Tasting a different world

Deirdre Newman

The Newport-Mesa area is a far cry from the third world where many

families live in poverty and suffer from lack of food.

This summer, 19 Newport-Mesa junior high school students traveled

to the Heifer Ranch in Arkansas to gain a better understanding of

world hunger and how to solve the problem through different forms of

agriculture.

Part of the weeklong work camp included spending one night living

like a subsistence-level farmer in a developing area of the world.

The total experience left an indelible impression on the students’

minds, giving them a new perspective on their lives and inspiring

them to seek out ways to help others.

“I’m preparing the idea to present to [my] principal to collect a

fund to give to Heifer each month because Ensign [Intermediate

School] is in a pretty rich area and this would give [students] an

opportunity to give back,” said Jessica Pizarek, 13, who will be an

Ensign eighth-grader on Tuesday.

The students went to Arkansas with a St. Andrews Presbyterian

Church youth group led by Dave Rockness.

This is the fourth summer he has led trips that focus on global

issues and prepare students for overseas missions.

Working at the ranch included outdoor “living classrooms” where

students learned about the root causes of hunger and poverty, and how

animals and people can make a difference.

Students also had to wake up at the crack of dawn to participate

in activities like milking goats, making cheese and pressing bricks.

Teamwork is also highlighted with activities like a ropes course.

Rockness said the hands-on focus is essential for junior high

school students.

“They need something tangible in their educational experience,”

Rockness said. “They just ate up making bricks. It could be the most

boring thing in the world, but they understood the concept.”

One of the most challenging parts of the week was spending the

night in the Global Village.

During that night, the students were divided randomly into

families and given basic resources like food, water, firewood and

shelter.

But not all the groups had access to all the resources, so the

students had to barter with each other to acquire what they needed.

Emily Leece, daughter of trustee Wendy Leece, was assigned to The

Barrio, which involved 10 people living in three small huts made out

of cardboard-like material.

“The ground was hard, there were bugs, it was humid,” said Emily,

a 13-year-old Ensign eighth-grader. “So we went to the Guatemala

House and slept there.

“We had to sleep on the ground with rocks. But it was worth it to

find out what people live like every day ... and we only had to for

one night.”

Others had to contend with lack of food.

“For five people, we had the equivalent of a small dinner for one

person,” Jessica said. “After divvying it up, though, it was so

satisfying.”

The intensive experience illustrating how many people around the

world live was not lost on the students.

“We even complained while we were there,” Emily said. “In our

attitudes, it showed that kids younger than us had to work a lot

harder than us.”

But after making it through the week, the students realized how

much of a shift in attitude and behavior had inevitably taken place.

“In the beginning, when we were [at the airport], everyone was

kind of wild,” said Luke Brown, 13, who will be an eighth-grader at

Mariners Christian School. “Coming back, we were more well-behaved

because we had to work and knew self-discipline better.”

They also noticed differences between Orange County and Arkansas.

“Being in a another part of the country, people don’t care about

what kind of clothes they wear,” Jessica said. “They get more out of

life.”

Many of the students came back with ideas of how to apply what

they had learned, digging in their closets for clothes to donate to

Goodwill and helping out more at home.

“Now I have more respect for my mom,” Emily said. “So I’ll offer

to cook instead of asking her to take us out to dinner because she’s

so tired [after working].”

Jessica hopes to convince fellow Ensign students to donate $5 a

month to donate to Heifer for the purchase of animals.