Day Five: Which Animal Will We Donate??

My mission in Missions on Friday was to give an overview of the Heifer Project, and really to focus on aspects of the organization. We learned about how HP was started in 1944 during the Spanish Civil War and has helped over 4 million families both directly and indirectly through passing on the gift. Heifer has some important guidelines for their work including:

• There must be need
• Humane treatment of animals
• Environmentally sustainable practices
• Communities and families share in decision making
• Must set goals and report progress
• Passing on the gift

Passing on the gift is something that I tried to reiterate time and time again during Missions, because it is what I see as the most important aspect of the Heifer Project. Not only does HP donate directly to communities, but those communities can keep spreading the wealth through passing on the gift, as well as experiencing the joy of giving.

The other mission during Missions was to choose which animal we wanted to buy with the money the children had brought for offering that week. Around the room, I had pictures of all the different animals you could buy through Heifer Project--honey bees, cows, ducks, chicks, llamas, trees, goats, pigs, water buffalo, fish, sheep and rabbits. Each child had four stickers for their four votes--they could put them all on one animal or split them up in any combination. After all four groups voted, our top vote-getters were rabbits, llamas and ducks. The petting zoo that we had that day likely had something to do with the rabbits and the ducks getting so many votes. I didn't really want to point out that the rabbits were just going to be eaten when all the kids kept going on and on about how cute they were and that's why they voted for them...

Later in the afternoon, we found out how much money we had gotten through the week, and with the church's promise to match us, we had over $1000!!!! I can't remember the exact number, or the exact amount of animals but I believe we will be purchasing two llamas, a water buffalo, two goats, two flocks of ducks and three trios of rabbits. The kids were very excited and I am so glad that I got to be part of them making a difference for families throughout the world.

For Creative Arts Camp, we had a shorter day that day to prepare for our presentation. We did some quick theater games then went over the dance they would be doing later. We had three groups, and had each one do a different dance--Jai Ho, African dance or folklorico. The music group had to borrow the stage about halfway through, so we moved to a different room and played a few rounds of freeze dance.

Later we got to present our dances, and I stood where they could see me to remind them of the dance steps. All of the groups did very well and I think really showed what they learned during the week. We didn't have time to do any of the plays so we told the parents to ask their kids about them. The other presentation groups were quite good as well, and I liked seeing what the other classes did.

This was a wonderful week and I am so glad I got to participate. Heifer Project has been an important organization to me for a long time and I was glad to learn more as well as share with a new generation. I also love teaching dance and am glad that I got to expand their horizons a little bit in terms of dance. What a great week!