On Tuesday 14th February at 7.30pm the guest speaker was Geoffrey Williams who gave a very interesting talk and slide show about ‘Send a Cow’ which, he says, is not so much a frontline agency responding to drought or warfare, but a charity set up in the 1980’s to save those who can be saved from malnutrition by giving them the means to have a fruitful and active life. Send a Cow was a response to an appeal from Uganda at the end of the Civil War. Officials had toured the UK and had been shocked by gallons of milk being thrown away and healthy animals being slaughtered because of EEC rules and regulations. As a practical solution twelve Gloucester farmers rented a plane, herded cows, donkeys and bullocks onto it, flew to Kampala and organized for the church to distribute the animals locally. Over the last twenty years, Send a Cow has visited the villages of Uganda, Zambia, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania. A village of approximately 1000 people would be adopted by the charity in anyone of those countries. A village council would be set up, with a female elected person, to choose a beneficiary of livestock within the village. The land and soil would be checked before the animal is sent to the family and outreach workers (local African graduates) and vets would visit the village to look after the health of the animal once it had arrived. The local people view these cows as ‘magic’ because they are pre-fertilized, that is, six months pregnant before they arrive. The cows usually taking three months to settle in, to be nutured and to be fed (on elephant grass grown by the children). When the calf arrives (after nine months) so does the milk, which is drunk by the children or sold at the market. The cow sent by the charity, produces 20 litres of milk per day, compared to an African cow which produces 3-4 litres, hence phrase ‘magic cow’ to the locals.

As part of the covenant, the first female offspring from the cow goes to another group member to either help pay off a debt, because these animals continue to breed or to ‘pass on an idea’. Families not only pass on young livestock, but also seeds or training so the charity Send a Cow is building strong communities in Africa, allowing people to ‘develop their skills, confidence and self – respect’.

Send a Cow, whose President is the Prince of Wales, also trains the locals in animal wellbeing, natural resource management and the charity also teaches the villagers sustainable organic farming practices i.e. composting manure, growing green vegetables in a keyhole gardens or developing pesticides from urine.

In Ethiopia, district nurses teach the villagers about health and hygiene, disposing of human waste, childcare, gender equality, how to grow medicinal plants, how to make clay stones etc. British science is used to teach locals how to apply the best seeds and methods to the environment they find themselves, restoring hope for the future.

Geoffrey, concluded his talk and slide show by saying that Send a Cow is not a ‘quick fix’ solution to poverty but a long term developmental project. He added that the main benefit of Send a Cow, is that it takes the charity just six years to take a 1000 strong village (which has been adopted ) from malnutrition to self sufficiency. The local people, he says, just want a chance to succeed and to build new lives.

We meet at the Welcome Inn on Tuesday nights from 6.45pm.