In
the spring of 2001, foot and mouth disease reared its head
in England, devastating herds and the livelihoods of farmers.
Many families were quarantined on their farms, unable to receive
the normal human contact we expect during times of hardship.
Their herds of cows, sheep or pigs were killed and lives that
had been centered around farming for generations were destroyed.
Specially bred herds were wiped out. Isolation and despair
were driving up the suicide rates and the financial toll was
enormous.
This
tragedy came to the attention of Little Pearls particularly
because Debra had lived in Devon, England for eleven years.
This county in England is the heart of the dairy industry
in the UK, and many of her old neighbors were affected by
this situation. We felt very helpless until we realized, one
afternoon, that we could use Little Pearls as a vehicle for
spreading messages of support. One of the few avenues of contact
during such isolation was television. While many affected
families were unable to receive visits from friends and family,
they were able to watch TV.
We
made a few phone calls to local farmers and what followed
was an explosion of compassionate messages from farmers in
North Carolina to fellow farmers in the UK -- a sixty second
Pearl and a mini-documentary were created that became conduits
of verbal and visual support. Farmers here encouraged farmers
abroad to hang in there and to know that they were not alone.
We filmed at the local stockyards, at the farm at Warren Wilson
College, and at individual farms in this region. Bob Caldwell,
a popular weatherman from WLOS TV, helped us out by doing
the voiceover for the PSA.
These
messages were sent to England. The PSA was aired in Devon
and both the Pearl and the mini-documentary were duplicated
in volume (generously donated by Allied Vaughn) and distributed
through the Rural Stress Information Network to farming families
in need. Peter Phillips, an old friend of Debra's in England,
the BBC, The Diocese of Exeter, and Pastor David Ursell were
all instrumental in getting these messages out.
Because
we live here in North Carolina, there was no way to personally
experience the reception of these messages. But Pastor Ursell
shared in a letter, sometime later: "...the response
(to the video) was very positive, and the common, caring aspect
much appreciated. I am sending copies to contacts in both
Cumberland and Wales, where foot and mouth is still
rampant...So once again, thank you for all you have done to
support us, and if you get a chance to convey this message
to those farmers who appeared in the video, please do so."
from
the mini-documentary:
Elspeth
Clarke, Hickory Nut Gap Farm, North Carolina, USA I
am thinking so much of all of you farmers in the UK and Europe.
We send you our deepest sympathy and hope and pray that you get
through this terrible period of foot and mouth . We too have herds
of cattle and sheep and we just can imagine what terrible times
you are going through and we send our deepest sympathy.
John
Pilson, Farm Manager, Warren Wilson College, Black Mountain,
North Carolina, USA
My name is John and I manage the farm
at a small college in North Carolina. We've been paying
attention to what is happening to all of you and to your farms
and your livestock. We know how much we care about our
livestock that we raise. We are sure it must be devastating
to your families to have what's happening, going on. We
want you to know that all of our hearts here go out to you and
we wish you the very very best.
General
Grant, of Cherokee, North Carolina, USA
Most people have lost a lot of things,
but through the Native values, you utilize the things that you
have. You have your health, your family, your land, your
love and your commitment to life, and you can still survive
if you use those things. So hang in there and keep at
it.
Chase
Hubbard, Assistant Farm Manager, Warren Wilson College, Black
Mountain, North Carolina, USA
Someone once told me at a time of difficulty
that you can endure almost anything as long as you can see some
light at the end of the tunnel. I have found that to be
true. I don't pretend to know how you guys are feeling
or what you are going through over there with a lifetime of
work built up and now it seems like it is all gone. But
hang in there. Farmers are tough people. We work in an
environment that demands us to have patience and be strong so
you folks hang in there.
Diana
Osborne, Madison County, North Carolina, USA
We are so sorry that these things have happened . . . there are
very few words that anybody can say. But there's a kind
of way that you can be: when a tree falls and you're another
tree - that's kind of how I see it and feel it. In that
way that we are so connected with nature and the animals and the
trees, then when something goes, everything changes and it's understood.
Everything does change and grow and die, and we are all part of
this enormous cycle of all things. I think it's here for
us to remember now, as things get perhaps very difficult.
So I want you to remember . . . how everyone has to remember who
has lost things, that this is a cycle that we are a part of and
we can't escape it, and it goes on endlessly. You and I and all
these things share something very profound. So now I share
your tears, and what you've lost, I share that with my heart.
Ted
Williams, Iroquois elder living in Madison County, North
Carolina, USA
We are always part of the great cycles
of all things, and because we're all from the same creation,
we are all sisters and brothers, one tremendous family.
Not only within the elements called people, but intimate kin
to all the elements of this divine, harmonious universe.
Our faith keepers tell us that gratitude is the beginning of
knowledge and understanding. We have been given the job of taking
care of all of our other elements, because we were the last
to be created. We have four things with which to do it:
we have our good thoughts; we have our good feelings; we have
our good words; we have our good deeds. Animals have given us
so much: food, clothing, shelter, beauty, medicine, a divine
consciousness. We open our hearts to these animals and say "Oh,
we love you so very much and wish to thank you for all you have
given us". We know that when any of our animals pass on,
all other animals, that are even closer to the Creator than
we ever could get, are waiting for them, to take care of them
and love them and take them into their arms, as we ask them
to help us, too.
CREDITS
Camera: Rick Aguar
Voiceover:
Bob Caldwell
Sound
Studio: Vince Rutherford—Soundtrax Studio Services
Editing:
Kurt Mann—Ironwood Media
Debra
Roberts and Linda McLean
Music:
"The Lovers’ Waltz"
Written by Jay Ungar and Molly Mason
Performed by Sallie Ford and Taya Ricker
Courtesy of
Swinging Door Music / Concertworks Music
1-800-292-0905 jayandmolly.com
Editing
for related 8-minute mini-documentary:
David Kahle—Earthlight Multimedia
Debra
Roberts and Linda McLean
