This is Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English AgricultureReport.
Heifer International is sixty years old. This organization givesfarm animals to families and communities around the world. The ideais to fight hunger and poverty. Instead of short-term aid, theanimals represent a chance for people to improve their lives andbecome independent.
Heifer International gives away young cows, known as heifers. Butit also gives away other animals. These include sheep, goats, pigs,buffalo, rabbits, birds, even bees.
Celebrations of the sixtieth anniversary are planned in Octoberin Little Rock, Arkansas. That is where the organization is based.Events will also include a Conference on Ending Hunger. Theconference will follow a discussion called “the Small Farmer in theGlobal Economy.”
An American farmer named Dan West developed the idea for HeiferInternational. He was working in Spain in the nineteen thirtiesduring the Spanish civil war. Many families were starving. So DanWest asked his friends in the United States to send some cows. Thefirst ones were sent in nineteen forty-four.
Since that time, Heifer International says it has helped millionsof families in more than one hundred countries. Its Web site listsmore than four hundred current projects in fifty countries.
The organization provides families a chance to feed themselvesand become self-supporting. Those who wish to receive an animal mustfirst explain their needs and goals. They must make a plan for useof the animal. Local experts usually provide training. The animalsmust be guaranteed food, water, shelter, health care and the abilityto reproduce.
Also, those who receive an animal must share their success withsomeone else in need. Each family must agree to give away the firstfemale animal born. Families must also agree to pass on the skillsand training they received. This idea is called “passing on thegift.”
The organization has a gift catalog on its Web site to permitpeople to give money to support its activities. Five hundreddollars, for example, will pay for a heifer. Fifty dollars will payfor a share of one.
The Web site is heifer.org. Heifer is spelled h-e-i-f-e-r. Themailing address is Heifer International, post office boxeight-zero-five-eight, Little Rock, Arkansas,seven-two-two-zero-three, U.S.A.
This VOA Special English Agriculture Report was written by JillMoss and Avi Arditti. This is Gwen Outen.