Recently 6th graders traveled to Sharpsburg, Maryland, to visit the Heifer Global Village, an experiential learning tool used by nonprofit Heifer International to raise awareness of hunger and poverty. In the essay that follows, Thiany, a student in Sandy Dennin’s class, described the experience. Pictured here is one of the huts in the village of Mozambique.

On Thursday, October 13, the 6th grade made a visit to the Heifer International Farm. Little did we know that it was an hour and a half trip to a place where we would have three hours of . . . “fun.” We arrived at the Global Village and were greeted by our guide. For about a half an hour, we talked about global issues and how they affect people around the world.

[The guides] did a lottery of numbers and then when our number was called, we were picked for a certain group. The villages were Mozambique, Guatemala, Tibet, Appalachia, Refugees, Thailand, and Kenya. I was put in Kenya (later to be changed to Kenzambique.) Our goal was to feed the village.

We headed straight to our house and looked at our supplies. Luckily we got oil, kale, and five farm-fresh eggs. From this point on I can’t say I know what happened on the bartering end of things, but I could give you a five-page report on what happened in the kitchen. We did have some occasions when people tried to steal from us and also an occasion when our teammate betrayed us.

Well, it was a long time in the kitchen, so I decided to make the best of it. I chopped and prepared food. Then we had to make the fire. That was the biggest challenge of the day. We went through two fire starter kits and finally had to ask the guide for help. During the last 35 minutes of the challenge, we finally had a meal cooking, and everyone was starting to get cranky. At last, the food was done.

I served the villagers from Kenya and Mozambique (they had joined us earlier that day). It turned out that Thailand needed a cooking fire, too, so we let them use ours. I helped them cook a raw meal, and then the village experience was over. Although we didn’t have much to eat, I learned a lot about global issues and had a great time on this field trip.