Remember the Virginia Tech students who spent their spring break in Honduras with Heifer? Watch the video to see them in action.
Virginia Tech: Alternative spring break from virginiatech on Vimeo.
Students Pitch in on Honduran Spring Break
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Tag Archives: VA Tech Study Tour
Thrift Ensures Security in Honduras
Following a recent Heifer Study Tour to Honduras, Virginia Tech students were given an assignment: Choose one photograph from the trip and explain why you chose it and which of Heifer’s 12 Cornerstones for Just and Sustainable Development it embodies. Over the course of this week, we’ll share these images and words to give you a look at how much of an impact seeing Heifer’s work in the field can have. Read other posts in the series here.
Nate Foust-Meyer, Crops, Soils & Environmental Sciences, VA Tech: The difference between ingenuity and necessity became blurry during my time in Honduras. The bio-digester we helped install was built gracefully. Pieced together with old tires, pvc , plastic sleeves, and a coke bottle it was effective, rustic and beautiful. It was seldom clean cut, but always worked and always used materials efficiently. In this image a heifer is feeding on corn stalks. The red apparatus in front of it is used to remove the outer fruit from the coffee beans. Since the picture was taken in March, the end of the coffee season and therefore the time when income begins to shrink, families whose only source of income or sustenance is coffee will likely begin to grow hungry–but others, like the one that this cow belongs to will do better. The education, training, and sense of empowerment that comes with a heifer project also brings a sense of security; knowing that their food is available and not unaffordable has freed the people in this community from the bondage of worry and fear. The sense of constant thrift and inventiveness is necessary to the people of rural Honduras. They use the supplies they have to feed those they love as best they can. It is their thrift that ensures their security.
Rial Tombes, Enviromental Policy & Planning, VA Tech: This picture was taken on the first day that we arrived in Trinidad de Copan. It was Tuesday evening, around 5:00, and one of the first things we did was walk down the dirt road from our hostel to visit the town boot maker. The Boot shop was small. A few people in our group decided to buy a pair. Those not getting their feet sized were milling around outside. It started to drizzle. We were still getting used to our surroundings and because of that felt like it was ok to look over walls into people’s backyard and look at their chickens, goats, pigs, etc.
In the distance, the group started to see a man riding down the road atop his horse carrying a bundle of corn. I can only imagine that he was on his way home from a long day of work in the fields. This man provided us all with a reminder that we were in Honduras, where having goats in your backyard, riding to and from work on horseback, and waking up to the crowing of multiple town rooster was normal. After our long journey from Tegucigalpa to Trinidad, it was this moment where I understood that I was not in Virginia anymore. I believe the CAFS cornerstone, Food Security and Food Sovereignty is showcased beautifully in this picture. This man is living his life with the hope of providing for his family and contributing to a strong local economy. Also the Heifer cornerstone, Sustainability and Self Reliance, is represented here because somebody had to harvest to corn and bring it to market or to the family table.
Sharing and Caring in Honduras
Following a recent Heifer Study Tour to Honduras, Virginia Tech students were given an assignment: Choose one photograph from the trip and explain why you chose it and which of Heifer’s 12 Cornerstones for Just and Sustainable Development it embodies. Over the course of this week, we’ll share these images and words to give you a look at how much of an impact seeing Heifer’s work in the field can have. Read other posts in the series here.
Laina Schneider, Crops Soils & Environmental Science, VA Tech: Historically water has brought people together. Water supports and enables life. Oases in the desert provide habitat and have been centers for trade and discourse for thousands of years. In the bible wells are a meeting or resting place in town centers. Lost access or destroyed wells could devastate entire cities. Throughout literature, wells are also a symbol for life. All over the world, water is a source of transportation, inspiration, utility and spirituality. People also seem to aggregate around water, in the formation of living spaces and as a place for shared community. Similarly in Copantle, this wash basin lies at the center of their cluster of homes. Throughout our days in Copantle, I observed women and children constantly gathered around this tub – washing dishes, washing clothes, washing hair or just congregating and chatting. I took this particular photo on the walk down to Angelina’s home in the morning of our last day of work. Beautiful mountains provide the backdrop, the ridges lined with fruit trees and cornfields. I feel that this wash tub is a symbol of unity within the Copantle community. It provides a space for sharing and a forum for conversation and story telling. It embodies the familial relationships built within this town and can be an avenue through which the word about Heifer’s projects can be spread. This symbolic place best suits the Heifer Cornerstone of Accountability. Dialogue transpiring during daily chores such as washing is informal, but comfortable, and can be a great way to share news of projects, invite others to come and learn, follow-up with friends, coordinate, or make plans to ultimately achieve common goals. This spot can provide an avenue for holding people accountable and an environment to share successes. Similarly, the CAFS cornerstone of Civic Engagement and Democratic Participation is relevant. By creating an space where dialogue can flow freely through daily routine, people may be more comfortable discussing community problems. Conversation here also requires no separate commitment or responsibility of trying to capture people’s interest in a more formal setting. It is meeting people where they are, and gauging interest in a place that makes the most sense. In this way, developing strategies to overcome community issues also becomes easier. This place of gathering can help to build trust and stronger relationships within Copantle, while making the Heifer projects at Angelina’s farm accessible to the community at large. With water as a symbol of life, it is natural that the wash basin be a place where people come together to foster life in their own community.
Amanda Karstetter, Humanities, Science, & Environ, VA Tech: There were countless moments on our trip that I wanted to use for my photovoice, but I picked this picture because words are simply not enough to express how welcomed I felt during our brief visit in Cerro Azul. The children there were so ecstatic to see us all, even though the majority of us were strangers to them. I felt like we were all old friends just stopping by for a visit, and this picture spoke to me because I took it right as we started to drive away. It hurt knowing that I will most likely never see those kids again, but I also knew at that moment that I had found my picture for my photovoice.
The Heifer Cornerstone that I feel that this picture speaks the most to is Sharing and Caring. The people of Cerro Azul shared their village with Virginia Tech twice and, while I cannot speak for the group that went last year, I felt incredibly welcomed. Everyone in that community seemed very kind and while we were there I could not help but wonder how much better off and further along civilization would be right now if everyone was like Cerro Azul in being open to working with each other to make their community significantly stronger.
The CAFS Cornerstone that I relate to this picture is Civic Engagement and Democratic Participation. One of the big factors of this cornerstone is trusting relationships, which really exemplifies Heifer’s relationship with the members of Cerro Azul. There is evidence of Civic Engagement and Democratic Participation in the background, where you can see a few of the new brick houses that most likely would not have been possible without Heifer’s knowledge and resources. Also, we were helping to create a stronger network between the members of that community and the students, faculty, and Heifer employees, to help encourage future projects with that community and to help us learn how to better help other communities like Cerro Azul in the future.
Experiential Learning for VA Tech Students in Honduras
Following a recent Heifer Study Tour to Honduras, Virginia Tech students were given an assignment: Choose one photograph from the trip and explain why you chose it and which of Heifer’s 12 Cornerstones for Just and Sustainable Development it embodies. Over the course of this week, we’ll share these images and words to give you a look at how much of an impact seeing Heifer’s work in the field can have. Read other posts in the series here.
Susan Clark: This photograph portrays the coming together of two families from different communities (Copantle and Cerro Azul). It represents a remarkable transformation where communities are crossing boundaries to share capacities that is seemingly atypical in Honduras. Last year we worked in the Cerro Azul community building homes and only visited Copantle. This year we returned to Copantle to work on projects with Angelina’s family and together (full participation) helped assemble a biodigestor, build a foundation for a farm school, and plant a variety of crops. Angelina is a visionary and exceptionally wise leader who embodies all the Heifer cornerstones. Working with Heifer her vision has provided the framework for food sovereignty and cultivated and promoted a healthy community. The Copantle community’s dream to build a just and sustainable community came to fruition thanks to the inspirational leadership of one of their members, Angelina passing on the gift of her knowledge and animal resources to so many others living in the community which has helped move them towards self-sufficiency. The income generated from their Heifer resources has continued to provide new opportunities to enhance their lives. The Civic Agriculture and Food Systems Minor Cornerstones that this photo denotes are food security/sovereignty, ecological stewardship, healthy community, economic viability, and experiential learning.
Laurel Heile, Landscape Architecture, VA Tech: This photo voice embodies the Heifer Cornerstones of Sharing and Caring and Full Participation and the CAFS Minor Cornerstone of Experiential Learning. The entire trip was about connecting and showing our support and commitment to the people we met in Honduras through projects, speakers, and Heifer Honduras staff. This was especially poignant birding the language barrier. This photo represents the countless times students creatively figured out ways to interact with those we met. This photo shows Jairo passing around his phone with photos of his son as we also passed around pictures of our families too. It was a moment of sincere interest in each other’s lives and backgrounds and full participation as we communicated enthusiastically with our limited Spanish and Jairo similarly with his English skills. It was a great moment where enthusiasm and caring overcame the mechanics of language. This also represents the mission of the Experiential Learning cornerstone for the CAFS Minor. It is all about getting out of the day to day and normal environment and seeing and doing things first hand, which makes the learning experience that much more powerful and lasting.
Full Participation and Self-Reliance in Honduras
Following a recent Heifer Study Tour to Honduras, Virginia Tech students were given an assignment: Choose one photograph from the trip and explain why you chose it and which of Heifer’s 12 Cornerstones for Just and Sustainable Development it embodies. Over the course of this week, we’ll share these images and words to give you a look at how much of an impact seeing Heifer’s work in the field can have. Read other posts in the series here.
Lisa Hill, Humanities, Science, & Environ, VA Tech: The photo I chose was taken by Antonio, a young boy from a village we visited one day after work. When I got off the bus at the village, Antonio had his arms outstretched and looking at me, expecting to be picked up and carried around. When I had him in my arms, he reached for my camera and started taking pictures of everything and everyone around him. After I got home and had a chance to look through my pictures, this one stuck out in particular. To me, this photo represents the CAFS cornerstone of Collaborative Teaching and Experiential Learning and the Heifer Cornerstone of Full Participation: One of the descriptions of Collaborative Teaching and Experiential Learning is “Improving learning and development of communities of co-learners”. This picture shows how our group was gaining knowledge and experiences from the Hondurans, as much as they were benefiting from us. We all played the role of teacher and the role of student throughout the week. The lessons we took away were extremely valuable, even if it was as simple as Antonio showing us how to laugh and smile after a long and tiring day or work. In this photo, I also saw the Heifer Cornerstone of Full Participation. When we were working on our project, every member of the family and every member of our group helped. Even the little children did their part by entertaining us. Additionally, when we worked, we worked as one group. It wasn’t the Honduras and the Americans working separately. Instead, we worked together, side by side to complete the job.
S. Myrick: I chose this photo because I believes it exemplifies the Heifer Cornerstone of Sustainability and Self-Reliance. It also displays the CAFS value of strong local economics. I picked this particular picture, because it shows the making of the farm school. The farm school will provide economic and communal opportunities. With the added education to the community, as a whole they can work together to build strong ties between each other and other communities. I believe with the school many more families will be able to provide for themselves. The school will give families a chance to not only become educated but to create job opportunities in their community. I find this picture to be more impacting because it displays labor within a community. Wilber, a man from the community, was helping build the school for others in the community. If he was paid, it is furthering the idea of building strong local communities. Overall, I think the education alone will strengthen the community but also create many more economic opportunities than imaginable.
VA Tech Students Transformed by Trip to Honduras
Following a recent Heifer Study Tour to Honduras, Virginia Tech students were given two assignments. First, sum up the experience in just one word:
Second, choose one photograph from the trip and explain why you chose it and which of Heifer’s 12 Cornerstones for Just and Sustainable Development it embodies. Over the course of this week, we’ll share these images and words to give you a look at how much of an impact seeing Heifer’s work in the field can have. Here is the first installment:
S. Abbott, Human Nutrition, Foods & Exercise; VA Tech: Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independent, the most virtuous, and they are tied to the country and wedded to its liberty and interests by the most lasting bonds. –Thomas Jefferson
This photograph was taken on the last day we worked in the Copantle community in Honduras. I like the way it captures Angelina and Michelle working alongside each other in Angelina’s garden. This image speaks to the Heifer Cornerstone, Sustainability & Self-Reliance. In the classes I have taken for the Civic Agriculture and Food Systems minor at Virginia Tech, we have had a lot of discussions about how “sustainable” agriculture should be defined, about the threefold social, ecological and economic components. Sustainable agriculture enables citizens to meet present-day needs without degrading the resources left for future generations. The agroecological principles we saw being put to use in Angelina’s garden and fields are sustainability and ecological stewardship in action. After our first day of work in Copantle, Angelina gave us a tour of her land and it was incredible to see the principles of ecological agriculture I have learned about being used in this Honduran community. The steep slopes that overlook Angelina’s community are planted with pineapple, banana, plantain, coffee bushes. The biodiversity here is intentional and incredible to see. Every plant chosen is there for a reason, which Angelina shared with us: the pineapple, for instance, provides natural terracing on the slope. This photo also embodies Food Security/Food Sovereignty, a core value of the Civic Agriculture and Food Systems minor. Food security essentially means knowing where your next meal is coming from. Food sovereignty refers to having access to food that is healthy and culturally appropriate, and that is produced in environmentally and socially responsible ways. A community with food sovereignty also has the ability to define their own food system. From what I saw in Copantle and heard from Angelina about her vision for continuing to build upon the resources that they have, I would say that this community is definitely on the right track for achieving food sovereignty. Heifer International’s mission is “to work with communities to end hunger and poverty and care for the Earth.” Seeing the civic agriculture in the Copantle community, thanks in no small part to Angelina’s tireless efforts, has allowed me to understand why “caring for the Earth” is a vital part of Heifer’s mission statement. Hunger and poverty cannot be eliminated if we do not take care of the Earth. Healthy communities are built upon healthy soils.