This summer 11 members of FCC traveled to Heifer Ranch in Perryville Arkansas to learn more about Heifer International and to do service work on the ranch. Three youth and eight adults spent 2 days learning about what Heifer does and how the ranch works. We spent time milking goats, walking goats, mucking out pens, learning to make cheese (from our fresh goats milk), and painting picnic tables. We then spent an afternoon and night in the Heifer Global Village. The Global Village offers an opportunity to experience a way of life you might never experience again. You might be spending the night in a Tibetan yurt, an Appalachian cabin, or slums with dirt floors. In the village your "family" is given a bucket of resources and you are then left to figure out how you are going to feed yourselves for the night. The exercise offers opportunity for problem solving, negotiation, and even failure. You quickly learn that working together is your best option. Our trip was a wonderful learning experience for everyone involved and it was a great opportunity for intergenerational relationship building.
