The first night there I was told the group going from Arkansas Tech would be staying in a lodge. I guess that everyone has a different view of what a lodge should be, but I assumed it would be hotel-like with hot water, warm beds, and pretty, although cliche, pictures hanging on the wall to relax you. Well little did I know that they use the term "lodge" very loosely. It was a stable with beds, no doors, no blankets, and no hot water..... in 30 something degree weather. It had absolutely no wind resistance, and I woke up the next morning completely miserable, tired, and with icicles for hair.
Theeeennn we got separated into the infamous villages, where we'd be staying the second night. There was the Zambian village (mud hut, no door or window, concrete floors, and tiny), the Slums (newspapers for walls, dirt floors), and the pretentious Guatemalan village (wood stove, beds, doors AND windows, and actual furniture!). I got put in the Zambian hut with 4 other girls, and got 2 potatoes and 2 carrots to eat for the night. All of the villages brought the food together and made a pot of stew using the little food we got. Pretty sure I got an innumerable amount of diseases from eating it, though, because I had just pet pigs and goats, made fires, and had no soap and no silverware to eat the food with.. So I ate the rice with my hands.
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| In front of the Zambian village |
That night it was supposed to get down to the 20's. So everyone infiltrated the Guatemalan hut, for at least a little warmth. 14 of us were in a hut about the size of most people's living rooms. But hey, body heat. At 11 that night everyone woke up and was FREEZING, so we tried to start a fire in the wood stove with the little wood we had left. Smoke billowed out of the stove, leaving a microscopic fire to warm everyone up. Well it did more harm than good, basically smoking us all out and almost killing us from the carbon monoxide being emitted. We opened the doors because the smoke alarm wouldn't shut up, only leaving us exposed to the cold and making other smoke alarms all over the ranch sound- which we had to go turn off.
Dirt dobbers were in the roof of the hut (which no one knew) and didn't like that we were causing such a ruckus with the smoke, so they came down to join us, too. The more the merrier, right? I left and went to sleep in the van because I didn't want to die from frostbite, being stung or carbon monoxide poisoning that night. I woke up at 5ish from a stupid rooster outside the car and a crick in my neck the size of Texas. We then proceeded to make oatmeal as a team (worst thing I've ever tasted) and were off to go feed the animals, clean the huts, and do chores that people in third world countries do every morning.
This trip was life changing. I learned way more than I wanted to, but truly got to experience the agony some people in this world have to go through on a day to day basis. It was eye-opening and only makes me want to end world hunger more. It was real, it was fun, but it wasn't real fun. I would be more than happy to visit the Heifer Ranch again, only I would be equipped with an eskimo coat and a full stomach this time!
