Mennonite Central Committee

Goats stank but job was sweet, says teen SOOP volunteer

Gladys Terichow
August 18, 2006

Cara Rempel adores animals but clipping the hooves of smelly male goats is an experience she would like to forget.

"I never knew male goats could smell that bad," said the Winnipeg teenager who spent almost three weeks last fall at World Hunger Relief in Waco, Texas, a faith-based organization that operates a 17-hectare (42-acre) farm.

Cara, a Grade 10 home-school student, and her parents, Anne and Brian Rempel, heard about this short-term service project through MCC's Service Opportunities for Older People (SOOP) program.

The participation of families in the SOOP program is still rare but continues to grow each year, said Carolyn Nance, coordinator of the SOOP program.

Another new trend is the participation of single people interested in spending vacations "off the beaten road where they are part of a community and seeing things tourists wouldn't see," explained Nance.

While Cara's mother assisted with household chores and her father repaired buildings and equipment, Cara spent much of her time working with five interns involved in an agricultural training program designed to provide practical training on sustainable farming techniques.

"That was the best part—hanging out with the interns," she said as she looking through a photo album filled with fond memories. "We goofed around and had a lot of fun."

Her days started at 6:30 a.m. to help milk goats and do other farm chores. When they had finished milking the goats, cleaning the milking area and bringing the goats to the pasture, they joined the staff and volunteers for group devotions and breakfast. About 15 people were part of this group. About 4:30 p.m., it was time to get the goats from the pasture for the evening milking.

In addition to farm chores she helped her mother prepare meals, sort pecans, work in the garden and clean buildings. One of their projects included slicing and sautéing eggplants that were then frozen in preparation for 200 servings of mousakka at a semi-annual Day on the Farm at World Hunger Relief held.

Two afternoons a week, she attended classroom sessions for the interns. Cara and her mother also joined a group of Grade 9 students from a local high school who toured the facilities, assisted with some of the work and watched a video about world hunger.

Although clipping hooves was an unforgettable experience, Cara said this was not her worst experience. "The worst part was finding a scorpion in my bedroom," she said, adding she had also found geckos, fire ants and large spiders in the mobile home where they were living.

"I'm not one who gets along with huge bugs, especially if they are poisonous but by the end of our stay I wasn't as nervous about being near them," explained Cara. "If you leave them alone, they usually leave you alone."

The family's positive experiences with this assignment motivated them to accept another SOOP assignment. They are preparing for a six-week assignment in eastern Canada where they will assist churches and community groups host pre-Christmas sales of Ten Thousand Villages products in the New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador.

"I like the idea of doing this as a family," said Anne Rempel. "If you do this as a family you can maintain the family unit and can process the experiences together. Doing this as a family is a memory we will always have"

The SOOP program was started in 1993 to provide short-term service assignments for older people. The program has expanded to a selection of 70 locations. The majority of these locations are in the United States.

 

MCC SOOP Program