Internatl. Volunteer Day, Heifer Ranch

.
Today being International Volunteer Day I am thinking back to my eleven straight years (1995-2006) of serving as a full-time residential volunteer in Arkansas, Switzerland, and Australia.

My Heifer Ranch years, 1996-2002,  were great, shared with the wonderful volunteers in these two photos, as well as new ones who came every year.
The pictures, not my own, are from the late 1990s.
(Here above, I'm at the bottom right, kneeling.)

We all lived in several volunteer houses on the Ranch's 1,200 acres in Arkansas, USA.
We worked, ate, and played together.
I worked hard caring for the livestock and sometimes in the organic gardens.

Wikipedia explains Heifer International:

Heifer International  is a nonprofit working to eradicate poverty and hunger through sustainable, values-based holistic community development. Heifer distributes animals, along with agricultural and values-based training, to families in need around the world as a means of providing self-sufficiency. Recipients must agree to “pass on the gift” by sharing animal offspring, as well as the skills and knowledge of animal husbandry and agricultural training with other impoverished families.
Based in Little Rock, Arkansas, Heifer International started with a shipment of 17 heifers to Puerto Rico in 1944. Since 1944, Heifer International has distributed livestock such as goats, bees, and water buffalo, along with training and other resources, to 20.7 million families, or more than 105.1 million people in more than 125 countries.  . . .

My earlier posts about the Ranch are here. 
See what visitors do at Heifer Ranch educational farm: many programs available.

Learn about the good Heifer International does in the world at the website, and while  there click on the Gift Catalog where you can do your holiday shopping!
One share of a goat costs only $10, for instance.  See the other ways you can honor family and friends by  "buying"  animals and stuff in their name.

Instead of money I donated six years of full-time labor.
You might want to apply for a volunteer position of a few months at Heifer Ranch.  Who knows . . .
.
(Linking to Camera Critters.)
.

Goat on water buffalo

.

Photo by Joan Fahs

Last Saturday I posted a photo of a goat standing on a Jerusalem zoo bench. 

That same day my friend Joan Fahs shared an even funnier photo and, with her permission, here it is! 

It is from this winter's unusually frosty and icy February in Perryville, Arkansas.

When I worked and lived there at Heifer Ranch (1996-2002) our two water buffalo, Briggs and Stratton, shared the same big front pasture. 

Since then, one died, leaving his buddy rather lonely. 

So I'm glad to see the Livestock people have given him some bucks for company. 

This new mixed species pasture looks like it created a real symbiotic relationship! 

.

(Linking to Camera Critters.)

.

The death of a camel

.
Rajah died this week at Heifer Ranch in central Arkansas.
Shalom, old camel.
.

(Photo from Dave Lowe's album. ;-) Dave is the one on the left.)
.

Some of us ranch hands used to call this camel Gillette Foamy.

Male Dromedaries have a soft palate which they inflate to produce a pink sack.

This doula, as it is called in Arabic, hangs out of the side of their mouth -- some say -- to attract females during the mating season.

Well, Rajah was making the blub-blub-blub sound with his slobbering doula in every season.

.

It was always a race to see if I could drive the Livestock pickup truck to his feed box on the fence and dump the feed before he raced over and spewed his foam on my hat. Feh!
.

(Photo by Rena Olsen)

.
Then one day in the late 1990s someone, a certain G.J., had the bad idea to pasture a donkey with Raja and Gobi (the female camel).

I came to the paddock and discovered this just ten minutes before I needed to catch the donkey (put on a halter and lead rope) and bring her to my workcamper group for a "cut and carry" forage project.

.

I had no choice but to enter the big pasture and grab the donkey.

Oh no! For a few terrifying minutes that huge anti-social camel was grunting fearful noises while he danced a circle around me bobbing his head up and down!

I released the donkey and backed off, feigning courage to my opponent.

That gate seemed so far away.

.

Maybe that is why mine is the only minority opinion in the 41 (!) comments that Dave received on his Facebook announcement of Rajah's death. Everyone else says they will miss that camel.

.

Well, in death may Rajah rest in peace. He certainly never rested much in life.

.

P.S. I worked full-time at Heifer Ranch from 1996 to 2002. I lived there in community and worked and learned as a volunteer. You can too!

The Ranch is a learning center of Heifer International, an organization that gives livestock and training to folks in need around the globe.

.

This post is for Camera-Critters Sunday meme.

Drawing water with grace

.
Continuing the topic of world water shortage, I'd like to draw your attention to a short video of a beautiful and smiling woman drawing water--so gracefully--from a well in Senegal.
The Heifer Blog posted it for Blog Action Day.
.
Heifer International is a great organization that gives livestock, training, and hope to needy families around the world.

Heifer Ranch volunteers, ca. 1997
.

You can see from this photo what fun it is to be a volunteer at the Learning Center at Heifer Ranch .

.

I worked and lived with young folks like these at the Ranch in Arkansas from 1996 to 2002 (that's me on the right).

The kids did mostly guiding and experiential education work with the thousands of visitors who come through the ranch every year.

I got to take care of livestock and teach young work-campers how we do chores, and sometimes I worked in the organic gardens.

.

You too can contribute to Heifer's noble work, with gifts of your time or your money.

Christmas, Chanuka, birthdays are coming. Give the gift of hope, buy an animal or a share of an animal, through the unique gift catalog.

.

Bloggers unite--hunger and Heifer International

This message was in my inbox this morning: "Heifer International and BlogCatalog are calling for an end to world hunger. As part of our Pass on the Gift month, Heifer is asking you to join hundreds of others on April 29 by blogging, posting or tweeting about world hunger."
OK, I'll try.
Israel Independence Day is really too happy a day to dwell on the magnitude of starvation and poverty in the world. Maybe tomorrow . . . If you want the depressing statistics that were supplied, please click here.
.
The way I helped fight world hunger was to be a "major donor," not of money, but of labor freely given. From 1996 to 2002 I lived at Heifer Ranch in Arkansas, USA, working mostly with livestock.
Here we are, (part of) the resident volunteer crew of ca 1997.
Heifer International has been helping communities around the world since 1944.
In FY2008 Heifer had 869 active projects in 53 countries/provinces and 27 U.S. states. Heifer projects around the world help families achieve self-reliance through the gift of livestock and training.
Click on the Heifer project map to see if your country has projects.
Funding comes largely from donations.
Heifer Ranch is a beautiful 1,100 acres of peaceful pastures and hills.
There we demonstrate to thousands of visitors how world hunger can be eased. We show them some of the animals that Heifer gives, like cattle, sheep, goats, donkeys, rabbits, camels, water buffalo, llamas, chickens, and worms. And we prove that volunteers of all ages, from all over, can work and live together in community and thrive.
Hey, maybe you would like to give it a try for a month or more? Read about our Learning Centers, including Heifer Ranch, and how to volunteer at the HI website.
.