” Laxman Meena told his eldest daughter.

Suman’s mother didn’t argue. She never went to school and cannot read or write. Like her husband, Moti Meena felt it was not important for their daughters to be educated.

Then, three years ago, Moti sent Suman back to school, telling her to study hard so she could help Moti with the family’s finances. Suman adjusted well despite having been out of the classroom for four years. She is now 17 years old and in the 8th grade. Her mother relies on her to read road signs when they travel. Moti herself can now sign her name, but it was not her daughter who taught her this skill, it was the women in her self-help group. The group has transformed Moti’s future and just as importantly the future of her daughter Suman.

Female-centered self-help groups are the basis of Heifer International’s work in India, said Abhinav Gaurav, technical liaison officer for Heifer India.

“The idea is to better the situation for women in a country that does not value them in the same way it values males,” Gaurav said.

Groups of 20 to 25 women meet once or twice a month and are offered various social, educational and economic trainings in addition to a savings and loan program and the support of their peers. While Heifer does supply goats in the region, Gaurav said that development here is not so much about livestock distribution as “transforming people and producing a deeper level impact.”

Moti’s family lives in a one-room thatch-sided home with a dirt floor in the hamlet of Moradi, where Heifer has been working since 2009. Of the 25 families in the settlement, 10 are associated with Heifer. In three years she has become more accepting of the different castes and tribes that populate the region and has saved 3,500 rupees ($70), which she plans to put toward replacing her home’s walls with concrete. Although she cannot remove her savings until she leaves the group, a condition that enables the group to lend money, she can borrow money at low interest rates. It was Heifer’s training on gender issues that convinced Moti and Laxman to put Suman back in school.

“After we received the gender training the whole community put pressure on us to put our daughter back in school,” Laxman said.

Both Laxman and Moti now want their eldest daughter to complete 10th grade. Moti already believes that her daughter is more knowledgeable than she was at her age. But despite all she has learned, Suman remains impressed with her mother’s wisdom.

“I see mother as a role model nowadays because she has gained knowledge and skills,” Suman said. “I want to be like her.”

Moti Meena in her kitchen.

This Mother’s Day, celebrate your mom by helping provide for another mother in need.

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World’s Tiniest Heifer Project

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A miniature model of a portable clay stove demonstrates how improved stoves preserve wood by using significantly less fuel.

Photos by Russ Powell

In Chiponde Village, in the brushy savannah of western Malawi, 38-year-old Nashoni Zimba is celebrating the success of a local Heifer project in his own small way. The father of five is delighted by the improvements that reforestation efforts and improved cook stoves brought since Heifer started the Kasungu Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management Project here last year.

Zimba spent roughly a week crafting two miniature versions of his village out of mud.He said he hoped the model would show that someone who cares for trees and forests is better off than someone who doesn’t take care of natural resources.

The first version of the village, the “before” model, includes a barren stand of stumps to depict deforestation resulting from the constant need for firewood. Without enough trees to serve as wind breaks, the grass roof on the miniature house in this version is blowing away. An open fire is stacked tall with kindling, and a truck hauls away more wood to produce charcoal.

Nashoni Zimba holds a model of a logging truck filled with wood slated to be made into charcoal in Chiponde Village, Malawi.

The “after” model features improved stoves, both the fixed version made of bricks and the portable clay stove. Both use only about a third as much fuel. A larger house features a metal roof, and a raised corral keeps goats from roaming free. Animals drink water beneath a healthy stand of trees.

Although the project is only a year old, participants say the benefits are already easy to see. Women report the amount of time they spend hunting firewood is significantly cut thanks to their new, more efficient stoves, which not only use less fuel but also cook more quickly. Many of the participants who received meat goats already have kids to pass on and plans to sell future offspring. These sales will produce much-needed income in a tobacco-growing region where farmers are finding the market for their crops is quickly drying up.

Zimba's model depicts metal roofs, efficient stoves and other improvements that come along with Heifer's sustainability measures.

 

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Crisis in the Sahel

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Though it hasn’t received much news coverage here in the United States, there’s another part of Africa facing a food crisis. This time it’s the Sahel region that stretches across the continent between the Sahara and the lusher areas to the south that’s feeling the effects of drought, rising food prices, and in some areas, conflict and locusts.

It is estimated that about 13 million people are in need after the rains failed last year,

Children share a mid-afternoon meal of millet porridge in Diarrere, Senegal.

prolonging a drought that has made it difficult for families to grow food in a place where the growing season is already very short. It remains to be seen what kind of rainy season the region will face this year.

Food prices also rose for the third time in three straight months in March, making it that much more difficult for families who have little to pay for the food that with which they would normally supplement their diets.

The U.S. has sent nearly 40,000 tons of sorghum to the region with it’s expected arrival at the end of the month. UNICEF is also working to raise awareness of the crisis, particularly through its social media channels. They’re right to point out that, like what happened in the Horn of Africa last year, this crisis is preventable.

In Senegal, Heifer has helped the people in this region manage the dry conditions for the past two years, and has prepared them for precisely the kind of situation the region is facing now. Heifer’s projects have equipped participants with a short-haired sheep specially suited to area’s heat, goats, pigs and seeds that can thrive even in the Sahel soil.

Participants are also spreading manure on the nutrient-depleted soils to replenish them, and planting acacia trees to provide shade and help the soil hold water and not blow away.

It’s a long-term solution for an acute problem, yes, but it’s providing people with the means to survive and thrive in changing climates and conditions.

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Have You Checked out World Ark?

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The latest issue of Heifer’s magazine World Ark came out a few weeks ago, but we’ve had so many other things going on with Social Justice Day, our International Women’s Day series, and updating you about our history of working in Uganda, that we forgot to tell you about the other great stories we have. Donna featured Roseline Jean Pierre last week, but Katya Cengel’s article on Haiti takes a closer look at our work there in villages around the island country, particularly with the coastal village of La Savane where Heifer has provided fishermen with boat motors so that Haitian fishermen can reach the fish populations outside the bay that has fallen victim to pollution and overfishing.Frank Bures also takes a look at how Kenyans are coping with the rising cost of living, while Dr. Stephen Smith also tackles what is driving the cost of food prices up, and the subsequent effects on the poor.

Take a look at our online edition for all other features like book reviews and donor stories, too. And be on the look out for our next issue, due out in May.

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Women Taking the Floor

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Editor’s Note: A commitment to empower women is embedded in Heifer International’s core values for sustainable development. In honor of International Women’s Day on Thursday, March 8, this week we’re sharing the stories of Heifer participants who take the gifts of animals and training and run with them to extraordinary results for themselves and their communities. Through hard work and innovations, each woman secures her rightful place in the family, the marketplace and the world.

The seating arrangement at a Heifer training session in Fandene on a hot May day in 2010 was fairly typical for this rural region of a strongly Muslim country: men in the front, women in the back. Mame Penda Ndong, though, scooted her chair forward and sat boldly in the front row, keeping her eyes straight ahead so she doesn’t catch any of the disapproving glances cast her way.

“In Senegal, we don’t like women sitting in the front row, displaying themselves,” a male translator explained.

There were other things about Ndong that set her apart, too. Unlike the other women, Ndong left her head uncovered, and she embellished her short hair with shiny synthetic coils. In her lap she clutched a hot-pink leather purse, and a sassy purple bra strap peeked out from the neck of her anango, a traditional dress.

Ndong grew up in Fandene, and was lucky to get a much better education than most of her peers. She nearly finished high school, and her schooling earned her a job in the nearby city of Tataguine, away from the hot and sandy days of sun-up to sundown manual work, which the women who stayed in Fandene take on.

But Ndong clearly didn’t flee to the city, never to return. She comes home almost every weekend to help monitor the Heifer project she helped start. She brings along her two sons and one daughter, but her husband is far away, working in the United States. She’d like to bring the entire family home to Diarrere to stay if the Heifer sheep thrive, the improved seeds produce healthier yields and the project becomes successful enough to support more people.

After living in a city for years, miles away from the rigid gender roles that dominate village life, Ndong doesn’t hesitate to speak up or claim a chair for herself while the other women sit on the ground to leave the better seats for the men. Do the men deserve such respect and special treatment? It’s part of the Senegalese culture, but it’s a part that might be changing, she said. Encouraging other women to sit in the front row and take on leadership positions is taking some time, but Ndong said she’ll press on.

“Men speak a lot, but they don’t act much,” she said, nodding toward a cluster of men smoking and drinking tea nearby. Women are different. “You don’t see them speaking a lot, but you see them working a lot. If you look at the project here, you’ll see the women do more. If they don’t take the floor, they’ll be working on things they don’t decide.”

Link: http://www.heifer.org/media/world-ark/archives/2011/summer/women-taking-the-floor

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Who’s Hungry?

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As if the estimate that 1 billion people in the world are hungry wasn’t hard enough to fathom, a new survey developed by researchers in the United States, Colombia and Brazil suggests the number could actually be twice that.

The new survey, which requires people to report on their food consumption over a period of three months, is a departure from the facts and figures-based method the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization used to come up with the 1 billion figure. The FAO made their estimate by comparing how much food is available, divided by the population. If the number of calories available for each person is too low, those numbers were used to estimate how many people are food insecure.

The new survey, called ELCSA (for Escala Latinoamericana y Caribena de Seguridad Alimentaria), takes a more personal approach. Based on the U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module used by the Department of Agriculture, ELCSA yields more nuanced information. Results show where in a country hunger is most pernicious, which groups are hungry at greater rates and whose diets are adequate in calories but not nutrients.

Initial results from surveys conducted in Brazil and Colombia suggest hunger is a much larger issue than we knew. The survey is already being adopted in other Central and South American countries.

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Yes! Invest in Agricultural Research to Feed the World

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Photo by Dave Anderson
Isaya and Restituta Mlewa at their Tanzanian organic farm.

Bill Gates’ 2012 annual letter “is an argument for making the choice to keep on helping extremely poor people build self-sufficiency.”

In an interview with the U.K.’s MSN news, Gates explains that his hope for the letter is that it “helps people connect to the choice we all have to make. Relatively small investments changed the future for hundreds of millions of small farm families. The choice now is this: Do we continue those investments so that the 1 billion people who remain poor benefit? Or do we tolerate a world in which one in seven people is undernourished, stunted and in danger of starving to death?

“In times of tight budgets, we have to pick our priorities,” Gates continues. “It’s clear that in this particular time, we’re in danger of deciding that aid to the poorest is not one of them. I am confident, however, that if people understand what their aid has already accomplished—and its potential to accomplish so much more—they’ll insist on doing more, not less. That is why I wrote my letter.”

At Heifer, our supporters, donors, staff members and participants around the world say Amen! and pass the tomatoes to spreading the gospel on how small investments (in our case heifers, goats, bees or tree seedlings), can stop hunger in the short-term and create sustainable income in the long-term. Every day we see investments in small farm families empower them beyond subsistence to create a chain of self-sufficiency that lifts up entire communities.

Heifer works with the Gates Foundation on the East Africa Dairy Development project that not only connects dairy farmers to markets, but links public and private interests including banks and investors, to create a growing local economy based on agriculture.

In his letter, Gates emphasizes not only innovations in agricultural production, but also in creative partnerships to better feed the world. “I am excited because innovative partnerships that capitalize on the comparative advantages of all these players can accelerate progress, speeding the transition beyond aid for many poor countries.”

Heifer shares similar goals with the Gates Foundation, including a focus on investing in women, preserving land for future generations and developing innovations in the field that engage the people we are trying to help in making the best decisions for their land, culture, sustainability and environment.

Isaya and Restituta Mlewa, shown above, and featured in this World Ark magazine article, are proof that participants have innovations of their own to add. From the gift of one dairy cow and Heifer training in dairy and organic farming, the couple came up with their own systems using animal and plant waste that are now an example for the thousands of farmers they have trained across Africa.

In Nepal, the Heifer project community of Shaktikhor, through a Farmer Field School, did their own research into feed varieties and care that improved the health and increased the weight of goats throughout the community. Their innovations were shared and picked up by other Heifer project communities in Nepal.

At a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland today, Gates said “innovations in crop science, access to information for farmers and new models of cooperation between governments and private enterprises are some of the developments that can improve global food security,” he said. “I believe the opportunity to double or even triple (food) productivity is there.”

Join the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Heifer International in promoting the value of investments in agriculture around the world to end hunger and poverty.

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Haiti Progress in Reach

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Roseline Jean Pierre in Cance, with cow.
Photo by Geoff Oliver Bugbee

Jessie Clairvil was 7 days old when she was tossed out of the third floor of a Port-au-Prince apartment building. By the time she was thrown into the hands of waiting neighbors, the third floor was more like a first floor, the two floors below having already collapsed.

A refrigerator was hurtling toward Jessie’s mother, Roseline Jean Pierre, when she jettisoned Jessie out of the building. Jessie’s 5-year-old sister made it out next, followed by Jean Pierre, who jumped just before the rest of the building collapsed into rubble, one of many destroyed during the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that rocked Haiti on Jan. 12, 2010. The quake killed more than 316,000, according to the Haitian government.


“God saved me,” said Jean Pierre, sitting in a field in Cance, in rural western Haiti, a year and a half later.

Read the rest of Jean Pierre’s story, including her new start in a Heifer dairy cow project, in the February 2012 issue of World Ark magazine, which mails to Heifer donors on Feb. 17.

The feature article details Heifer’s $18.7 million Rural Entrepreneurs for Agricultural Cooperation in Haiti (REACH) project.

Also, project participants from across the country share their experiences with new and innovative ways to build sustainable agricultural income, including in ocean and lake fish farming, home rebuilding and dairy cattle projects.

Watch World Ark‘s online page for the new issue in February or request a print magazine by emailing worldark@list.heifer.org.

For the latests blog posts on Heifer Haiti projects, click here.



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Read All About It

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The story of Dan West is a special one to all of us at Heifer headquarters. Without him, we wouldn’t be here. But West’s vision and his original gift cows mean more to many of our beneficiaries—often more than we comprehend. One example is Humphrey and Mercy Mwananyanda who were so inspired that they named their daughter Hope after one of the first heifers shipped overseas to help struggling families.
The Mwananyandas are just one of the many families Heifer is helping in Zambia, through a partnership with Elanco. That story is the main feature in the Holiday edition of World Ark magazine, coming soon to a mailbox near you.
You can also read about coffee’s long journey farms in Mexico to your morning mug, or the article about two young Heifer donors on a quest to raise enough money to buy a camel this year. 
The story of Ryan Bell and his younger sister Meghan is one that I find particularly inspring, and I hope you take a minute to read about the siblings from Connecticut on a quest to raise $5,000 for Heifer no matter how long it takes.
You’ll also find TheMost Important Gift Catalog in the World in this edition, too! Once you’ve picked out the Heifer gifts you’ll be giving this year, please pass it on to friends and neighbors so they can do the same. 
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