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Middle School Youth Group
Heifer Trip

April 29 – May 1, 2011
By Kate Koster, age 13

Heifer Overlook Farm was an experience that changed my view (and I bet everyone else who went there's view) on the global poverty issues that we face today. Heifer is an organization which takes donated money and, in turn, will donate an animal or a group of animals to countries that need them. The choice of the animal depends on the donations and the country's needs. For instance, if you give only twenty dollars, you can provide a flock of chicks, ducks, or geese to a family in need. These things could change someone's life. To know that you have made a difference in someone's life really makes you feel good. You can give things from trees to cows, and every single one can make a difference.

This was my second year at Heifer Overlook Farm with Saugatuck Middle School Youth Group, and it was just as fun. The first day you get there you sleep in regular bunk beds or A-frames, and on the second day, you learn about the world. You do a mapping project where you learn about what percent of its own produce each continent consumes and what percent of the world's population is in that continent. Then you eat lunch at one of the global village houses, eating what they would eat on a daily basis. This year and last year we ate lunch at Guatemala. We made our own black bean soup and corn tortillas. Then, we learned about the nutrients that have gone into this meal. After that, we take a tour of the global village which consists of 9 (and will soon be 10) different houses. Each house is a replica of what a house in poverty in these countries would look like. Each one also has their own set of animals that the family would use. These are the following countries: Guatemala (goats and chickens), Peru: (alpaca & guinea pigs), Thailand (water buffalo), Ghana (honey bees), Kenya, Poland, Kentucky, Mexico, Tibet (bulls) (Coming Soon: China!). Some countries' houses are no more than a small square of dirt surrounded by stone and metal (Peru), and some are trailers with no means of moving, running water or electricity.

Last year I stayed in the country of Poland. Most people want to end up staying in Poland because it is nicely furnished and big. But in reality this house could be shared with two families and tons of pigs and sheep! This year I stayed in Guatemala. Here, they do have bunk beds, but in a very small, tight room, and then there is another room for cooking and family gathering.

Each house was built for its environment. Thailand looks like a large tree house, and this suits the warm climate and the bamboo resources. Ghana is made of cement and stone, which would keep the house cool, and has three separate bedrooms with a large wooden frame and some rice sacks on top. Peru has very little windows and is very sturdy so that it can survive the cold wind in the mountains. Tibet is very simplistic, just a tent of thick animal hair that you can carry from place to place. And in Kentucky, there is a cheap old construction trailer turned into a small little home. While you are there, you go to market and buy food and cook your own meal. You live like those who live in poverty, which gives you a different perspective of the poverty issue. You are not allowed all of the fancy gizmos and gadgets that you may have brought, not even books, because you have to experience it like they do and see it from their perspective.

The whole Heifer experience was really worthwhile. When you know that all the money you donate will help raise an animal for a country in need of that animal, you feel great. Knowing that you are helping others less fortunate than you really has a gratifying feeling that comes along with it. To know you have made a difference in some ones life feels really good. I am glad I got to see the world from a different perspective, one that changed my way of thinking and maybe now I can help the world, and so can you.