Kindness Suggestion

HELP MAKE PEACE ONE COW AT A TIME

During the 1990s almost a million people were killed in fighting between Tutsi and Hutu ethnic groups in Rwanda.

But while most of the world watched from a distance, for Agnes Uwanyiligira the tragedy was up close and all too personal. She lost 25 members of her family. Her family farm was all but destroyed, and all her cows killed or run off. And she recoiled in horror as neighbors turned against each other, as tools became weapons, as peace became a distant memory — and a seemingly impossible dream.

Heifer International has been in Rwanda since 2000 — even before the end to war was officially declared. We’ve been in Rwanda because we understand that peace is more than the absence of war. Peace can only take root where trust, community and friendship are allowed to foster.

Most of all, for peace to take hold, people must have the sustainable solutions to poverty and hunger that you provide by supporting Heifer International.

It may seem hard to believe that peace could really take root one cow at a time. Yet we’ve seen time and again. People with something to live for have nothing they want to die for.

Since receiving a cow Agnes has milk to feed her children, and with money from the sale of surplus milk she can tend to her family’s needs: food, medicine, clothing and more.

What a glorious sight it will be to see Hutu and Tutsi women gathering together at the “Passing on the Gift” ceremony. Old resentments may not all be forgotten, but they are slowly being forgiven. Here and there you hear the word “mahoro” — peace — that it seemed no one had used for years, now being spoken with genuine hope.

In a land with so much poverty, and thousands of war orphans, just imagine the impact of 1,000 or 10,000 cows! There just seems to be no limit to the amount of good we can do, as long as we can count on good friends like you.

Your gift helps sow the seeds of peace.

By making generous gifts to Heifer International, you help support our efforts in Rwanda and elsewhere. Where people are hungry, we give them the ability to feed themselves through gifts of animals and agricultural training. Where people are poor, we teach them new ways to increase the yields on their farms. Within weeks or months of receiving animals, they are taking abundant milk, or eggs, or wool to the market to gain the income they need.

Where hunger ends, peace can begin. It’s a simple idea but it’s powerful and true. Your gift can help bring people together and give them hope. If it can happen in Rwanda, it can happen anywhere! 

Please make an online donation to support the Heifer International and our work to spread peace throughout the world. Thank you.

To learn more about Heifer International:

http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.183217/

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