Wednesday Heifer Ranch Reflections by Bennett, Maddie and TJ

Bennett's reflection...

"Last night and today were the most thought-provoking, fun and hard days that I have spent at the Heifer Ranch so far. At about 1:30 pm yesterday, we all headed down a trail with sleeping bags and pillows to go on a tour of the Global Village, which is collection of houses from countries all over the world. Once we had finished our tour and discussed the assets and disadvantages of each village, we headed back to our houses. I was assigned to sleep in the Urban Slums, along with a lot of Belmont youth. It was harder than I thought it was going to be, as we were given no food and had to barter for it. We also were assigned to the slum house with wasps and a brick floor (which made us sleep out under the stars, which was AMAZING!) We then had to get up the next morning and cook breakfast for the 72 people in the Global Village, which was an adventure that involved a lot of oatmeal, some pot scrubbing and hauling water. We then had to go back to the barn and wash dishes, and then we had a discussion before heading back to the lodge to take LONG, really amazing showers. I was surprised and humbled by the kindness shown last night, and I am very thankful for the experience I had.

We then had a really good lunch, and we got to pick and activity, and I chose concrete crew, so 4 boys and I headed off to shovel gravel and sand for about 3 hours, and make concrete for the flagpoles. It was really hard work, but we were all very happy to be finished. All in all, the last 24 hours has been surprising, influential and at times both happy and sad, but it has taught me a lot, and I am looking forward to the rest of the week."

Maddie's reflection...

"The Global Village was so much fun. I was in the brick floor shack w/ Ciona, Lanecia, Bennett, Katelyn, Haley, Megan, Avalon and myself. For dinner we had to trade our rice w/ the other villages for their food. We had unlimited water, a lot of wood; and for dinner we had stew w/potatoes, onions, carrots and rice mixed with eggs. While the wonderful food was getting cooked, Megan was swatting at wasps. Because the wasps were angry; we all slept outside! Fun times...."

TJ's reflection...

"I had a pretty intense one-and-a-half days spiritually and mentally. I have been asked to recap our Global Village experience as well as my day today. It will be difficult to include everything.

Yesterday afternoon, we all piled into the Guatemala Barn, our meeting space for the whole Global Village experience. After a couple of minutes my number was called; I was selected as a mother!! When we were told our group was the Zambian family (with Carrie, William, Kate, Ellen, and Mary), I felt relieved that I did not end up in the slums or as refugees (some other Belmonters were not as fortunate). The Zambian hut was a spacious brick hut. Beside it was a fire pit with covering and a stove with a chimney. We were right on the water. To be able to eat our rabbit, we had to have a consensus, and also attend the ceremony honoring the bunny's life. We went to the ceremony and settled our hut. It was great to begin with because we had 10 potatoes and 18 carrots. However, with such wealth comes beggars. We had so much food at first, we decided to make a lot of trades. But when we had about half of our starting food, we became protective of our food (and I became protective of my new born baby, a water balloon). I learned a lot about compassion and the life standard of these people. We cooked a savory meal with rice, onions, and potatoes in a stew. We let the refugees have our leftovers.

It was by an indirect route that we gave the refugees our food. We saw them as a hindrance to our dinner construction while they were truly hungry children with nothing. We did agree to let them use our stove to cook their scarce food. What should have then happened was, we should have served them some of our food of plenty and trusted that God would have fed everyone. Instead, we took our food first and did not let them eat any until our stomachs were stuffed. They were fed and seemed appreciative, but I regret turning our backs on them while we ate. I am glad everyone got fed and I wish we could apologize. We didn't trust God in that moment and we became selfish.

I went to sleep with my water balloon baby and slept soundly until roosters woke us up in the morning. We got up in the morning, had a breakfast cooked by the slum people, and gathered in the barn. We had a good lunch today with pasta. Tonight we are going to Sonic after a day of grueling work."