Spring 2013 - Oglethorpe University

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In 2010, Betty Londergan, the wife of Oglethorpe’s President
Schall, spent a year on a project through which she gave
away $100 a day for 365 days and wrote about it on her
blog, “What Gives 365.” At the end of this undertaking, she
wanted another way to give back.
Enter Heifer International, a nonprofit founded in 1944 on
the idea of “helping others help themselves.” The concept is
simple: buy an animal for a family in need. That gift can then
provide food, labor and perhaps even a new means of income
for struggling families. However, Betty says that a donation to
Heifer is much more than that.
“An animal is such a simple thing, but everything that
comes with it—from sharing and caring, passing on the gift,
environmental integrity... to taking more pride in themselves,
taking control of their education, nutrition and environment, all
this really helps to lift people out of poverty in a lasting way,”
explained Betty.
(above) Oglethorpe hosted the Heifer International
Sustainability Summit in the fall, welcoming speakers
from around the world. (left) Orientation leader
Jasmine Irish ‘13 gathers freshmen for First Year Seminar
class. (left, inset) Oglethorpe’s First Lady Betty Londergan
photographs residents in one of the many countries to which
she traveled over the course of 12 months.
Heifer
International:
Giving Back for
a Better World
by Weatherly Richardson ’13
She has seen firsthand the change that Heifer makes in the
world. In a project called Heifer 12x12, Betty visited 12
Heifer-assisted countries the 12 months of 2012 and blogged
about her experiences (heifer12x12.com).
“The first country I went to was Uganda, as kind of my test
run. I wanted to see what it was going to be like to work on
the Heifer project, so I did that. Then I went to Guatemala,
Haiti and Peru, then China and Nepal, then Cameroon,
Romania, Appalachia, Rwanda, Armenia and Cambodia,”
said Betty, who was interviewed for this article in fall 2012.
She concluded her journey in Malawi and Ecuador. During
her travels, Betty was a journalist. She took photographs,
connected with local inhabitants, listened to their stories and
shared them on her blog so others could learn about the
impact of Heifer’s work on the lives of people around the
world.
“I’m not doing it as the voice of Heifer; I’m doing it in my own
voice,” said Betty. “These are really human stories. The culture,
the environment, the history of a place really informs and
influences how poverty is expressed and how it’s embedded
in the society, so I’d like to try and help people understand the
country, understand the people, understand the history and the
cultures. And I find it so fascinating personally that I can’t wait
to tell people about it.”
The 12x12 blog combined beautiful photographs with
touching, sometimes funny, very real stories from her travels.
“I get to engage with people. I’ve never considered myself a
photographer with a capital ‘P’, but I really love it. I’m in such
incredibly photogenic places. I take it very seriously and try
to do my best. I’m around incredible people and incredible
places that not very many people get to see. If I didn’t
photograph them, shame on me,” she said.
Betty’s involvement with Heifer has helped to start a wave of
engagement between Oglethorpe and Heifer International.
Oglethorpe sponsored and hosted the international nonprofit’s
Heifer Sustainability Summit in October 2012. The meeting
brought leaders from around the world to campus to discuss
how Heifer International is addressing the needs of a world
stricken by hunger, poverty and environmental degradation.
During the Summit, Oglethorpe students officially launched a
Heifer Club on campus, the first of its kind at a Southeastern
college. Sophomore Ruwa Romman and a small group of OU
students were inspired by Betty’s work and decided to get
active and make a difference. “We hope to get a movement
going,” said Ruwa. “We can’t donate huge sums of money, but
if we can donate $10 for chickens and help send someone’s
kid to school, that’s still huge. It’s all about giving back.”
The club’s main concern? Getting the word out. “When you
tell people you’re part of the Heifer Club, they’re like ‘what’s
Heifer?’ Raising awareness is our main goal,” said Ruwa. She
believes that recruiting her fellow Petrels to get involved is the
key to making a difference.
“Oglethorpe’s a good place to have a
grassroots initiative [like Heifer]. The
school focuses on self-sustainability, on
passing on the gift. Students here are
perfectly suited for it, and we want as
much involvement as possible!”
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