Students experience another world in Arkansas

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Twenty Oklahoma State University students and faculty members traveled the world in less than 24 hours, experiencing a first-hand look at the challenges surrounding world hunger and poverty. The program is sponsored by Heifer International Global Gateway program in Perryville, Ark., focused on ending hunger and poverty by sustainable practices.

"One of the points of taking leadership students on a trip like this is to make students more globally aware," said Dawson Metcalf, undergraduate assistant in the Center for Ethical Leadership.

Each student was randomly assigned a country – ranging from Thailand to Zambia – and given the resources and food that a person facing poverty in that nation would have. Participants are then directed to housing that mimics the conditions around the world. Select few were also given a child to take care of or a disability, such as a broken leg.

Carson Cooper, a freshman studying Animal Science, was assigned to live in an urban slum. Her residence for the night was a wooden and cardboard lean-to with dirt floors, typically seen around the world in major cities.

“I was worried that I wasn’t going to sleep, initially. We were basically out in the open sleeping on hard floors,” Cooper said.

Each group started the evening with limited resources; only those included in a basket could be used. For Cooper, the realization that they were going to need more came quickly; each village needed to combined resources and food to cook for everyone.

“It made me think that if everyone in the world would share food, there could be enough for all of us, instead of using our individual resources,” she said.

Even students with previous exposure to poverty, were still impacted by the realism of the program. Rachel Benbrook, a senior studying strategic communications, has previously spent time in Belize on study abroad trips. For the Global Gateway program, she was assigned to live Guatemala, a country with similar conditions. However, it took living in those surroundings to fully realize what life is like.

“We take having a modern kitchen to cook in for granted,” she said. “The experience made me realize how many women and families are exposed to unsafe smoke inhalation due to improper ventilation. I didn’t realize a small thing such as a stove could make such an impact on one’s quality of life.”

For more than 60 years, Heifer International has given out gifts of livestock, seeds and extensive training to impoverished families globally. The organization has helped more than 79 million families in more than 125 countries and focuses on preserving the local culture.

"We want them to realize that even though we come from diverse communities it is possible to work together for peace and become more environmentally sustainable," Metcalf said.

By Mason Waldvogel