5 minute read
4-H Students Address Poverty Around the World
Living in tents with limited resources and no phones may sound like a third-world country but Vanessa Novo, Kristen O'Neill, and other students volunteered for it as part of a thought-provoking 4-H program in Brownwood, Texas. The experience was designed to help them learn about real-life poverty in various communities around the world.
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In November, Vanessa and Kristen were accepted into GLOBE (Global Leadership Opportunities Beyond Education), a Texas 4-H program for 7th to 11th graders to learn about poverty in other countries and sustainable systems to address gaps in food accessibility. Vanessa and Kristen were two of only 19 students across Texas chosen to participate in GLOBE.
Kristen, Liberty Hill’s 4-H president and a high school senior, says her introduction to 4-H was much the same as many other members — signed up as a kid by her mom with no idea what was going on. But, also like many others, she became passionate about mentoring the next generation of 4-Hers. Under her leadership, the club has regained much of its pre-COVID membership, and
she is helping solve global issues like poverty and food insecurity.
Vanessa, a Liberty Hill 4-H vice president and high school freshman, joined 4-H in middle school and she, too, wanted to learn more about poverty in other countries. Both say the best part of being in 4-H is the long-lasting friendships they have made and maintained over the years. “My favorite part is meeting different people. 4-H is such a connecting thing,” Kristen says.
When they heard about the GLOBE program, Kristen and Vanessa thought it would be a unique way to expand their 4-H horizons.
THIRD-WORLD CHALLENGES
Sleeping in yurts and fetching water from a well and cooking outdoors taught Kristen and Vanessa about challenges faced by people in developing countries. Their immersive experience took place last November at a Global Village simulator hosted at the 4-H Center in Brownwood. While experiencing life in a third-world country, they were surprised to find they enjoyed not having their phones on hand. “We spent more time together talking,” Vanessa says.
They “all chickened out,” however, after trying to sleep outdoors in 40-degree weather and took shelter in the 4-H building. “It definitely opened my eyes to how other people live in the world, and how we have it so easy in America. In other countries, people share a tiny little box with 12 family members, and they don’t have a place to go inside if they’re cold,” Vanessa says.
Kristen, arriving from school to her mom’s drapery workroom/interior design business in downtown Liberty Hill, adds that GLOBE reinforced how fortunate she and other students are to live in the United States. “I just came from school. I got in my car and drove to a second building my mom occupies other than our house. There are kids who have to walk from school and don’t have shoes. We’re just so lucky to have what we have.”
SERVICE PROJECTS
While they learned about challenges facing people in other parts of the world, Vanessa and Kristen also had the chance to address poverty in their own backyards through service projects for GLOBE. For her project, Kristen worked with the Williamson County Extension Education Association and collected 33 bags full of hygiene products for a homeless shelter in Austin.
Vanessa organized a Cans for Kids food drive at her school. Her project earned her recognition from the City Council and Texas Senator Charles Schwertner, who commended her efforts in a resolution adopted in March. “Not only does Vanessa’s project support sustainable agriculture and bring awareness to hunger in her community, it benefits Texas agricultural producers and the Central Texas Food Bank, thereby combating hunger among children and youth, a demographic that constitutes 34 percent of food bank clients.”
“It was really cool,” Vanessa says of the recognitions. “It felt like all the hard work paid off, but it was not what I was aiming for. I was just aiming to make an impact.”
Vanessa and Kristen will continue making an impact when they travel to Costa Rica with their GLOBE team at the end of this month. They are excited to take on service projects, learn cultural dances, and host educational stations, where both 4-Hers and locals will be able to learn from each other. Vanessa says it will be more impactful than their Brownwood experience, “because we will actually be in their environment. In Brownwood, we didn’t have people who lived like that on a day-today basis. In Costa Rica, we’ll see it firsthand.”
