When my daugher, who is six yeras old, heard about the charity Send a Cow, she began to giggle. Her little mind was trying to figure out how or why anyone would want to be sent a cow. And besides, how would they fit through the letter box? Yet, right on our doorstep, down the road in Newton St. Loe, is a pioneering charity that really did begin by flying cows to Africa. This is their story...
Send a Cow is an international development charity based in Newton St Loe, near Twerton. It was founded two decades ago, when a group of Christian dairy farmers came up with what seemed to some like a crazy idea. They decided to respond to the plight of malnourished families in post-conflict Uganda by sending not money, but cows. On 4 July 1988, in a blaze of publicity, 25 pregnant cows were flown to Uganda – and Send a Cow was born. Nowadays, Send a Cow works in 10 countries in Africa, giving locally-bought animals ranging from bees to breeding bulls. It also provides veterinary services, plus training in animal care and sustainable organic agriculture.
For example, that package of help has enabled one Ugandan widow, Ana Grace Amongin, to start working her way out of poverty. Ana used to have no idea how to feed, clothe, or school the orphaned children she was caring for. Then she was given a cow names Peace. Ana uses Peace’s manure to enrich her soils. Her family now enjoys nutritious vegetables and milk, and any extra is sold to pay for school expenses and household needs.
“I have transformed my land,” says Ana. “We are all healthy.”
In common with all families helped by the charity, Ana passed on the first female calf to another family in need. This pass-on principle has underpinned Send a Cow’s dramatic growth – and will be the theme of many of the 20th anniversary celebrations in 2008.
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