Letters

Letters: Readers Respond

NOT QUITE RIGHT
I love reading World Ark because I always learn so much from it. So when I see that others might learn something wrong from reading World Ark, I have to contact you. I expect that others, too, have asked you to inform your readers and the writer of the column headed “Harvest” on Page 9 of the January/ February 2009 issue that “In the Bleak Midwinter” is not an old spiritual. The poem that begins with those words was written by Christina Rossetti and published in 1872 with the title “A Christmas Carol.” It first appeared as a hymn in The English Hymnal in 1906, set to a tune composed for it by Gustav Holst.

Spirituals are songs from the oral tradition that arose from the experiences of African-American slaves, authors, composers and original singers or audiences unknown. There are also modern spirituals, written by lyricists and composers inspired by the earlier traditional spirituals.

Donna Hamilton
Oakland, Calif.

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INSPIRATION
I received my copy last week and immediately sat down to read every article. I seldom do this with any magazine but found this issue particularly well done and relevant. I was just ready to review Dr. Farmer’s Mountains Beyond Mountains and had recently read a Kingsolver book. Thank you for stimulating material.

Pat Shanower
Naperville, Ill.

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As an avid reader of World Ark, I see the wonders Heifer accomplishes every day around the world with help from the most ordinary of people. I have found that 15-year-olds like myself want to help, too, but just don’t know how. We can’t drive, give our own donations or work. But now I know different. I found your article “The World Grows Smaller” a great inspiration to teens all over the world. It shows that anyone can help, whether they live in the suburbs or out in the country. How can I find out more information about projects like this in my area?

Jessica Fisher
Bel Aire, Kan.

Editor’s note: For more information about The Food Project, a program featured in our January/February issue, visit www.thefoodproject.org.

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After reading your article about 47 cows placed in the country of Georgia, I am reminded of how the deadly unrest in war-torn Albania was quieted down by the gift of Heifer cows. Another impressive placement comes to mind concerning the widows in Kosovo, who had nothing until Heifer gave them cows (and hope). This especially interested me, as I had just read an article (from the Los Angeles Times) referring to a women’s group in Iraq who asked for 50 cows for 50 Iraqi widows. Cows were recently bought and delivered by the U.S. Marine Corps.
 
Lois McKeon
Whispering Pines, N.C.

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TOO MANY DISHES ?
Looks to me like Bess Mutelo [January/ February issue, Page 43] aspires to be the Martha Stewart of Mumbwa, Zambia. I count at least 88 plates and bowls on display for use by her 16 family members. And the photo doesn’t show all she has. I’m glad prosperity has come to her household, but I feel left behind. I’m inclined to suspend my contributions to Heifer International until I accumulate as much tableware as Bess Mutelo owns. Help me understand why I should spend less money on my own household in order to send money to help folks buy and build display shelves for far more dishes than any meal requires. Many thanks to Jake Lyell for his photo that captures a scene I would never have imagined in a thatch-roofed home in rural Zambia.

Nancy R. Sherer
Dillsburg, Pa.

Editor’s note: Heifer works to enable people to provide for themselves and their families. We’re delighted with Ms. Mutelo’s success, which shows how well Heifer’s program in Zambia is working. Just six years after receiving her first cow, Ms. Mutelo generated enough income to feed a large family.

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A CATCH
Please be aware that in many states, especially those in the western U.S. where water is a precious commodity, it is actually illegal to collect rainwater and use it for your own personal use [as suggested in the January/February issue] unless you replenish the water taken to the entity that has rights to it. For instance, in Colorado where I live, water is subject to many complex layers of water-use law and water-use rights going back over a hundred years. The following is a quote from the Colorado State Extension Service regarding harvesting rainwater: “The diversion and use of rainwater is subject to Colorado water law, making it difficult to use without a plan for augmentation that replaces depletions to surface water flows.” One is allowed to have the rainwater flow off one’s gutters and downspouts directly into one’s yard, but collecting it in a barrel for future use is not permissible.

Alison Greengard
Lakewood, Colo.

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Q&A March /April
How did you celebrate Heifer’s first Pass on the Gift month in April?

Our local library has a place by the front door for a magazine exchange. I’m putting the copy of World Ark that you sent to me on the stack. In the spirit of “passing on the gift,” perhaps it will reach the hands of someone else who will realize the benefits of sharing what we have been given with others around the world. Other locations that would make excellent places for the Ark, once read, to fruitfully land would be the libraries of senior centers and the literature or tract rack of churches. “Passing on the gift” includes passing on the realization of the opportunity to share.

Tom and Judy Bank
Mechanicsburg, Pa.

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Q&A January/February
Small businesses are being touted as an effective path to help families become selfsufficient. Do you believe microenterprise is the answer to ending hunger and poverty?

So far, microenterprise is the strategy that has had the most immediate impact on ending poverty and hunger. While no one strategy provides a total solution, we can see how wonderfully powerful microenterprise has been. Since 1995, microlending has reached an average of 10 million families per year. Since an average family has five or six members, we have reached two thirds of a billion of our global sisters and brothers living in the extreme poverty of an income of $1 per day or less.

When Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank received a Nobel Prize in 2006, it was the Peace Prize they received, not the one for economics. Poverty and peace cannot coexist. Providing small loans is a strategy that allows borrowers to maintain their dignity and integrity.

Having lived and worked in Central America in the late 1980s and early 1990s, I came to realize how important it was for those who were living in extreme poverty to retain their dignity. They weren’t interested in receiving charity, and they couldn’t survive on promises. When visitors from the U.S. said, “Maybe someday your lives will be better,” it used to bother me. I had no response at the time.

When I learned about microlending in 1997, the impact of how much sense it made was powerful for me. I knew that it had to work. I started making microloans and promoting the strategy. It caught on among some friends who were active in social justice. Now, a wider range of people are involved.

Often, I hear people complain that our official leaders in government and religion don’t seem to be taking enough initiative to help end poverty and hunger. The good news is that they don’t have to. They can, however, join the many unofficial leaders, aka us. We have taken the initiative and are experiencing the joy of feeling more connected with our global family. Instead of saying, “Maybe someday,” we are saying, “Today, in fact, right now your lives start getting better. Here’s a loan to help you get started.”

John Poole
Santa Rosa, Calif.

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We want to hear from you! Send comments to worldark@list.heifer.org. Include your name, city, and a telephone number or e-mail address. Letters may be edited for length and clarity, and may be published online as well as in print. Because of the volume of mail we receive, we cannot respond to all letters.

Q&A Summer
Do you believe family farms will eventually disappear in the United States? Why or why not? Please limit responses to 250 words or less. E-mail your Q&A response to worldark@list.heifer.org.