"Why a cow? Heifer gives cows, chickens, pigs, goats and other animals appropriate to the environments where they will live to people around the world.  Participants in Heifer's projects must undergo training on how to care for the animals in a sustainable way.  The cow's milk will significantly enhance the diets of the woman and her children (many of whom would be malnourished without that milk) and also provide extra to sell for clothing money.  One cow represents a huge rise in the standard of living for many families.  Moreover, each participant who receives an animal also agrees to pass on the first born female animal to another program participant.  So over time the whole community benefits.  Each time a new cow or other Heifer donation is received, everyone in the community celebrates! Most of the world's poor are women and children.  Heifer is making a real difference to create quality of life and even peace around the world. 

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

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 — since 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 that people with something to live for, they 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."

So thank you, dear readers, for taking the time to enter Amazon or your other favorite online store through our site this season.  It is such a gift to us to be able to give to organizations like Heifer that let us be part of the solution.  As we grow, we know that our impact (and yours) will grow with us.  Please remember that we donate 10% of our after tax profits from www.findsforseekers.com to non-political charities like Heifer.org year-round--charities that empower women and children and heal the earth.  You can make a difference by book-marking www.findsforseekers.com, or even making us your homepage, and starting there whenever you want to shop at Amazon, James Ray, Organic Bouquet or Less EMF.  And your support also allows us to fund our sites and newsletters so we can keep bringing the best spiritual resources on the web to you.  Thanks in advance for shopping with us in 2008, and for spreading the word to your friends!

Namaste,
Kim & Mary Lou