They all liked her face .. and her hat… and her giant Black Tiger Shrimp!
Malawi (November)
Ecuador (December)
Last October, I proposed to Heifer International that I visit 12 countries in 12 months in 2012 to visit their projects around the world…. and they said yes!
Heifer 12 x 12 was born in January 2012, and today— 12/12/12 — I’m celebrating this journey of discovery & inspiration that is almost coming to an end. Thanks for coming along on this wild, joyful ride!!
My last two days in China were spent visiting Heifer International projects in Jingu and Fuxing Village … towns that were hit hard by the disastrous 7.8 earthquake that tore a path of destruction 500 kilometers through the heart of Sichuan province on May 12, 2008. These rural communities raised livestock and fruit, but inside the collapsing barns and houses most of the livestock were killed – along with 68,000 people.
The rebuilding of the Earthquake- Affected area by the Chinese government has been intense, but the Lizhou Poverty Alleviation Bureau chose to work with Heifer for livestock replacement because of its reputation for long-term results. (Or as the Heifer China staff humbly told me, “Our strict standards, high expectations of our farmers, and precise reporting of results make us challenging to work with. But I think we got chosen because we have a reputation for changing people, communities, and the government entities we work with for good.”)
Yang Shengxue, a master breeder & his wife Wuchang Lian in their newly renovated pig barn in Jingu.
The project started in March 2010 in the two villages (and six neighboring communities) with the establishment of 26 Self Help Groups consisting of about 20 families each. They met weekly to begin trainings in animal husbandry; breeding; group savings; animal barn improvement; Heifer concepts like the 12 Cornerstones in cooperation, sharing and gender equality; and value chain marketing.
Only then—after six months’ work – did the 505 families in Lizhou receive their animals. Some chose chickens, some pigs – depending on the land they had to raise crops and the labor required. But by the end of 2011, those original 505 families had recruited 505 more families to form new SHGs, passed on their trainings, and are getting ready to pass on the gift of animals in June of this year.
A captivating local pig!
And what a gift!! The pigs, in particular, are beauties.
The new breed of sows provided by Heifer are more shapely than the local stock (these are the words of the villagers, but I’m not taking sides as I kind of got attached to the local babe on your left), they grow heavier faster with more meat and less fat, and when they do reproduce, the sows have 13-16 babies in a litter. Unfortunately, there have been some fertility issues with the new breed and Heifer vet techs are working to encourage the farmers to feed the sows carefully with only raw food, give vaccinations, and keep their barns clean and hygienic to promote pregnancy.
Oh, Mama!
One of the indomitable ladies of Fuxing.
In Fuxing I met with the only all-women’s Self Help Group, as most of the men have left to work in the city, their teenagers are away at boarding school, and the women have been left behind to farm and raise animals.
Organic forage is best.
Communally, the women can support one another, meeting once a week to share their stories, discuss animal problems (for instance, when a pig develops a weak hind leg, you don’t just wait for it to die, you treat it with meds and stop feeding it so much protein and no cooked food…good to know!!). The women also work together to maintain the new road into town, clean the village, and build reservoirs to harvest water to get them through the 2-month drought period when they used to have to carry water up to the fields in buckets.
The villages are beautiful – blanketed with yellow fields of rapeseed (for oil), orchards, and neat fields, but the women have despaired of their children moving back here. “Emotionally we want them to come back, but financially, we know they can’t survive here. Our children can’t get used to the hard farm work we do or handle the risk of a failed crop or lost animals.”
“They’ll have an easier, better life in the city,” another mother says.
… I’ll be waiting …
I ask the mothers if they want to move to the city and they laugh and say in unison, “Never. It’s hard here but we can’t get used to the air and the noise in the city. Maybe things will get better someday and our children will come back to the farm.”
I’ll leave you with this haunting song from the women of Fuxing (sorry it’s dark but we were inside by a fire)!
The first thing you notice about Waqi Wunin is how deeply alive she is– with sparkling eyes, a melting smile and a big personality housed in a pixie frame. Which is ironic considering the fact that every day, Waqi confronts her own death.
Waqi has AIDS; she got it from her drug-addicted husband who died in 2010, leaving her a widow with three small children, now 10, 8 and 6.
The good news is that Heifer International started a pig project in Zhaojue County, China in 2006 –and in 2009, Waqi was selected as a Passing on the Gift recipient of two piglets and a sow.
Despite the fact that she was then very ill (with fevers that gravely damaged her hearing), Waqi never missed a single training from Heifer staff and project managers. She learned to build a concrete sty for her pigs, and religiously adopted the habit of cleaning it three times a day to keep it hygienic and insect-free. She learned how to inject her pigs with vaccines and give them medicine so they could survive debilitating diarrhea and minor infections. She learned to raise nutritious forage crops in the fields behind her house and feed her pigs organically. And she learned to keep meticulous breeding records to improve the genetics of her stock.
As a result of her hard work, Waqi is now breeding the most healthy, clean, fertile, and laid-back pigs I’ve ever seen.
And it’s not just my opinion; the whole village of Puti knows that Waqi has the best piglets around. In 2011, she sold 140 piglets for 12,000 yuan ($2,000), plus earned another 4,000 yuan from an abundant rice crop fertilized by her pigs’ manure. All this from an original 2 piglets and a sow from Heifer – a gift that she passed on to a new needy family last year, along with all the teachings and trainings in how to raise good pigs that she generously shares with any neighbors who want to learn.
Waqi is a leader in Puti Village, the Zhaojue government official associated with Heifer’s project told me in admiring wonder. Teaching by the power of her own example, she’s paid off her husband’s debts, sent her children to school, loaned money to others in need, and even though she needs IV treatments three times a week and has to take handfuls of government-supplied medicines daily to stay healthy, she never stops working.
Looking around her spotless, cheerful household with all its responsibilities of animals, farming and beautiful young children, I know it’s an overwhelming burden for one small healthy woman to manage. When I asked her where she gets the will and energy to prevail–and to give to others — for the first time her smile disappeared and the grief running just below the surface of her life crumpled her face in tears.
“Sometimes it’s hard for me to get up in the morning, but thinking of my children forces me to get up and do the work,” she says when she composes herself again and breaks out the twinkling smile each one of her children has inherited. “It’s for my children that I want to go on.”
Waqi’s adorable oldest daughter.
This Mother’s Day you can share the love that Heifer is letting loose in the world by clicking here. ( I know it’s what I’m asking for.)
I was a tiny bit afraid of eating in China (because I’m a food wimp) but since I was going to Sichuan, China’s spiciest province, I knew at least my vegetables and tofu would be full of flavor and kick. And boy oh boy, was that an understatement. The Sichuanese douse just about everything in a devilish, oily-red brew of onions, garlic, chiles and pepper, and when it comes to eating, they bring the heat.
Pork fat with vegetables
Now, I’m not claiming that I ate everything you’ll see here … not even close. But what I have to say is that despite my deep loathing for most Chinese food in the States (all that greasy, MSG-infused, takeout grossness), the food in China was the most elegant, beautiful, serious, creative, fresh, lovely and inspired cuisine I’ve experienced anywhere.
Duck tongue (no, it’s not a metaphor and yes, I agree — they’re disguising it quite beautifully).
Even when the Chinese were serving alcohol, they managed to offer something I’d never seen or heard of: a big, heaping BOWL of fermented oats (I did try this, but not more than one courageous gulp).In fact, everything was so beautiful and looked so seductively innocent, I had to always ask my Heifer China hosts what the dish was, so I didn’t mistakenly tuck into some brain marrow and beans, or soft intestines and greens.
Intestines (I think)… but aren’t they pretty?
People who eat a lot of tofu are considered a joke in China, so I was happy I could entertain my hosts so easily. I was also complimented on my agile use of chopsticks — and no, I’m not kidding. The only thing I found really hard to pick up were the big wedges of cucumber and the individual roasted nuts.
One nut at a time … but SO worth it!
This tofu was beautiful and boring, but man, that center green salad packed a punch!
My only real challenge was breakfast. And here’s why:
Even at lunch, almost every time we sat down, somebody was offering us a room temperature beer the size of a wine bottle (750 ml) — and even though I like Tsingtao, a little beer goes a long way with me. I found myself longing passionately for a glass of Diet Coke, or more accurately, a gin & tonic, but that was a dim dream. As was any hope of getting a cup of coffee that wasn’t concocted of powdered Nescafe and hot water.
All the effort in China goes into tea – like this chrysanthemum version that was superb (but still not coffee, alas).
Dessert was also not happening — but the Sichuanese served a lot of dishes that were so gorgeous, I couldn’t believe they weren’t sweet — even after I tasted them. What a fake-out!
It’s just plain pumpkin.
Buckwheat “cake” that tasted a lot like sawdust.
The real Chinese idea of dessert … up to $180/pack for the most VIP brands.
In short, eating in China was an adventure — and like any adventure, sometimes you’re totally in, and sometimes you sit on the sidelines– or get dragged, kicking and screaming, into the game.
Blood soup….seriously.
My Chinese hosts were always very sweetly protective of me and my vegetarian habits, although they kept offering me big slabs of meat, so I guess they either knew I wasn’t a true vegetarian (an “opportunistic vegetarian” is how I like to think of myself) or they just couldn’t grasp the concept of not wanting to chow down on a tasty hunk of chicken’s feet. Either way, I made it through and just hope I didn’t insult anybody too badly.
Hmmm … who could resist?
And by the time I got to Nepal, I really did kinda miss having noodles for breakfast. With chile, of course!
Heifer 12 x 12 