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by Johanna Sorrentino
Topics: Middle School

Now that your child is in middle school, he's becoming more aware of the human experience in other parts of the world. Global consciousness can be a hard pill to swallow at any age, but is especially so during adolescence when apathy starts to set in.
 
Why worry about someone else's struggles when you can have fun with your friends at the mall? Give your children a good answer, by introducing them to organizations like Heifer International.
 
Heifer International provides 27 different types of livestock, from goats to chickens to llamas, to impoverished families in 48 countries, including the United States. Each gift has a domino effect on a community, because the first recipient of an animal from Heifer agrees to give one of the animal's offspring to a neighbor, and train that neighbor in how to take care of it. This person agrees to do the same for another neighbor, and so on, and so on. A gift to Heifer is a gift that keeps on giving. And when your child raises money for an animal, they aren't just giving money, they're helping people learn to produce their own food and become self-sufficient.
 
Heifer International has many programs to help teach children about hunger. Ray White, Public Information Director for Heifer International, suggests these three programs to help get Middle School kids involved in the fight against poverty:
 
The Read to Feed program brings the power of books to a whole new level. In this program children, individually or as a group, get sponsored for each book they read during a time frame set by their teacher or parent. The goal is to raise money to buy gifts of livestock for struggling families who need an ongoing source of income. You can order a free Leader's Packet at www.readtofeed.org. The packet comes with a video, book, reading list, and a standards-based curriculum to teach your child. According to Beth Newman, Education, Marketing and Public Relations Coordinator for the organization, "The curriculum fosters a love for reading. It's inspirational to people who are dyslexic. They are more empowered to read because they know it's helping other people," she says. After your child gathers enough sponsors, she can choose which animal she wants to "purchase" for a struggling community. Through reading, your child will learn about the needs of people in third world countries and find out how it feels to be part of the solution.
 
Is your child begging for a themed birthday party? Why not suggest a charity themed party? (Assure them that they will still get presents from family members.) If your middle schooler hosts a party of 15 friends and each one brings a donation of $10 they could buy a llama to keep a family warm in Peru, or a pig for a community in Honduras. If you don't feel comfortable asking for that much money, you can pool $20 for a flock of chicks or a gaggle of geese. Or you can buy a share of a water buffalo for just $10. If your household is vegetarian, you can also buy bees or trees. Search Heifer's on-line gift catalog at www.heifer.org, or order one at 1-800-696-1918. The catalog describes the benefits that each animal brings to a community--wool, milk, meat, fertilizer, etc. Let your child and their guests decide what animal to send and you'll be giving them a social studies and science lesson they'll never forget.
 
For kids who are hungry to learn more about what it's like to live in other parts of the world, White suggests visiting one of Heifer's Global Villages. From living in a house made of stilts as they do in Thailand to being "assigned" a disability such as a missing limb, students experience first-hand the living conditions typical of developing countries. Heifer has learning centers in Perryville, Arkansas; Ceres, California; Rutland, Massachusetts and Howell, Michigan. A tour is $3 a person, to stay overnight in a village is $30 per person. All overnight programs are designed for groups of 15 or more, so pool together some of your kid's buddies. Go to the "Learn" section of the Heifer International web site at www.heifer.org for more information.
 
These programs develop compassion in children so that "it's not so much about me, me, me," White says. "It's about people outside your family, or your country. It's about learning to be part of a wider world and practicing charity that really works."
 
In addition to charity, you're teaching your child another powerful life lesson: even if she starts small, she can still make a big difference.