Send a Cow
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Send a Cow is a charity that enables poor rural families in Africa to become self-sufficient by providing them with livestock, training and advice. It works with some of the most vulnerable groups in Africa, including children orphaned by war, families affected by AIDS, and disabled people. It is a Christian charity, providing practical assistance to people on the basis of need, not of gender, ethnic group, or faith.
Send a Cow was founded in 1988 by a group of farmers, based mainly in the West Country. They responded to the plight of malnourished families in post-conflict Uganda by sending cows from their own herds. The first plane-load of 25 pregnant cows left the UK for Uganda in July 1988. With the help of local church groups, the founders distributed the cows to poor women, trained the recipients in caring for their animals, and offered them low-cost veterinary services.
Send a Cow gained charitable status later that year. By 1996, it had flown more than 300 cows from the UK to Uganda. Then the BSE crisis in the UK prompted the organisation to change its strategy. Send a Cow no longer send animals, but instead purchases all its gift livestock in Africa.
In 1998 – the charity's 10th anniversary year – it expanded further. Send a Cow launched a new programme called StockAid that targeted the very poorest people, especially those affected by war, drought and HIV/ AIDS. As many of these people do not have the resources to look after a cow, it began supplying smaller livestock such as goats and rabbits.
It also expanded the sustainable farming component of its training programmes, showing farmers how to use composted manure to boost the fertility of their soils; and began focusing more on social development issues.
Send a Cow was given a further boost in 1999 when it was chosen as one of the charities featured in The Daily Telegraph's Christmas Appeal. The money raised enabled it to increase its work in Africa and invest in more UK staff. The charity now receives some institutional funding – but most of its money comes from the general public.
Now, in 2008, Send a Cow has offices in four countries: Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Lesotho. It also works in Kenya, Zambia, Tanzania, Cameroon, Ghana and Mozambique through the non-governmental organisation Heifer International. The charity supplies cows, goats, bees, poultry, fruit trees, donkeys, breeding goats and bulls, draft oxen and sheep, among other gifts.
