World Ark Magazine - January/February 2008 - (Page 44) THE HEIFER SPIRIT|GIVING RESOURCES, GIVING SELF Decades of Dedication By Matthew Cate | WORLD ARK CONTRIBUTOR Linda Ogline cradles a baby goat during a visit to Overlook Farm. (inset) Linda poses with her husband Phil Ogline during a study tour to Cameroon. A fter spending some 30 years helped a community rebound from supporting it from a distance, the devastating carbon dioxide Phil and Linda Ogline decided explosion at Lake Nyos 20 years to see up close and in person how ago. Heifer continues with other Heifer International helps needy projects in that West African country, and the Oglines decided families across the globe. The York, Pa., couple first learned to take a May tour. of Heifer at a Vacation Bible School “It’s for real,” Linda Ogline said. at their former Methodist church “It’s not something you read about and continued supporting its work and say, ‘Well, that’s a good idea.’ over the years. But after a recent It’s for real if you’ve literally had stint as chaperones for a youth this hands-on exposure.” group project at Heifer’s Overlook In a group of about 14 tour Farm in Massachusetts, the members, the Oglines traveled to Oglines knew they had to do more. several Cameroonian villages where A Heifer employee visiting Overlook Heifer is lending a helping hand. Farm from Cameroon shared a Phil Ogline said time and again they story about how the organization saw appreciative families working to improve their lives. “They showed [the projects] off so proudly,” he said. “They were just so proud of what their results had been.” Linda Ogline said she returned home with the confidence that Heifer supporters aren’t merely helping to feed the poor, but instead they’re working to change lives. “What pulls us to Heifer is the fact that it’s an organization that gives people dignity, allows them to be their own people and allows them to have a sense of worth,” she said. “When you share with someone that you were on a trip like this you can say what Heifer is, what it does and what its mission is. I don’t want to give the impression that I’ve visited poor, helpless people. But what I can say is that I visited and met with people who were interested, willing, enthusiastic and, in their situation, willing to improve it.” A retired agricultural educator, Phil Ogline had taken a similar trip a year before in Honduras. He now is a Heifer volunteer coordinator in southeastern Pennsylvania and gives presentations to groups large and small, from civic clubs to churches. He said the trips have boosted his efforts to tell others of Heifer’s work. “The fact that I’ve had these experiences will better help me to explain,” he said, adding that he wished every supporter could take at least one trip. “They can become great ambassadors for Heifer.” www.heifer.org 44 January/February 2008 | WORLD ARK http://www.heifer.org
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