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THIS WEEK'S ISSUE From the Inside Out...
BE the World Helen
Keller said it best: ~ Chelle Thompson, Editor
| From the Inside Out |
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When we stop and think about the forces that have helped shape our lives, many of us can recall a loving parent or a caring teacher, or someone else who encouraged and inspired us and made us what we are today. But how many of us can look back and say, "I owe it all to a goat?" A young African woman by the name of Beatrice Biira can. If it weren’t for her goat, Beatrice wouldn’t have gone to school, wouldn’t have been lifted out of poverty, and wouldn’t have won a scholarship to a college in America. The equator runs right across the country road that leads to Beatrice's home. You can stand in both hemispheres. Beatrice's life has become something like that in the last few years. She's had one foot in the African bush, and the other in New England — all because of a goat. "It is through selling the goat's milk that I was able to go to school," says Beatrice, who owes her good fortune to a goat named Mugisa (which means luck) and a charity called Heifer International. Beatrice’s village, Kisinga, sits nestled in a valley in the western part of Uganda. Beatrice remembers being hungry as a child. "There wasn't much food in our fields. And if it was there, it was almost the same meal every other day. Like you eat cassava or sweet potatoes in the afternoon and in the evening. And, I must say that we were hungry," she says. And yet, despite going hungry and not having much hope for the future, she later found herself on the campus of Northfield Mt. Hermon, in northern Massachusetts. Heifer International is known for its work distributing livestock to poor families all over the world. In 1991, Heifer introduced 12 goats to 12 families in Kisinga. Beatrice’s family was lucky enough to be among them. At 9, Beatrice was performing adult chores, and yearning desperately to attend school. But her family, one of the poorest in Kisinga, just couldn't afford it. It seemed as though Beatrice would always be on the outside looking in. She says she kept bugging her parents: "I was very impassioned. I really wanted to go to school." Enter her goat. The Heifer goats are bred to produce prodigious amounts of milk. After struggling for years, just to feed her kids, Beatrice’s mother was able to sell enough goat’s milk to finally send Beatrice, then 10, to the local school. "I was very eager to go to school," recalls Beatrice. "Even when I got there, I made sure that I did extra work, extra homework, extra help, how to read, how to write. And I made it pretty quick." From there, she won a scholarship to a high school in Kampala, Uganda’s capital. Then, she went on to prep school in New England, where it turns out, her biggest adjustment was winter. "It was ridiculously cold. It was really cold. Like negative 30 degrees," recalls Beatrice. "And 20 inches of snow. That has never occurred to me in my life." But seasons change, and for the first time in her life, Beatrice learned how to play tennis. She might never make it to Wimbledon, but she’s pretty smart and won an award for general excellence. Not bad for a kid who grew up with her parents and seven brothers and sisters in a tin-roofed shack in Africa, with an outhouse nearby. With all the money donated to help fight famine around the world, with all the grandiose plans conceived to conquer poverty, sometimes all it takes to save a child is a goat. If you don’t believe that, come to Kisinga. The sale of the goat's milk and offspring gave Beatrice's mother enough money to send all of her children to school. And like all members of Heifer International's projects, she passed on the gift of the first female offspring to another family in need, continuing the benefits of income and nutrition. You get a goat, and you share your goat’s offspring with one of your neighbors. It’s done in a ritual called “Passing on the Gift.” Beatrice's story reveals the devastating reality of poverty, and that EVEN THE SMALLEST CONTRIBUTION toward the purchase of a gift animal can drastically improve lives all over the world. Begin the new year with kindness and generosity. To make a difference in the lives of families like Beatrice's, you can make a contribution through THE MOST IMPORTANT GIFT CATALOG IN THE WORLD AT HEIFER INTERNATIONAL. |
Far Horizons BULGARIAN NEW
YEAR
Bulgarians
dressed in animal costumes dance in the village of Lesnovo, 30 km east of the
capital Sofia. Dancers, named 'kukers', call for good health and harvests.
This is the time when people look back over all that has happened during the year
and to believe that everything bad is already behind and the new year will only
bring happiness. The early morning of 1st January is 'New Year Tibe' when
another unusual Bulgarian custom called 'sourvakane' is performed by boys
between 5 and 16 with twigs decorated with coins, small ring-shaped buns, popcorn
and bright ribbons. In the morning they wish their parents and other relatives
Happy New Year by tapping their backs with the twigs. The custom pays homage to
ancestors and is held near the fireplace, where according to an ancient legend,
their spirits live. At the New Year's table you'll find ritual loaves of bread
made by the oldest housewife with depictions on them of the field, the vineyard,
the garden and the sheep-pen, expressing a common hope that the new year will
bring fertility to the land. 'Banitza,' a flaky cheese pie is rolled out
in a baking dish, and if you crunch up something while eating it, this is your
piece of luck. It is actually a cornel twig which symbolizes success throughout
the coming year. According to an old Slavic custom, pork is also present on the
New Year's table as chops or any other kind of meat. And last but not least —
the festive table is rich in dried fruit such as plums and apricots, raisins,
walnuts and grape clusters.
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Facts
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Things
were going pretty much like always this year ... that is, until September
5th when I had a very startling "Footwear Malfunction" (not televised
on the Super Bowl, however). On Labor Day I was across the street at my good friend
Phyllis' house checking on their kitty 'Fred.' In the backyard, I took an innocent
step onto a sandy area and my left ankle started twisting out of my sandal; then
when I shifted to the right foot, there was an ominous 'snap-crackle-pop' ...
and down I went. My wonderful husband Bruce took me to the Urgent Care Clinic
where we learned that I had fractured all three bones in my right ankle and seriously
sprained the left ankle, which became big, puffy and purple. About two weeks after surgery I got to experience an ethereal stop sign. I had become overconfident in my ability to pull myself to a standing position with the walker while going up a couple of stairs — then one day SPLAT! — I didn't have my weight shifted forward enough, so I flipped over backwards! My ankles went unscathed, but I scraped and bruised my elbows. From that point I decided to take a sit-back-and-wait-for-the-bones-to-knit approach, rather than engineering clever ways to still do EVERYTHING. In October, I went for a lovely birthday lunch with a dear friend here in Santa Fe. She drove up to the restaurant entrance so I could navigate inside with my trusty walker. It was a funny thing that, without even thinking about it, I waited for her to open the door and hand me the walker. She said, "I guess you're used to having your door opened for you," and we both laughed! Later, in reflection, I realized how delightful it is to no longer care about appearing strong or perfect or able to do everything no matter what ... real strength comes from letting go when you need to, and being steely capable when you choose to be. Once I elected to just 'watch my bones knit' instead of doing acrobatic stunts to accomplish giant tasks, healing appeared in many forms. This reminds me of one of my favorite authors, Dr. Toni Grant, who wrote in her book Being a Woman that with strong women there is actually strength in surrender — Women who tend to operate as powerful Amazonian archetypes can EVOLVE to a place where they are able to release the need to always be right and the compulsion to prove themselves over and over. I've practiced this for many years by not trying to win every argument and not hyper-achieving in the workplace. Now I'm relinquishing the need to prove myself at all ... which is bringing much more serenity into my life. Blessings
To All for A Glorious New Year ...
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Thompson
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