World Ark Magazine - March/April 2009 - (Page 16) ”This training is building on ancestor values: respect, accountability, generosity. Ours is a culture of extreme hospitality. That translates very reasonably into Passing on the Gift, for example.” with her sick chicken. “pay us money and he’ll get well,” the monks declared. “if you don’t, he won’t. Same goes for the chicken.” act Two: the entire village squatted on the ground, weeping. The “child” was dead, the chicken upside-down. other animals in the village were sick. The small actors shed genuine tears; it was no stretch to imagine this crisis. But then—if only they had a soundtrack!—in strode modismita dressed as a project partner, with a heifer shoulder bag. She gathered up eight “women” for cornerstones training and clicked down the list impressively: “accountability! we set our own goals, plan strategies and evaluate success. gender and family focus! men and women share decision-making. improving the environment! Sustainability and self-reliance! and better veterinary care for these animals!” The last value she mentioned was “Spirituality,” presumably meaning to practice one’s religion without getting fleeced. when the priest came back demanding payment—post cornerstones training—the women chased him away with sticks. “Two Years later,” modismita announced, gesturing at a village where the animals now prospered, and the priest was teaching cornerstones training. The end! for rekha Jena and her family, “food” used to mean a few cups of rice porridge each day. She lives in Bisailo Village, the “untouchable place” on the riverside where local women befriended the akandalamuni women’s club and passed on to them the cornerstones training they’d learned in a heifer project. in exchange, the women’s club brought food during the last flood. Jena held her hand at her knees to show the level reached by the monsoon-swollen river. it’s an annual disaster, forcing the villagers to huddle for weeks on the opposite bank in miserably unsanitary conditions. Jena’s family has now returned to their house where the floor space is about twice the size of the family’s single cot. her outdoor kitchen is a hole in the ground, for fire. half-grown pullets darted around the courtyard, evidence of the village’s chicken project. last year Jena earned $200 from sales of eggs. “each of my children eats one egg every day. Now i am increasing my number of birds.” She pushed her orange sari back from her wide forehead, revealing deep-set eyes and delicate features ornamented by a thin gold nose ring. “Before, i depended on my husband for everything. if i needed a sari or anything, i hated to ask. i don’t want my daughters to live like that.” recently when they visited her husband’s family in another village, he bragged that his wife was secretary of her group. “That’s when i knew he was proud.” her husband, Sudersan, agreed. “She’s become more confident than i am. The women here used to just pull their saris over their heads and go inside the house if anyone came. Now they hold hands and go where they want. my wife can speak to 50 people. when i see her go to these Schoolchildren meetings, and stand up and speak, i discuss values know she has changed.” they’ve learned rekha Jena said her group was mak- in a Cornering plans now to go to the government stones club, office to tell them to construct a dike including to stop the flooding. “in the beginning community we heard this word empowerment, and service and we didn’t know what it meant. Now we a dedication do. it is having a plan.” to education. 16 m a rch / ap r i l 2 00 9 | world ark www.he i f e r .o r g http://www.heifer.org
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.