Days 12, 13, 14, and 15!

May 17^th

The Guatemala House in the Global Village

Today, we left our hostel in Memphis and made the drive to Little Rock, Arkansas.  We had a tour of Heifer International. Heifer is a nonprofit organization that provides help to people in need in other countries around the world. This organization will give animals, such as goats, chickens, camels…really whatever animal is best suited to the country where the family in need lives. Before giving the animal, Heifer will educate the family in how to take care of the animal and teach the family how to make a living from the animal, helping the family infinitely.

On the hay ride around Heifer's farms

            We enjoyed a great tour visiting the grounds of Heifer's Global Village, watching a film, and even going on a hayride. An altogether goofy and informative way to spend the afternoon learning about a fantastic organization that seems to have found a way to truly help in a preventative way as opposed to a reactive way; in other words working to fix the root of the problem as opposed to reacting to a problem that has already happened.

            After Heifer we checked into Ferncliff Retreat center which is a beautiful house set in rural Arkansas surrounded by fields and a little nearby pond. The perfect place to decompress ad process the tough conversations and topics that we have been discussing and learning about. Located 30 minutes from Little Rock, the capital of Arkansas, we settled in for the night excited to learn more about the area.

-- By Emma Masi

May 18^th

            We did not have anything scheduled for today, so we were able to do what we wanted.  After our long drive from Memphis yesterday, we were thankful to have a day to sleep in.  We are staying on a beautiful piece of property in a retreat center called Ferncliff, which is situated about 45 minutes out of downtown Little Rock.  The property is gorgeous, and we enjoyed exploring on our free day.  Not only does Ferncliff have a retreat center, but also is home to a summer camp, several ponds, and an eco-friendly farm.  Some students used the canoes and paddle boats on the property to explore the ponds, and found turtles, snakes, and fish.  Others enjoyed spending the day in the retreat center, catching up on reading and sleep.  Some students spent the day hiking in the area around Ferncliff, and climbed Pinnacle Mountain.  The trail meandered through the woods, but then turned into a scramble through a boulder field and up the side of the mountain.  The view at the top was phenomenal and gave the students a view of Little Rock, as well as the surrounding area.  After a day of relaxation and exploration, everyone returned to the retreat center, had dinner, and prepared for the next day.

-- By Hannah Thorson

May 19^th

Emma, Bella, Nicole, Hannah, Andriana

An early morning at the AFB!

Today, the group woke up at 6.30am and drove to the Arkansas Food Bank.  The Arkansas Food Bank is located in a warehouse in Little Rock.  It is 73,000 square feet, and contains huge stacking shelves to store all of the non-perishable foods.  There are enormous refrigerators and freezers in the back of the warehouse to store all of the frozen foods, meat, dairy items, and produce.  We met with the outreach coordinator, a woman named Polly, who told us a little bit about the organization.  The Food Bank works with people who live in food deserts, which are areas that are over an hour away from a grocery store.  Food deserts are far too common, and prevent people from having healthy food choices.  When an individual lives in a food desert, it can be hard to find food, and many people in these areas don’t eat well or get proper nutrition.  The Food Bank also helps people who are food insecure; when an individual is food insecure, they do not know where their next meal is coming from.  In 2013 alone, the Arkansas Food Bank provided over 17.4 million meals to people in need. 

After we sorted food into 347 boxes for disaster relief

            While at the Arkansas Food Bank, we assembled disaster relief boxes for victims of a recent tornado.  Because many of the people displaced by the tornado do not have access to refrigerators, the items that we packaged were non-perishable.  After nearly three hours of working in an assembly line, we had created 347 disaster relief boxes!

The group in front of Central High School, in Little Rock, Arkansas

            After leaving the Arkansas Food Bank, we headed to Little Rock Central High School, which is famous for being the site of forced school desegregation in 1957.  Nine students were selected from a nearby African-American high school to start the desegregation process; collectively, these students are known as the Little Rock Nine.  On the first day that the Little Rock Nine attempted to enter the school in 1957, they were faced with an angry mob of over 1,000 protesters.  Even though the students were able to enter the school with the help of the police, they faced violence and were escorted from the building.  President Eisenhower intervened, and the next day, 10,000 soldiers from the Arkansas National Guard were called in to help protect the Little Rock Nine from violent protestors.  The school is a national historic landmark and is listed on the national registrar of historic places.  Little Rock Central High School continues to operate as a high school with a student body of approximately 2,500 students.  However, due to white flight, the student body demographic has changed drastically since the initial desegregation.  Instead of being primarily white, the student body is now mostly black.  Little Rock Central High School is highly regarded within Arkansas, and offers 33 AP classes and 5 foreign languages.  We really enjoyed walking through the school and hearing about the important historical events that occurred there.

-- By Hannah Thorson

May 20^th

The deck and ramp that we started painting for UCP

Today we focused our efforts at United Cerebral Palsy of Arkansas. This organization works with people with (and without) disabilities. The two main programs that we worked with today were their Butterfly Pre-school and their Adult Center. After an introduction and tour, we split up into groups. Today was another service day and an opportunity to learn about what is being done to work for modern justice. The major task of today for our group was to paint their newly sandblasted ramp. This turned out to be a big project that required more paint than we had on-site. Although we did not finish painting, it looks much better than before. Some staff members told us that we brought hope and encouragement to the other workers around UCP to work harder on other maintenance projects.

Hannah (left) and Jack (right) painting

Aside from this task, the morning also included time spent at and around the Butterfly Pre-school. They have programs for infants all the way up to five year-olds. It was fun to see the kids of varying abilities all playing together on the playground. They still understood the joy of every child that comes with screaming while running. They came up to us curiously and chatted with us comfortably. Some of our UP group jumped right in, squatting down to talk with the kids or playing with them. The kids were some of the cutest I’ve seen.

One aspect of this pre-school program that I appreciated the most is that both kids with and without disabilities are accepted at their programs. Kids perceive difference at a very young age, however the judgments that adults often associate with those differences come later, after a child has grown accustomed to only a specific demographic. If a child only sees white people, any other race will seem “different” or “strange.” If a child only sees kids who are able-bodied, seeing kids with disabilities will seem strange. However, because these kids are playing and learning with each other, like they would with any other children, it does not seem strange to them. The kids with disabilities are given role models to follow, and the kids without disabilities are taught to be patient, empathetic, and accepting of others.

Emma learning how to make a button pin!

In the afternoon, we went to the UCP Adult Center. There was a group of adults with various disabilities waiting for us to join them for a snack. It can be difficult to communicate with people who have disabilities, so some conversations were slow coming. I used some Communication theories that I’ve picked up from my studies at UP to bridge the gap in our communication styles. I settled into a nice conversation with Donna, a participant at many UCP events and a worker in their workroom. She makes button pins and does other jobs; she enjoys her work and the community found at UCP. It was a wonderful opportunity to see yet another lifestyle that is different from my own. The people we worked with today taught us a lot and added to our journey and discussion of civil rights.

-- By Carissa Luebbering