It was two a.m. in the morning when Ms. Hipziyah (Ms. Hip) was aroused from her sleep in the village of Tebedak in South Sumatra. Many of her colleagues in the farmer's group, Tani Makmur, came to ask her help to find a member's heifer that had escaped from its stall. It did not seem to bother this group of men that they had to seek the help of two females in the early hours of the morning.

Ms. Hip, who is a Community Animal Health Volunteer in Indonesia (CAHVI) trained by Heifer, quickly went to get the other female,  named Biak, to help her. "Biak" (Indonesian for fertile) is Ms. Hip's cow that she received from Heifer. Ms. Hip and Biak walked around the village looking for the lost heifer. She had Biak call to the other cow with her gentle "moo" while they searched. Eventually, the lost heifer heard and replied to Biak's moo. The searchers went toward the lost heifer's call and found her safe in the middle of a rubber tree plantation on the village edge.

Ms. Hip treats Biak as if she were caring for her own child. She hopes to be an example to her neighbors on how to take proper care of their livestock. Her garden is filled with various traditional herbs for treating livestock and humans. She has even modified her stall so that it can be used to check and treat her neighbor's cattle.

Ms. Hip worked as a babysitter in Saudi Arabia from 1986-1991. The money she saved helped her buy a modest home and some land on which she planted 1 ha of rubber trees. Unfortunately, however, her husband divorced her shortly after her return, leaving her to take care of her 10-year old daughter. Ms. Hip now lives alone because her daughter married at the age of 14 and moved in with her new husband. 

Because the rubber she planted is not yet productive, Ms. Hip taps rubber trees owned by her neighbors, for which she receives about $0.50 a day for collecting 5 kg of sap. To supplement her meager income, she also teaches the Koran to village children. She only asks that the children's families pay her what they can, and she even teaches some children of poor families for free.

This are just some examples of how Ms. Hip is helping her community. Even though her own life is difficult, she is still willing to volunteer her time to help others. She hopes that Biak will have many offspring to allow her to pass on the gift to other families in need, as well as to earn income to plant more rubber trees, and for some savings.

This story is from the Community Animal Health Volunteers in Indonesia Project and the

Increased Income and Community Welfare through Livestock Activities Project

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