Animals and Food Security: Service Learning in RuralRomania - 2010

Purdue partnered with Heifer International-Romania on a sustainable development project in rural Romania. This was an opportunity to

work in international agriculture across disciplines AND make a difference – for credit!

Heifer Project, Romania www.heifer.ro

Upper-class students must be interested in enabling families to overcome poverty, make lasting improvements in their quality of life and achieve self-reliance.

By partnering with Heifer International-Romania, students learned about sustainable development through the application of agricultural ecology, animal management, and agribusiness.

Animals and Food Security: Service Learning in Rural Romania

Projects included animal husbandry (cattle, pigs, horses, poultry, small ruminants, etc.), facility design and construction, efficient use of resources and youth and adult education.

Animals and Food Security: Service Learning in Rural Romania

ANSC 495 Animals and Food Security: Service Learning in Rural Romania

Asociatia Judeteană a Crescătorilor de Păsări si Animale

Vata de Jos

In Vata de Jos our class -•Split up and stayed with local families•Helped local farmers•Completed community service in conjunction with Heifer International

After a 3 day orientation and a trip to Deva to buy boots, our class traveled to Vata de Jos for the

SEEINGpart of our trip.

What is Heifer InternationalHeifer International gives gifts of cattle, sheep, rabbits, honeybees, pigs, llamas, water buffalo, heifers, chicks,

ducks, goats, geese, other regionally appropriate livestock, as well as tree seedlings. As of 2006, these animals and plants have been distributed in more than 125 countries around the globe. Each gift perpetuates

Heifer's interest in sustainability.

HEIFER CORNERSTONESFOR JUST AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Passing On the Gift

Accountability

Sharing and Caring

Sustainability and Self-reliance

Improved Animal Management

Nutrition and Income

Genuine Need and Justice

Gender and Family Focus

Improving the Environment

Full Participation

Training and Education

Spirituality

PRINCIPLES OF GOOD DEVELOPMENT

•Participation of the people•Local ownership of the decision-making process •The commitment of local resources•The role of outside practitioners as facilitators of change•A belief in people's capacity to effect change if given opportunities by their structural environment •The value of indigenous knowledge•The conception of development as a "process" and not a series of "projects“--The Cornerstones Model - Values-Based Planning and Management, p 6, J. Aaker, J.

Shumaker, Heifer Project International, 1996

Heifer’s Development Philosophy

Development is not only about distributing inputs.It is also about building communities, producing

deeper level impact and transformation.

Focus on 3-Levels of Impact1. Ground level Impact- e.g., Increased

nutrition & income, Improved animal care and local environment, other physical achievements, etc.

2. Deeper level Impact- e.g., positive change at the personal level - values, attitude, behavior and practice (people transformation)

3. External Impact- e.g., Society (GO/NGOs) accepts and respects Heifer’s model and willingly follows the advice & requests (influencing policies and practices)

Home Stays We continued to learn about Romanian culture

by staying with Heifer participants who had received a gift from the organization

Each home hosted 3 American students and 1 Romania student, who served as a translator

Vorel & Zoreca“They took us in as family, but fed us like kings and queens”

Artificial Insemination on a cow

Brooke and Katie learning how to put a

chicken to sleep

Brooke, Amanda, Katie H, and Romanian student Paul

Marianna and Roxana

Making placintaAt the disco

Mariana and her husband with Nicole, Erin, Jennifer, and our Romanian

student Gabriel

We also helped milk the cows and the sheep at

our home stay

“We learned more from this stay than we

expected.”

Casa Para

Making chiorba On the way to cut hay

“We enjoyed traditional Romanian music with

every meal”

Shelby, Christina, Ashtin, and Romanian student Gabriella

Miguel & Carmen

“Best food of the trip”

Attended traditional Orthodox Church

Justin, Carolyn, Brandi and Romanian

student Iuditha

Brandi milking the family cow

Christi & Andrea

Kayla, Allison, Megan, and Romanian student Elena with

their family

“He said you didn’t even milk enough for breakfast”

Riding in the milk wagon

Posing with the flowers our host dad gave us

Elena & George

Helped plant a Paprika plot

“Elena was like a mother to us”

Craig, Katie, Aubrey, and Romanian student Oana

Aubrey with the family’s horse

Katie with the family’s horse

Equine CastrationLeft: Romanian student Elena helping the local veterinarian with the castration

Above: Dr. Russell helping restrain the stallion

Swine Castration

Local veterinarian castrating a pig at 250 lbs

Traditional Romanian Music & Dancing

Para and his band playing music for us

Learning traditional Romanian dances

Sheep De-worming

“Sheep have their own language, we don’t speak

their language”

River Cleaning“I got water in my boots!”

“Did you pour a fish out of your boot?!”

•We learned about how rural families really conduct animal agriculture

•We learned about the culture and traditions from the community members

•We learned how to attempt to adjust and interact successfully in rural Romania

•We learned that there are close and wonderful families with great values in Vata de Jos

Thank You all!

Learning from Heifer Participants in Vata de Jos

On to Sighisoara…

After a week of learning Romania culture we headed to the city of

Sighisoara to site see, continue to bond as a group, and relax.

We said goodbye to Vata de Jos with a

community meeting, including a TV

interview, a farewell bonfire, and the celebration of

Craig’s birthday!