82-Uncast«r Farming, Saturday, Fabruary 27, 1993 Volunteer Helps Set Up 4-H Program In Poland LOU ANN GOOD Lancaster Farming Staff QUARRYVILLE (Lancaster Co.) Connie Rutt grew up in 4-H, met her husband through 4-H, and has been a 4-H leader ever since she was 100 old to be a member. It’s ho surprise that Connie wants to see people in other coun tries have the opportunity to parti cipate in 4-H. And, it is no surprise that Connie was selected to be the first 4-H vol unteer to accompany a Penn State agricultural team to Poland. The team’s purpose was to teach free enterprise, marketing, and 4-H and youth development programs. Connie is pleased that Poland has decided to focus on setting up 4-H- youth programs. “It’s exciting because this is the first generation in Poland that can decide what they want to do,” Con nie said. “The future of Poland lies in its youth.” Connie said that according to Megatrends 2000, which projects world trends, Poland could be a major economic influence by the 21st Century. To do so would require economic, political, and social reforms, but Poland’s efforts so far are considered successful. In their determination to make the free market enterprise work, inflation has dropped from as high as 250 percent to 3.4 percent a month and interest rates have dropped from 78 percent last year to 49 percent. Despite these optimistic trends, Poland has a long way to go before the transition from government to private control will be made. Many of the same people who ran the Communist system are now trying to run the free-markel version. It is believed that Poland will suffer much financial hardship before a successful transition takes place, but Poland is familiar with hardships. The country was destroyed in World War I and II and throughout its history as neighboring countries overran diem. Most recendy it had been oppressed by Communist rule. ‘The interesting thing is that each time the country was demol ished, they rebuilt it exactly as it had been,” Connie said. “When you stand in Warsaw, it’s difficult to believe that the buildings are basically new because the architec- Connie Rim pages through photos as she tells about Poland and the students who were eager to learn about the 4-H program. much color or landscaping.” While the older generation seems conditioned to stay to them selves and the teachers a bit skepti cal, the students themselves were eager to leam about western-style co-ops. They especially enjoyed brainstorming a new concept and a deviation from the lecture style teaching that dominates the schools. To teach the free enterprise sys tem to students, Connie used slides of her family farm to explain sole proprietorship. Connie and her husband, Ken, have a 400-acre dairy farm, where they milk 100 registered Holsteins. A 22-ycar old son, Philip, is in charge of the dairy herd. The Rutts have a daughter, Lon, 23, and another son Matthew, 18. Funding for the Poland trip did not come from Penn Slate Exten sion but from private companies, mostly Polish-American busines ses that want to help their mother country in the transition from dic tatorship to free enterprise. The team worked in two agricul tural technical schools, each for a week at a lime. Top students, who ranged from 14 to 20 years old, were hand picked to participate in the all-day training. At one school, 20 participated and at the other 30 were part of the training. “The biggest problem was mak ing sure that the interpreters under stood what we were saying since translation can’t be done word for word but by concepts,” Connie said. At first, the participants had a difficult lime grasping the concept of western-style cooperatives since the word automatically is equated with a cooperative farm run by the Communists. The Penn State team see cooperatives as the answer to the marketing and processing of agri cultural products in Poland. Because families own only a cou ple of cows, it is not fcastible for them to invest in milking parlors or tanks. Much of the milk is wasted and it is not used for drinking since refrigeration methods are antiquated. Connie also taught parliamen tary procedure to the students. “On the final day, the staff made up questions from business reform to parliamentary procedure and the students had to explain their answers. They expounded on the all at to explain sole proprietorship to the Polish students, Connie used slides of the dairy farm that she and her husband, Ken, operate In Quarryville. se agricultural represents*. ;es taught free enterprise