World Ark Magazine - January/February 2009 - (Page 32)

by spending time with the people they are helping to feed, participants begin to understand how food is directly connected to the well-being of the body as well as of the community. says. he was impressed by how ordinary everyone seemed. “People could be rich and high society and then their lives could go straight down.” it also gave him a context for the group’s hard work. “The food Project seems so little but does so much,” he says. “one day’s harvest can feed everyone in this shelter.” by spending time with the people they are helping to feed, participants begin to understand how food is directly connected to the well-being of the body as well as of the community. rudeana Silas (known as rudy), 16, of dorchester, says that the program helped her learn more about healthy eating, which had never been a priority in her family. like Tyree, she feels that taking their food to service agencies brought home a certain truth about the fundamental necessity of their work. “i think that doing the shelters is like full circle,” she says. “we do the growing, the harvesting, the wash stations, and then to the shelter. and so you see: This is how it happens.” Making the Sale while lennie’s crew finishes cultivating the bean patch in the sun, the crew of a young woman named lynette Corea huddles in the shade of a giant tree, brows furrowed, trying to distinguish between bunches of purple basil, lemon basil and Thai basil. in addition to fieldwork and working at local shelters, each crew takes a turn running one of the project’s weekly farmers markets, for which they are given a crash course in the rudiments of vegetable identification, customer service and making change. Today lynette’s crew will be taking a turn, and over the course of the morning, they rotate through several stations tackling such challenges as whether someone can pay for produce with wiC, or women, infants and Children Program for nutrition benefits (yes), or what to do if someone speaks to you in a language you don’t understand (“just point to the price on the price board,” offers lynette). “what do you do if the customer complains that you’re going too slow?” lynette asks. “Say, ‘Sorry ma’am, we’re going as fast as we can,’ ” suggests a lanky boy with a baseball cap on backward. “what if people complain that the prices are too high?” lynette asks. “Tell them that the farmers have to make a profit, too,” says one girl. “Tell them that the food is grown with sustainable methods,” says another boy. “we’re offering a different product than you would get in the grocery store.” “right, and tell them the food was just picked this morning!” lynette says. “This is a good time to educate them.” The group has a couple of hours before it is time to set up for market, and after lunch they return to the plot for a little last-minute work with the hulahoe, a hoe with a blade in the shape of a loop that makes weeding much faster. Their upcoming stint at the market weighs on some of them, however, like arcadio leonard-Campos, 15, a shy, handsome teenager who says he is reluctant to strike up conversations with strangers. rudy Silas, working a row with arcadio, Arcadio LeonardCampos sets up a booth at the market. www.h ei f er .o r g 32 j a n uar y / feb ruar y 2 0 0 9 | world ark http://www.heifer.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of World Ark Magazine - January/February 2009

World Ark Magazine - January/February 2009 Contents Letters For the Record The Good Life Asked and Answered Microfinance: A Lot for a Little Business is Buzzing in Honduras The World Grows Smaller Mixed Media Heifer Spirit Heifer Bulletin Calendar First Person

World Ark Magazine - January/February 2009

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