8th Grade Experiences Heifer Ranch

The Class of 2023 spent two days last week at the Heifer Village in Perryville, Arkansas, exploring the question: if there’s enough for everyone, why doesn’t everyone have enough? Upon arrival at the Heifer Village, students learned about the work of Heifer International and the dynamics of wealth distribution and consumption across the world. Then, the students were divided up into family groups and sent to experience a night in Guatemala, Zambia, Tibet, Thailand, Appalachia, an urban slum, or a refugee camp. Resources were divided up amongst the groups based on their family’s relative wealth, and then the students had to trade, barter, and work with each other to gather supplies and cook a complete meal.

 

The 8th graders had a pretty successful evening – after several fires were built everyone was able to eat at least a few bites. The next morning, the family group living in the urban slums made a hearty oatmeal breakfast for the rest of the class, and then everyone participated in cleanup, chores, and a few discussions about how they felt, how they struggled, and how they succeeded.  Moving forward, the students will come back to this experience often in their classwork, discussing further what they have learned and what we as a community can do to reduce hunger.Photos from the trip are here.