Decisions, decisions

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I just took off my nametag for the last time. Unwound its black cotton strap, and lifted off from around my neck the laminated slip of paper making me official here on the farm. Kids won’t have to know my name anymore. Pastors, teachers, parents and scout leaders won’t ask for me, ask of me, or commend me.

Of course, it was my final school group this morning that gave me more frustration than any other. Perhaps it was their late arrival, the head teacher’s uppity attitude, the kids’ lack of manners, or the fact that we had to squeeze 3.5 hours of scheduled explorations into 1.5 hours of slightly jumbled explanations.

After rotating three groups through the “barnyard” area (scratching goats, feeding Abu, gawking at turkeys and petting angora rabbits) I sat down with this elementary school group to talk about their short day here. As always, I ask what they’ve seen and what they’ve learned. It’s in these few quiet minutes that all of my work, everyone’s work, shines.

Today, I had second-graders. Rowdy ones. But when we say down to talk, they had all sorts of interesting insights, and impressive stories to share. You see, this second grade had raised enough money ($250) to buy a water buffalo through our organization so that we in turn can provide a community with a sustainable resource.

This means that some second graders half-way around the world will wake up soon with their lives changed. They’ll have a mammoth mammal to help break their cycle of hunger and poverty. They’ll have an animal that may provide one or more of what we call, “The 8 M’s”:

Milk
Meat
Material
Muscle
Money
More (animals)
Motivation
and everyone’s favorite: Manure

So, no matter the frustration and sheer exhaustion in leadings kids around for anywhere from 1.5 hours to 4.5 days on an exploration of hunger and poverty and cultures around the world, there are always a few minutes I know my time here has contributed some way to the organization’s mission to end world hunger and world poverty and to care for the earth.

Without proselytizing, without using the words “right” and “wrong”, just through experiential touching, feeding, working, exploring, talking and imagining, visitors leave here with new information. Or maybe old information thought about in a new way.

One kid last week (after having been here for 3 days) - wrote down when answering the following question, “What was the most significant aspect about hunger and poverty you learned here?”:

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It gets better.
With simplicity.

For, if there’s only one thing I’d like everyone to leave with, and one thing to remind myself of,

over any cultural,
nutritional,
biological,
economical,
or agricultural fact…

well, it is something that was perfectly articulated by a fourth-grader answering the same question of “What was the most significant aspect about hunger and poverty you learned here?” He said:

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I leave here hopefully having gotten that through to one kid, maybe one adult. And I leave here hopefully having reminded myself of that, too. Our actions have impact, and as fortunate people, we have choices about our actions.

I leave you for now with this quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:

“Before you finish eating breakfast this morning, you’ve depended on more than half the world. This is the way our universe is structured. We aren’t going to have peace on earth until we recognize this basic fact of the interrelated structure of all reality.”

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Photos

NYC Camel Permit
it just doesn't exist. i thought about boarding him at the stables in Prospect Park - but alas, he'll have to stay here...

DweedleDeeDweedleDum
I'll have to settle for these guys...I'm sure i could fit one on my balcony.

I do what I do
to prevent us from even needing counters such as this one on a secluded backroad in Vermont