VOA Ð CONNECT
EPISODE  #  148   
AIR DATE  11 13 2020   
TRANSCRIPT

 
OPEN  ((VO/NAT)) 
((Banner)) 
Saving Sea Turtles
((SOT)) 
((Bette Zirkelbach, Manager, The Turtle Hospital)) 
We rescue an average of a hundred sea turtles a year.  We 
see boat strikes but we see a lot of fishing gear 
entanglement.  You can really see the impact we, as 
humans, are having on our oceans.      
((Animation Transition)) 
((Banner))
Detecting Disease
((SOT)) 
((Cresten Mansfeldt, University of Colorado Engineering 
Professor)) 
A single sample here is reflective of hundreds of 
people's contributions.  Instead of saliva samples from 200 
to 400 people, we can take more of a combined and 
anonymous approach. 
((Animation Transition)) 
((Banner)) 
Reclaiming the Farm
((SOT)) 
((Leah Penniman, Founding Co-Director, Soul Fire Farm; 
Author, ÒFarming While BlackÓ)) 
We learn everything from seed to harvest, as well as the 
history of Black, Indigenous farming and land-
based movements and do a lot of work to heal from the 
trauma of slavery and sharecropping and the Bracero 
program and other types of land-based oppression. 
((Open Animation))  
 

BLOCK A 

 
((PKG))  TURTLE HOSPITAL   
((Banner:  Our Flippered Friends))  
((Reporter/Camera/Producer:  Jeff Swicord))   
((Map:  Marathon, Florida))    
((Main character:  1 female))  
((Sub character:  1 female))
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Bette Zirkelbach, Manager, The Turtle Hospital)) 
Sea turtles are the oldest animal known to man.  They have 
been on our planet for over a hundred-million years.  They 
are an indicator species, a good example of whatÕs 
happening to our marine ecosystems.    
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Bette Zirkelbach, Manager, The Turtle Hospital)) 
Every species of sea turtles in the United States Is listed as 
either endangered or threatened.  And we want to make sure 
that this species does not go extinct on our watch. 
((NATS:   
Okay, you are so beautiful.  Look at you, goodness.))   
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Bette Zirkelbach, Manager, The Turtle Hospital)) 
The Turtle Hospital is located in the heart of the Florida 
Keys.  It has been rescuing, rehabilitating and returning 
turtles to the wild for over 30 years.  Not only do we fix sick 
and injured sea turtles, but probably the much bigger take in 
that is our education and just the value of that education.  
We reach out with social media and other types of media on 
a global level.  Visitors also play a very important role.  That 
admission fee, that is where we get our budget for our turtle 
care.   
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Bette Zirkelbach, Manager, The Turtle Hospital)) 
Kiki, a juvenile green sea turtle, had surgery with Dr. Terry 
Norton today.  He is from Jekyll Island Authority, Georgia 
Sea Turtle Hospital.  He is the director there, but he is also 
our lead veterinarian.  So, we actually fly him in to do sea 
turtle surgeries.  Fibropapillomatosis is a virus that causes 
these horrific tumors.  This afflicts over 50 percent of the 
green sea turtle population in and around the Florida Keys.  
This disease is only found around developed land.  There is 
a scientific study that was published out of the University of 
Hawaii in 2014 that correlated the runoff from pineapple 
plantations to the increase of this disease in green sea 
turtles.  The sea turtle goes under general anesthesia.  The 
tumors are removed with a CO2 laser.   
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Bette Zirkelbach, Manager, The Turtle Hospital)) 
KikiÕs recovery will probably be a few months.  Once a sea 
turtle is tumor free, we keep them at the Turtle Hospital for 6 
to 12 months just to make sure they donÕt regrow those 
tumors.  We want to make sure they are good and healthy.  
Get their blood values built back up before we return them to 
their ocean home. 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Bette Zirkelbach, Manager, The Turtle Hospital)) 
We rescue an average of a hundred sea turtles a year.  
Unfortunately, most of them are human impact injuries.  Not 
only do we see boat strikes but we see a lot of fishing gear 
entanglement, trap lines, abandoned anchor lines.  You can 
really see the impact we, as humans, are having on our 
oceans.  Chuck is a sub-adult loggerhead sea turtle.  He lost 
that front right flipper due to a fishing line entanglement.  
Amputating a flipper on a sea turtle, itÕs a major surgery.  It 
requires a lot of follow-up care, extensive wound care.   
((Bette Zirkelbach, Manager, The Turtle Hospital))   
I think some of the treatments that alleviate pain or pressure, 
they do calm down for during treatment but for the most part, 
as they get healthier, they get stronger and they fight more, 
which is actually really a good sign for a wild animal. 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Bette Zirkelbach, Manager, The Turtle Hospital)) 
Chuck is on the mend and a candidate for release.  Believe it 
or not, a sea turtle with three healthy flippers is a candidate 
to be returned to the wild.  So, we have our flippers crossed 
for Chuck.   
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Bette Zirkelbach, Manager, The Turtle Hospital)) 
Six out of ten of our rescue calls now come from people that 
have been to our hospital and learned what a sick sea turtle 
looks like.  ItÕs one thing to tell somebody not to leave your 
fishing gear out there but itÕs another thing to see this big 
majestic dinosaur, a sea turtle, lose their front flipper to that 
entanglement and thatÕs really impactful.  So, I feel like that 
education is invaluable. 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
 
 
TEASE  ((VO/NAT)) 
Coming upÉ.. 
((Banner)) 
Fitness During COVID  
((SOT)) 
((Brenda Zepf, Mat Fusion Instructor))  
We have lots of space and so everybody can do it and feel 
safe.   
 
 
BREAK ONE	 
PROMO 
BUMP IN  ((ANIM))				  

BLOCK B   
 
 
((PKG))  COVID WASTEWATER   
((Banner:  COVID Wastewater))  
((Reporter/Camera:  Shelley Schlender)) 
((Adapted by:  Philip Alexiou)) 
((Map:  Boulder, Colorado))    
((Main characters:  1 female;  1 male))   
((NATS)) 
((Popup Banner:   The University of Colorado is taking an 
innovative approach to monitoring COVID))  
((NATS)) 
((Cresten Mansfeldt, Engineering Professor, University 
of Colorado)) 
Well, we call our project, Project Half Shell, because it's an 
homage to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hanging out in 
the sewers. 
((Jessice Darby, Engineering Student, University of 
Colorado)) 
Guy in the blue, his nameÕs Cresten Mansfeldt.  He's our 
professor.  He's done a lot of really cool stuff around the 
world with different water systems and epidemiology. 
((Cresten Mansfeldt, Engineering Professor, University 
of Colorado)) 
So, that's an interior of a manhole.  It's one where it's 
servicing the dorms on campus.  So, whatÕs flowing through 
here is actually domestic wastewater, things we send down 
the drain through the toilets or through showers or laundry 
systems.  Basically, any drains that are coming out, end up 
flowing into these river networks that exist underneath most 
municipalities and cities.  Here, we're most interested in 
what's coming out of the toilets and feces because that 
seems to be where individuals can shed the SARS-CoV-
2 virus here. 
((Jessice Darby, Engineering Student, University of 
Colorado)) 
COVID is in your intestines and so, even if you don't have 
symptoms or before it actually is more of a disease or 
infection, it can be found in your intestines.  So, if you shed it 
into the sewer system, you can kind of determine if people 
have it, even if it's before they have symptoms or if they 
don't ever have symptoms.  
((NATS)) 
((Cresten Mansfeldt, Engineering Professor, University 
of Colorado)) 
Yeah, so thatÕs actually, what you're seeing there is a 
peristaltic pump. 
((Jessice Darby, Engineering Student, University of 
Colorado)) 
What they're doing in the pump is they're helping to set up a 
way to collect the flow through 24 hours.  It flows into a 
jerrycan and then every day, the sample and collection team 
will get a few vials of it to send back to the lab to be able to 
test whether or not it has COVID in it.  There's a huge 
sampling team that, when you take it into the lab, they go 
through all the procedure to actually find if there's any of 
the COVID-19 virus in it. 
((Cresten Mansfeldt, Engineering Professor, University 
of Colorado)) 
A single sample here is reflective of hundreds of 
people's contributions.  So, instead of having to individually 
collect saliva samples from 200 to 400 people, barcode all of 
the individual ones, we can take more of a combined and 
anonymous approach, so that we have a monitoring but not 
a diagnostic signal.   
((NATS)) 
((Cresten Mansfeldt, Engineering Professor, University 
of Colorado)) 
If you want to just close that up, we are actually good to be 
done.  We've got a site operational.  
((NATS)) 
During testing, like we initially turned the system on in early 
September, end of August.  Pretty much simultaneously, we 
started to see a lot of spikes within the system.   
((Cresten Mansfeldt, Engineering Professor, University 
of Colorado)) 
This led the administration to actually invoke some of the 
social distancing options that were available.  We're 
returning to a phase where the sewer system is showing that 
it's a non-detectable signal for SARS-CoV-2.   
((Cresten Mansfeldt, Engineering Professor, University 
of Colorado)) 
Wherever you have mass amount of people in a 
specific building, so, at nursing homes, at high schools, this 
potentially would provide a lower cost way to monitor a 
signal for viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 or other pathogens 
over time. 
((NATS)) 
 
 
((PKG))  OUTDOOR FITNESS CLASS   
((Banner:  Outdoor Gyms))  
((Reporter:  Faiza Elmasry)) 
((Camera:  Mike Burke))  
((Map:  Springfield, Virginia))    
((Main characters:  3 female;  2 male))  
((NATS)) 
Two more.  One.  Two.  Three.  Good Stephanie. 
((Brenda Zepf, Mat Fusion Instructor))  
I've taught this class for probably 12 years.  It's a 
combination of Pilates and yoga.  And so, we combine the 
core strength and the strength of flexibility and some 
meditation of the Yoga.  
((NATS)) 
And eight more.  One. 
((Heidi Tryon, Mat Fusion Participant))  
It's just nice to be outside and enjoy the fresh air  
((NATS)) 
Two. 
((Heidi Tryon, Mat Fusion Participant))  
and not be in a closed room.  The balance aspect, you have 
to work a little harder at whatever you're doing because 
there's the uneven surface underneath of you.  So, you get 
an added exercise that way.  
((NATS))  
Eleven.  Twelve. 
((Heidi Tryon, Mat Fusion Participant))  
Thankfully, I didn't have to deal with that whole aspect of, 
ÔDo I go into work with sick kids?  Do I stay home?  Do I, am 
I bringing the illness home to my family?Õ  Luckily, that whole 
component was taken out of the picture because I am 
currently retired.  But it was unusual that weÕre all home. 
((NATS)) 
Three.  Four.  Yes.  Terry.  Yeah. 
((Laurie Stricklin, Fitness Director, South Run 
Recreation Center))  
The program that we're doing right now is outdoor fitness 
classes.  
((NATS))  
One.  Two.  Three.  Four. 
((Laurie Stricklin, Fitness Director, South Run 
Recreation Center))  
Due to not having any indoor classes right now for social 
distancing and COVID and disinfecting everything, we 
needed to implement something to give to the customers. 
We're only allowing nine people.  We have to make sure the 
customers are safe.  A lot of customers are not ready to 
come inside.  
((NATS)) 
So, what we're gonna do is we're going to do some, a warm 
up.  We've implemented virtual classes where  
((Courtesy:  Laurie Stricklin))  
you can just click a link and then take classes. 
((NATS)) 
((Patrick Hall, Body Combat Participant))  
I was fortunate that my company allowed us to work from 
home almost immediately in March.  The drawback of that is 
that also my workouts were done at the fitness center at 
work.  So, it really took a toll on my exercise routine. 
((NATS)) 
Oh yeah.  I like it. 
((Patrick Hall, Body Combat Participant))  
The obvious benefit is that I could do this with my 14-year-
old son.  Just as my workout routine was affected by not 
being able to go to the gym at my office, his workout routine, 
not having physical education in school, was also affected. 
It's been great to have an opportunity to work on his fitness 
as well as my fitness and do something together.  It's a 
bonding exercise. 
((NATS)) 
((Alexander Hall, Body Combat Participant))  
I see the Body Combat has been like a great life-changing 
experience.  I came from being like, ÔOh man, I don't know 
what to do.  The gym is downÕ to now be like, ÔWow, I got the 
transformation and I didn't even need to go to the gym.Õ 
((NATS)) 
Three. 
((Brenda Zepf, Mat Fusion Instructor))  
We have lots of space and so everybody can do it and feel 
safe.  A lot of us are at home and maybe we're not in our 
office.  And so, maybe our chairs aren't right and developing 
aches and pains because we're not ergonomically correct.  
((NATS))  
Nine.  
((Brenda Zepf, Mat Fusion Instructor))  
And so, we can come here and kind of undo. 
((Heidi Tryon, Mat Fusion Participant))  
Exercise is very important for the body, not just physically 
but also emotionally and especially when we're under times 
of stress,  
((NATS))  
Three.  Two.  One. 
((Heidi Tryon, Mat Fusion Participant))  
and make you feel better about yourself, make your body 
healthier.  It's just a great way to get out there and do 
something and not just be stationary or sitting in front of the 
television. 
((NATS))   
Hey, great, great! 

TEASE  ((VO/NAT)) 
Coming upÉ.. 
((Banner)) 
Return to the Land 
((SOT)) 
((wendelin, Land Worker, Soul Fire Farm)) 
This place has really helped me to, sort of, find myself in 
the land and to come to understand all of the things that I 
can bring to this movement and to our people and back to 
the earth. 
 

BREAK TWO 
PROMO 
BUMP IN  ((ANIM))				  

BLOCK C  
 
 
((PKG))  SOUL FIRE FARMS   
((Banner:  Soul Fire Farms)) 
((Reporter/Camera:  Gabrielle Weiss)) 
((Additional Camera: Camilo de la Uz)) 
((Previously aired Sept 2019))  
((Map: Grafton, New York)) 
((Main character:  1 female))  
((Sub characters:  6 female;  3 male)) 
((NATS)) 
((Leah Penniman, Founding Co-Director, Soul Fire Farm; 
Author, ÒFarming While BlackÓ)) 
We are part of a returning generation of Black and brown 
farmers whose grandparents and great-grandparents fled 
the red clays of the South to escape oppression.  And weÕre 
realizing that something was left behind in the Great 
Migration and that was a bit of our culture, a bit of our 
souls, a bit of our connection to our ancestors and the 
sacred earth. 
((NATS)) 
((Leah Penniman, Founding Co-Director, Soul Fire Farm; 
Author, ÒFarming While BlackÓ)) 
Another worm. 
((Neshima Vitale-Penniman, Daughter)) 
Mom, thereÕs three left. 
((Leah Penniman, Founding Co-Director, Soul Fire Farm; 
Author, ÒFarming While BlackÓ)) 
Oh, ok. 
((Neshima Vitale-Penniman, Daughter)) 
This one looks a little healthier.  Maybe IÕll switch it out.  ItÕs a 
little sickly little thing. 
((Leah Penniman, Founding Co-Director, Soul Fire Farm; 
Author, ÒFarming While BlackÓ)) 
They grow, sickly little things.  ItÕll grow.  It just needs soil. 
((Leah Penniman, Founding Co-Director, Soul Fire Farm; 
Author, ÒFarming While BlackÓ)) 
My name is Leah Penniman and IÕm the founding co-director 
at Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, New York.   
So, thereÕs eight of us who live here in season.  My family, 
including my partner Jonah and our two teenage children, 
Neshima and Emet are here all year round in this beautiful, 
straw bale, timber frame home that we built from hand.  And 
additionally, members of our farm team live with us from the 
spring through the late fall.  
((NATS)) 
((Neshima Vitale-Penniman, Daughter)) 
Because IÕve grown up with farming, I never think that 
itÕs something people are really interested in.  ItÕs like, 
oh, thatÕs just how you get your food.  But then, like 
hundreds and hundreds of people come to every 
single event and itÕs like whoa, like, my mom has created 
something that people really want to learn about and be 
part of and thatÕs amazing to me. 
((NATS)) 
((Leah Penniman, Founding Co-Director, Soul Fire Farm; 
Author, ÒFarming While BlackÓ)) 
Soul Fire Farm is a Black, Indigenous, people of color-led 
community farm  
((Courtesy: Soul Fire Farm)) 
and weÕre dedicated to ending racism and injustice in the 
food system.   
((Leah Penniman, Founding Co-Director, Soul Fire Farm; 
Author, ÒFarming While BlackÓ)) 
We do that in three basic ways.  We grow a whole lot of 
vegetables, herbs, fruits, eggs and pastured poultry,  
((Courtesy: Soul Fire Farm)) 
which we distribute at low prices to people who need 
it most, in the communities of Albany and Troy.   
The second way is by educating about a thousand new 
farmers from Black, Latinx and Indigenous communities 
across the country, who come for week-long residential 
courses  
((Leah Penniman, Founding Co-Director, Soul Fire Farm; 
Author, ÒFarming While BlackÓ)) 
in sustainable agriculture.  And the third and final way is that 
we organize very actively for fair laws  
((Courtesy: Soul Fire Farm)) 
that support farm workers, farmers of color  
((Leah Penniman, Founding Co-Director, Soul Fire Farm; 
Author, ÒFarming While BlackÓ)) 
and consumers in the food system. 
((wendelin, Land Worker, Soul Fire Farm)) 
I've been coming to Soul Fire since 2017.  This place has 
really helped me to, sort of, find myself in the land and to 
come to understand all of the things that I can bring to this 
movement and to our people and back to the earth.  
((Leah Penniman, Founding Co-Director, Soul Fire Farm; 
Author, ÒFarming While BlackÓ)) 
Buenos d’as.  Good morning.  Welcome to Soul Fire Farm.  
WeÕre dedicated to ending racism in the food system and 
healing lands and our relationship with land.  And part of that 
is being in a learning community where we deepen our 
understanding of how animals like chickens can be part of 
an ecosystem and also how they can feed 
the community and especially feed people who otherwise 
would not have access to that delicious, vital food.   
I'm so excited to be here with all of you for this workshop 
on chickens.  Most of the participants, who are here for 
today's pastured poultry class, are farm workers from Hurley, 
New York.  Now we want to introduce ourselves.  
((Victoria, Farm Worker)) 
My name is Victoria.  I grew up with farm-raised chickens 
and IÕm here to learn about raising organic chickens. 
((Victor, Farm Worker))  
My name is Victor and we have plans to return to Mexico 
and we want to start a business like this and sell at low 
prices to help people out. 
((NATS)) 
((Leah Penniman, Founding Co-Director, Soul Fire Farm; 
Author, ÒFarming While BlackÓ)) 
It's a little known fact that about 85% of the people who do 
farm labor in this country speak Spanish as their first 
language.  So, if we say we're for food justice 
and liberation, it would be very disingenuous to only offer 
programming in English that excluded most of the farmers in 
this nation.  And thereÕs been a lot of excitement, particularly 
from the Latinx farm worker community in our area, to learn 
these skills, so that when they do have their own farms and 
are no longer working for wages on other peopleÕs farms, 
they can implement these integrated livestock and vegetable 
systems.  
((NATS)) 
((Leah Penniman, Founding Co-Director, Soul Fire Farm; 
Author, ÒFarming While BlackÓ)) 
And then we're going to walk around and meet the chickens 
on the farm and see how we take care of them, how we 
know if they're sick, what kind of houses they need.  Then 
after lunch, we'll actually take five chickens and weÕll process 
them for meat.  If you include all of our on-farm and off-
farm programs, we reach over 7,000 people a year, of which 
around 2,000 actually come to the farm.  And we learn 
everything from seed to harvest, as well as the history of 
Black, Indigenous farming and land-based movements and 
do a lot of work to heal from the trauma of slavery and 
sharecropping and the Bracero program and other types of 
land-based oppression that seek to really separate us from a 
healed and dignified relationship with land. 
((NATS)) 
((Leah Penniman, Founding Co-Director, Soul Fire Farm, 
Author - ÒFarming While BlackÓ)) 
We call these shelters chicken tractors.  I wanted to be able 
to move it by myself without a tractor because for the first 
few years of the farm, I was managing the farm and I didn't 
have any staff or partners in the farm.  So, I had to think 
about systems that I could do on my own.  We also don't 
want the meat to be so tough that our customers don't know 
how to prepare and eat it.  So, keeping them in a smaller 
space that moves every day or every other day means they 
still get the benefit of pasture but they're not getting so much 
exercise that their muscles become very tough.  
((NATS)) 
((Samuel, Farm Worker)) 
So, raising them like this in smaller cages is better for the 
meat, to keep it tender and it cooks faster.  So, now I 
understand why the meat from my grandmother's hens were 
so tough. 
((NATS)) 
((Leah Penniman, Founding Co-Director, Soul Fire Farm; 
Author, ÒFarming While BlackÓ)) 
You can give a little push and help her.  You're 
doing perfectly.  You're very strong. 
((NATS)) 
((Alex, Community Gardener)) 
Soul Fire Farm is just really at the vanguard of thinking about 
racism in our current food system and how we have to 
shatter that together.  And so, I've wanted to come and learn 
through that lens for a really long time.  So, this was the 
perfect opportunity. 
((NATS)) 
((Samuel, Farm Worker))   
Welcome. 
This is it.  Goodbye, my chicken friend. 
((NATS)) 
((Leah Penniman, Founding Co-Director, Soul Fire Farm; 
Author, ÒFarming While BlackÓ)) 
I believe so passionately that we all have the right to have 
dignity and belonging as it relates to the earth and to have 
agency in the food system and there's just been a whole 
history of dispossession and discrimination against certain 
people as it relates to land and food.  So, a big part of 
teaching is about empowering our people and equipping our 
people with the skills to take back that dignified relationship 
with land.  
((NATS)) 
((Lytisha Wyatt, Instructor, Soul Fire Farm)) 
We remove the feathers on the side of the neck that we're 
going to be cutting from and I cut cross-body.  So, I don't cut 
this way.  I actually come over here, that's what I find 
most comfortable, because I'm right-handed.  I'm going to 
remove the feathers from the left side.  So, I want to remove 
enough feathers so that I can see what I'm doing. 
((Alex, Community Gardener)) 
So, I'm left-handed. 
((Lytisha Wyatt, Instructor)) 
Right.  Since you're left-handed, you would do it on the 
opposite side. Yup. 
((NATS)) 
Actually, thatÕs fine. Yeah. 
((Leah Penniman, Founding Co-Director, Soul Fire Farm; 
Author, ÒFarming While BlackÓ)) 
So, the bird is now considered dead. 
((NATS)) 
((Leah Penniman, Founding Co-Director, Soul Fire Farm, 
Author - ÒFarming While BlackÓ)) 
We want to build up a generation of people who believe that 
they matter and that they're connected to something bigger 
than what capitalism would have them believe. 
((NATS)) 
((wendelin, Land Worker))  
I was just taken aback by how warm the bodies of these 
animals were and learning about the different aspects of 
pastured poultry, really, sort of, has affected the way that I 
will be consuming poultry going forward. 
((NATS)) 
So, the cut I do is horizontal over here and then comes 
around.  Make sure you turn it against theÉ. 
Four and a quarter, put four.  
Four point one. 
((Samuel, Farm Worker)) 
I know how to raise chickens now, how to get eggs.  And I 
think it is something nice for my family 
going forward because now I know how to feed my kids and 
I can teach them to feed the grandchildren and future 
generations going forward.  And hey, even for my neighbors. 
((NATS))

CLOSING  ((ANIM)) 
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NEXT WEEK  ((VO/NAT))                             
In the coming weeksÉ..
((Banner)) 
Oyster Farming 
((SOT)) 
What I love about farming oysters is that every day is 
different and we get to work outside and we have flexible 
schedules and we get to work with our family. 

 
BREAK THREE 
PROMO 
BUMP IN  ((ANIM))		 
 
 
CLOSING  ((ANIM)) 
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SHOW ENDS