Home, Home on the Ranch

One Story A Day (Book 7 for July)

1 Home, Home on the Ranch Young students from many nations travel to Canada each summer for the vacation of a lifetime. Those who take part will spend their days living and working like the cowboys of long ago at a working ranch in northern Alberta, Canada. It will make an unforgettable summer. They'll learn about co-operation and hard work. Imagine twenty students from ten different nations living together in a ranch bunkhouse that was once used by the cowboys of the Wild West! Horses, cows, wide open spaces, big night skies and living the way people did in Canada more than 100 years ago. Soon after arriving in early July, the teenagers will learn how to ride a horse. After that, they'll learn how to chop wood, make a fire, and cook a noon-time meal out in the open fields. They'll learn how to find their way using a compass, the sun, the moon and the stars as their guide. Building fences, chopping hay - the list of skills goes on and on. But the main skill these young international students will pick up is the skill of getting along with others.

They'll rise each morning with the sun, eat a huge breakfast, saddle their horses and ride out to the ranch for a day of cattle herding. They'll come back just before sundown, and work another hour around the camp and the kitchen. When their long day of labour is complete, they'll finally sit down together for a meal. Later in the evening, around a big campfire, they'll discuss world issues. They'll think about ways that they, as teenagers, can make a difference. Not long after the stars come out, they'll be fast asleep in their bunks. Russian, Chinese, English, Spanish-one of the first things they'll do is to learn how to communicate with each other. By the end of their stay at this dude ranch, they'll know a lot about each other. They'll understand their different cultures and what it is that makes them tick. Many of the friendships made at this ranch will last a lifetime. When the students return to their home countries, they'll have a better understanding of the way other people live.