In honor of Universal Children’s Day, here’s a slideshow of children from Heifer projects around the world.
2.2 Billion Children in the World Deserve Celebrating
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Tag Archives: Celebration
World Toilet Day: Give a Crap
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| Ugandan biogas toilet. Photo by Dero Sanford. |
Happy World Toilet Day, everyone.
Wondering why there’s a day for toilets (I mean, there’s a day for everything, right?) around the world? I’ll let the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation explain that one. For those of us who take toilets for granted, it’s hard to believe that 2.6 BILLION people poop on the ground because they don’t have any other place to go.
Although we’re not exactly The Toilet People, in many of our projects, sanitation and hygiene are key objectives for the community. We include these topics as part of the training we provide, where needed. In our biogas projects in Uganda, we help participants build composting toilets that connect to their biogas units, helping them contain and then make the most of their family’s waste products.
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| I took this picture of one of the Ranch’s composting toilets (a “squatty potty,” if you will) during my last stay in the Global Village. |
Two of our Learning Centers, Heifer Ranch in Perryville, Arkansas, and Overlook Farm in Rutland, Massachusetts, have composting toilets on their campuses to both educate about toilet conditions around the world and put the compost to use on the growing trees.
So dig in to World Toilet Day and see how you can help make the world a cleaner, healthier place. And while you’re at it, try giving a crap this holiday season.
10 Weekend Links: Turkey Edition
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Alright, United States of Americans, Thanksgiving is almost here! I know of a certain toddler who has been asking for days to “Go to Thanksgiving,” after hearing promises of turkey, spaghetti (What? It’s a family tradition.) and pie. We seem to love talking about food here on Heifer Blog, so we’d be remiss if we didn’t present you with links to help you make the most of your (environmentally friendly!) Thanksgiving holiday.
Slow Food USA has a complete guide for Thanksgiving, from recipes to tips and tricks for making your holiday a slow one.
The Environmental Blog has a good handful of Green Thanksgiving Tips. Recyclebank and The Alternative consumer can help you have a greener holiday, too.
Grist wants you to know that real turkeys are making a comeback.
Ecocentric provides a good guide to finding a sustainably raised turkey.
If you’re responsible for cooking the turkey for your family, check out USDA’s tips on Thanksgiving planning and preparing a healthy and safe turkey.
Have a vegan cousin coming to your meal? Here are 9 Vegan Thanksgiving Recipes Carnivores Will Eat Too from treehugger.
Treehugger is also your hook-up for 9 Ways to Send Free Thanksgiving E-Cards, if you want to ditch the pen-and-paper route.
And if you’re in need of a good Thanksgiving laugh, watch this video of a wild turkey attempting revenge on an ABC News producer.
What are your Thanksgiving plans? Do you have any suggestions on celebrating the holiday in a way that’s gentle on the Earth?
Happy Birthday, Heifer Ranch
This past Saturday we celebrated the 40th anniversary of Heifer Ranch.
A Brief History of Heifer Ranch
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| Abu, a 5-year-old male camel, was presented to Heifer Ranch as a birthday gift from Overlook Farm in Rutland, Massachusetts. |
Heifer International dates back to 1944, with an inaugural shipment of 17 pregnant heifers to Puerto Rico. In 1971, Heifer was offered 1,100 acres near Perryville, Arkansas, to raise and house animals being shipped overseas to those in need. The model of shipping animals fromt he United States, however, turned out to be very costly and inefficient and was later discontinued in favor of purchasing livestock from within the project countries. Through the years, Heifer Ranch has evolved into an education and research center, a model farm and ranch, a conference center and a volunteer experience. The farm is now home to water buffalo, camels, pigs and goats, as well as gardens that help feed volunteers and the public. School groups, youth groups, families and individuals have come to the Ranch to experience what it really means to live in a poverty-stricken village with scarce resources. Visitors are introduced to Heifer’s sustainable solutions and learn more about what they can do to help.
The Celebration
Friday night held a Homecoming Tour and Reception for Past Ranchers (staff and volunteers). Three of the past Ranch directors were on hand to help celebrate. It was great to see old friends, but hard to see how the landscape has changed since the tornado this spring.
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| Jacob Sheatsley leads a drum circle in the Global Village |
Saturday was an all-day party. There were crafts and activities for the kids, demonstrations along the Global Village trail, a picnic lunch, hayride tours, birthday cake and a special gift from Overlook Farm, one of Heifer’s other Learning Centers. Visitors had the opportunity to meet some of Heifer’s country directors, who have been in town for meetings.
My Brief History at Heifer Ranch
Heifer Ranch is how I first came to know and love Heifer International. I participated in the Global Village program (now called Global Gateway) when I was 14 years old. Growing up in Little Rock and attending college in Conway, Arkansas, I went to the Ranch several more times as a participant before deciding to become a volunteer. During college summers and after graduating, I spent a total of about 12 months as a live-in volunteer. I became impassioned with Heifer’s mission of ending hunger and poverty and caring for the Earth as I led field trips, facilitated group team-building activities, milked goats, taught cheese classes and became a part of the Ranch community. I met my husband and a great many of my friends at Heifer Ranch.
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| A volunteer shows how farming on terraced slopes helps prevent erosion |
Heifer Ranch holds a special place in my heart, so I was excited to take my daughter to Perryville this past weekend to join in the celebrations. She loved the animals, of course. Petting the pigs, lambs and goats in the showbarn was certainly a highlight. But it’s Abu the camel she’ll go on talking about. And the cupcakes and candy (she is a kid, after all). I’m so glad my daughter will grow up learning about Heifer’s work in the world and knowing that she has a place in making the world a better place for everyone to live. And I’m thankful we have Heifer Ranch just down the road where her learning will be hands-on and exciting, not to mention a piece of her family’s history.
Happy Birthday to the United Nations
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Today, October 24, is United Nations Day. On this date in 1945, the Charter of the United Nations was put into force, officially establishing the international organization we know as the UN.
So what do our friends at the UN. want for their 66th birthday? They want us to join in a campaign by the UN Population Fund, called 7 Billion Actions. It doesn’t cost anything, so head on over and share your story. Why? Because by the end of this month, the world’s population will reach 7 billion strong:
Farmers in Peru Eradicate Their Own Poverty
Today is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.
From the United Nation’s website:
October 17th presents an opportunity to acknowledge the effort and struggle of people living in poverty, a chance for them to make their concerns heard, and a moment to recognize that poor people are the first ones to fight against poverty. Participation of the poor themselves has been at the center of the Day’s celebration since its very beginning. The commemoration of October 17th also reflects the willingness of people living in poverty to use their expertise to contribute to the eradication of poverty.
There’s a reason we refer to the families and individuals with whom we work as “participants.” It’s because they are participating in the eradication of their own poverty. More than that, they are helping end their neighbors’ poverty, too, through Heifer’s Pass on the Gift model. Yes, we provide our participants with gifts of livestock, and we train them at no cost to themselves. The real work comes from the participants, however. We are but facilitators in a process that empowers them to analyze their situation, determine what work needs to be done to improve it, and make that work happen. Livestock and training are tools that provide the “leg up” our participants need. Without their Full Participation (which happens to be one of Heifer’s 12 Cornerstones for Just and Sustainable Development), our successful model would fail.
Watch this short video about farmers near Andamarca, Peru, who have become empowered through Heifer’s model and now share their expertise in raising guine pigs and sheep with neighboring communities.
Food and Family
Today is Blog Action Day 2011. It is also World Food Day. This year’s theme for Blog Action Day is Food. Bloggers all over the world are writing about this one theme, from their own unique perspective. To find out more, visit the Blog Action Day website. Read more of our Blog Action Day posts on Heifer Blog here.
The following post is by Kim Nixon, assistant to the senior director of Branding and Communications at Heifer International.
This is just about myfavorite time of the year. The holidays are almost here and for most peoplethis is when things start to get a little crazy – Halloween trick-or-treating,planning Thanksgiving, Christmas shopping, making sure Santa still exists toyour children, etc. For me, this is a time for family and food.
I’m sure you’re thinking“Halloween is a time for family and food?” My best memories of Halloween arewearing costumes with my brothers and walking door to door asking for candy. Ilove the question “trick or treat.” As a kid I always wanted the treat becauseI loved having a big bag of candy. When I got home, I would always sort thecandy. I only realized later that my parents were checking the candy foranything to suggest that it may have been tampered with. For me, it was alwaysabout what kinds of candy I received – chocolate, suckers, hard candy, chewycandy, candy corn, etc. Finding pictures of us dressed up like vampires andangels remind me of a simpler time.
Thanksgiving is always afun time of the year. Apart from it being celebrated on or around my birthday,it’s a time for my extended family to get together. My dad is one of ninechildren. Every Thanksgiving, we all get together for the weekend – aunts,uncles, cousins, grandkids. We’re a growing bunch. For three days we laugh,play and cook together. Thanksgiving Day is particularly enticing. You wake upto the smell of chocolate gravy, biscuits, eggs, sausage, bacon and coffee.You’ve seen the cartoons where the main character is lifted from their bedfollowing the aroma of whatever is cooking. That’s my family. And it doesn’tstop there. As soon as breakfast is over, it’s time to start the Thanksgivingmeal which is somewhere between lunch and dinner. (I’d like to call it ‘lunner’or ‘dinch’ but it doesn’t have the same ring that ‘brunch’ has for the breakfast/lunchcombination.) With everyone in or around the kitchen, it’s fun to watch auntstelling cousins how to make the stuffing (which is a family secret) or kidsrunning in between everyone cooking. It’s a little crazy at times, but I’mthankful for my wonderful family. They truly make the meal with love. You wouldthink that Thanksgiving day is where it ends, but for my family this cooking andeating together continues until Sunday.
This brings us toChristmas. Christmas in my house is full of goodies. My mom cooks all of ourfavorite sweets – peanut butter balls, humdingers, and more. These are thingswe only make once or twice a year. Growing up, we made cookies for Santa. EachChristmas, I’d place them out and go to sleep with visions of sugar plumsdancing in my head. Well, it may not have been sugar plums but it wassomething. Each Christmas Day, Santa would have eaten a cookie or two and drankhis milk. And I would usually get something from my Christmas list under theChristmas tree. As you get older, some of these traditions stop…although Istill took pictures with Santa until I was well into my 20s. With atwo-year-old niece, we’ll be making cookies for Santa again.
Food has always been a wayto bring our family together whether it’s the joy of cooking our meal togetherin a cramped kitchen or enjoying the food prepared with conversation andlaughter. Most people think of Paula Deen when they think of Southern food –butter, butter and more butter. For me, Southern food is about family. It’s thememories you create that last long after the food is gone.
Waste Not, Want Not: Stop Wasting Food
Today is Blog Action Day 2011. It is also World Food Day. This year’s theme for Blog Action Day is Food. Bloggers all over the world are writing about this one theme, from their own unique perspective. To find out more, visit the Blog Action Day website. Read more of our Blog Action Day posts on Heifer Blog here.
Here’s my disclaimer: my family and I are just as guilty of accidentally letting food go to waste. Typically, it’s produce I’ve purchased from the farmer’s market with very good intentions (I know, I even wrote that blog post about how to stop wasting produce, for shame!). So, this lecture is directed to myself every bit as much as it is to you.
We, the Americans living in the United States, waste 55 million tons of food–40 percent of our food supply–every year. Worldwide, roughly one-third of the food produced is lost or goes to waste. That’s disgusting on several levels. Recently, a software company did some calculations and found that food waste is responsible for 135 million tons of greenhouse gasses each year. That’s 1,800 pounds per average family–400 pounds per individual–every year. That’s not the food we’re eating… 135 million tons of greenhouse gasses per year from food we throw out.
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| Photo by Dan Bazira |
In developing countries, post-harvest food loss is the biggest culprit. Inadequate food storage, poor roads, etc. leads to food going to waste between the field and the plate. While this is a sad fact, especially considering the number of hungry people in developing countries (906 million), these are surmountable obstacles. In Uganda, Heifer participants are building small-scale grain storage containers to protect their harvests from spoilage. Roads can be built. Not only would such investments help cut down on food losses, they could also provide an incentive for farmers to increase their production. If I were a dairy farmer with new roads by which to transport my milk to a milk collection facility or my vegetables to market, I might start raising more livestock or sowing more seeds when I could afford to.
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| Photo from Flickr/superk8nyc. Creative Commons. |
In industrialized countries, food waste comes after it’s hit the grocery store isles, our refrigerators and shelves, and even our plates. With food prices on the rise and 13 million people in the Horn of Africa literally starving, wasting food is an even bigger no-no than usual. Once your checkout at your local store or market, that food is yours. Yours to prepare. Yours to eat. Your responsibility.
How you and I cut down on our household food waste? Well, we can purchase less to begin with. Shop from a grocery list based on a weekly meal plan. We can follow some easy (though sometimes easier written than followed) directions on how to store fresh produce. We can, gasp, lower our standards. I’d hate for anyone to get sick off my advice, but I can tell you I frequently eat leftovers well after “they” tell you to throw them away, and I’m doing just fine. Have a toddler? They don’t know the difference between fresh crackers and stale! Cooked too much for dinner? Invite your neighbors over and make new friends.
Has your food gone bad, despite your efforts? Keep it out of the landfill by composting it. Or get some backyard chickens.
Cut back on greenhouse gas emissions and save some money. That researcher I mentioned above: he found that “if household food waste could be cut in half, a family of four could save $600 a year.” What could you do with $600? I’d suggest a water buffalo, a sheep, a llama, some tree seedlings and a flock of geese.
World Food Day: Food Prices–From Crisis to Stability
Today is Blog Action Day 2011. It is also World Food Day. This year’s theme for Blog Action Day is Food. Bloggers all over the world are writing about this one theme, from their own unique perspective. To find out more, visit the Blog Action Day website. Read more of our Blog Action Day posts on Heifer Blog here.
Happy World Food Day, everyone.
When you have plenty, food is something to celebrate. For those who lack enough, however, it can be a daily struggle. Food security is defined by the World Health Organization as existing “when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life.” Before Heifer enters the picture, our project participants are food insecure. When you’re food insecure, you might have enough food to feed your family breakfast and lunch, but not dinner. You might have enough food for your children, but not yourself. You might have enough food five days a week, but not seven; or during the harvest months, but not the thin months.
Food insecurity is scary, and there are many factors that contribute to the situation. A significant factor that has been getting a lot of attention lately is the rising cost of food. That’s the theme for this year’s World Food Day: Food Prices–From Crisis to Stability. Today we are called to “look seriously at what causes swings in food prices, and do what needs to be done to reduce their impact on the weakest members of global society.”
Those weakest members of society? Those are Heifer’s participants. At least, that’s one way to describe them before they receive their gifts of training and livestock. Our work can play a big role in helping families protect themselves against the negative impacts of volatile food prices. Because when you’re empowered to grow much of the food your family needs, you’re way less reliant on the global–and even local–food economy. That’s just as true here in the United States, but it’s strikingly more significant in developing countries, which account for 98 percent of the world’s 925 million hungry people in 2010.
What do you think? What else can be done to reduce the impact of rising food costs on the poor and hungry?
Today is also Blog Action Day, which has the appropriate theme of Food this year. Stay tuned here on Heifer Blog for a series of posts by some of our own Heifer staff with their thoughts on food.
Wash Your Hands
I tell you what, October is chock full of Official Days. I had no idea!
In addition to being International Day of Rural Women, it’s also Global Handwashing Day.
Handwashing is a critical part of hygiene and health and can mean the difference between life and death in some parts of the world.
We’ve blogged before about the tippy tap, which is a simple, appropriate technology being adopted in several of Heifer’s project communities in Africa.
I saw a tippy tap in action in Uganda, and Marleen New wrote about them on her trip to Zambia.