As 2012 comes to a close, it’s time to take a look back at the stunning photography and inspiring stories from Betty Londergan’s journey around the world, having visited Heifer project communities from Uganda to Ecuador. Click on a photo to see Heifer 12×12 posts from each country. All photos by Betty Londergan.
I hope you didn’t miss blogger Betty Londergan’s posts on her blog, Heifer12x12.com about her trip to Armenia. But if you did, here’s a quick round-up for you:
Armenian countryside. Photo by Heifer12x12.com, courtesy of Heifer International.
Stay tuned on Heifer12x12 as Betty writes about her travels to Vietnam and Cambodia. And click here to help Betty reach her goal of raising $5,000 for Heifer.
This weekend in Atlanta, Heifer and Oglethorpe University will host our first “Sustainability Summit.” I am excited to take part in this event, which I know will be a meaningful and impactful program, connecting Heifer’s important work with donors, volunteers, students and others in the Atlanta community.
I will be speaking about our efforts to scale up our work and how this will help us achieve our mission of ending hunger and poverty while caring for the Earth. Other speakers will include Betty Londergan, Heifer 12×12 blogger and Oglethorpe First Lady; Keo Keang, Heifer Cambodia Country Director, and Jeffrey Scott, Heifer USA’s Director of Social Enterprise Development.
Sok Pheary of Cambodia, gives her pigs fodder from her field. Photo by Russell Powell, courtesy of Heifer International.
I look forward to sharing with the Atlanta community Heifer’s incredible story and showing how our work can increase in reach and impact yet remain true to our roots in sustainability.
I know “sustainability” may seem like an overused term, to the point that it’s becoming watered down. But at Heifer International, it’s always been at the core of our mission and work. In fact, our work can be viewed as sustainable from three different but integrated lenses:
This weekend, in addition to sharing our work with Atlanta, I’ll host a three-part blog series covering these facets of sustainability and how Heifer applies them. I hope you’ll follow along and contribute your own thoughts about how genuine sustainability must not be allowed to become obsolete.
If you’re in the Atlanta area and want to attend the Sustainability Summit, there’s still time to register for some of the events. Go register now.
In case you’ve missed any of blogger Betty Londergan’s posts on her blog, Heifer12x12.com, about her trip to Rwanda, here’s a quick round-up for you:
Betty Londergan and daughter Lulu
Stay tuned on Heifer12x12 as Betty writes about her travels to Armenia. And click here to help Betty reach her goal of raising $5,000 for Heifer.
Editor’s note: The following is a guest post from blogger Betty Londergan of Heifer 12 x 12.
On Sunday night, I got the call that I was named Volunteer of the Year from the Southern Region in the CLASSY Awards for the work I am doing on Heifer12 x12.com, a blog project taking me to 12 countries in 12 months in 2012 to see and write about the work of Heifer International. For those of you who don’t know (and I sure didn’t), this is the largest philanthropic awards ceremony in the country, celebrating the greatest charitable achievements by nonprofit organizations, socially conscious businesses, and individuals worldwide. In 2012, more than 2,400 organizations and volunteers were nominated for a CLASSY Award, and their collective efforts impacted the lives of more than 200,000,000 people in 71 countries worldwide.
Photo courtesy of Heifer International
I was totally honored to be nominated, I was stunned to make the regional finals, and I was delirious when they told me I won my region– particularly since the other nominees were wonderful people who had accomplished remarkable things.
In fact, when they asked me why I thought I should win, I believe I said something like, “Oh, I don’t. There are so many people who are more worthy than I am.” My husband thought that was a really dumb thing to say but the truth is, I don’t think I deserve to win. However, I absolutely believe that Heifer should get all the recognition and honor this award brings! So I’m even daring to hope I’ll win nationally on September 22 (although the other three regional winners are really spectacular), because I figure it will shine a klieg light of fame on the real heroes: Heifer staff and beneficiaries around the world.
When I started my blog in Uganda (a test run before the real thing), and for the first 7 months of travel this year, I have been routinely blown away by the incredible commitment and insane work ethic of Heifer staff in the field. As I’m writing this, their faces are popping up in my mind: Peter in Uganda, Bryan in Guatemala, Ewaldy and Hervil in Haiti, Madeline in Peru, Tony in China, Goma in Nepal, Humphrey in Cameroon, Laura in Romania, Jeffrey in Appalachia… such talented people working such long hours and bringing all their creativity to the table to help end hunger and poverty in their countries.
I have been so privileged to get to see Heifer projects around the world; to learn the culture and history of each of these countries and how it’s shaped the challenges we face in making sustainable change; to meet the beautiful, courageous, undaunted and hard-working people who Heifer works with and for … and then to come back and write my stories in a way that brings those people and those situations alive for my readers.
It’s been a journey filled with harder work than I ever thought, with more love and joy than I imagined possible. And I’m grateful in every way that I’ve been able to help Heifer tell the story of the complex, difficult, compassionate, essential work it’s doing in the world.
We are excited to announce that blogger Betty Londergan of Heifer 12 x 12 has been selected as a regional winner of the 2012 Classy Awards for Volunteer of the Year.
It’s time for another Heifer 12 x 12 Round-Up, and this time it’s all about Cameroon.
Check out Heifer 12 x 12 to follow along as Betty writes about her time in Romania visiting Heifer projects. And be sure to help Betty reach her Team Heifer goal of raising $5,000 for Heifer’s work.
Blogger Betty Londergan of Heifer 12 x 12 has wrapped up her writing about her trips to visit Heifer’s work in China and Nepal, just in time to head to Cameroon. Check out this round-up of Betty’s lively posts from halfway around the world.
China:
Nepal:
Stay tuned on Heifer 12 x 12 as Betty writes about her adventures with Heifer in Cameroon. And click here to help Betty reach her Team Heifer goal of raising $5,000 for Heifer.
Have you been following blogger Betty Londergan as she visits Heifer projects around the world this year? She’s just starting to write on her blog, Heifer12x12.com, about her visit to China and Nepal, but we wouldn’t want you to miss anything she had to say about Heifer in Peru. So here’s a round-up of Betty’s Peruvian posts:
Betty, second from left, models a hat worn by many Peruvian women.
Stay tuned on Heifer 12 x 12 as Betty writes about her travels to China and Nepal. And click here to help Betty reach her Team Heifer goal of raising $5,000 for Heifer.
Monday, blogger Betty Londergan posted on Heifer 12×12 about her visit to a Heifer project outside Puno, Peru, and I’m excited to share it with you all. I feel close to this project, because I worked on a grant that helped fund phase two of the project. When I traveled to Peru and Ecuador last August, I was a little disappointed that I was unable to visit the communities participating in this project, because there was a political situation at the time that made it less than safe to travel to that part of the country.
Betty’s stories bring to life the struggles and successes of the women in these project communities.
From Heifer 12×12:
Through FEED, Heifer brought the women of Chillcapata a list of simple ideas to improve their lives (no animals in the house/a bed for every child/a biogarden to improve nutrition), offered training workshops, then sent a few emissaries like Maria to other communities to see the ideas in action.
The women came back motivated true believers, and set to work to transform their own homes, and pass their learning on to others. Luckily, these are can-do people who are incredibly clever at building things, working cooperatively, and getting ‘er done.
The Incan ancient tradition of ayni, like an Amish barn-raising where everyone pitches in to cooperatively help each other, is still very much part of Chillcapata culture. Maria’s kitchen was one of the first finished, and quickly, other women signed on to improve their homes.
Julia and Celso Apaza got the materials they needed from Heifer to start kitchen construction, and the couple worked day and night to change every room in the house. “It was like a dream for us,” she told me, “because before I felt ashamed of my house. It was a mess, and I never wanted to welcome visitors. But now my doors are wide open and I even have a bench for my visitors to sit on.”
Read the rest of Betty’s post here. Be sure to subscribe to get all of Betty’s posts as she travels the globe visiting Heifer projects this year!