A Cow Trust Fund

Sep 11th, 2006 1:00 PM UTC
By Virginia Simmons

Four years ago, the Masai

tribe in Enoosaen, Kenya, donated fourteen cows to the United States as a sign of sympathy after the September

11th attacks.

After years of discussion

- on how to thank the Masai for their kindness – American diplomats traveled to Enoosaen yesterday to tell the

town elders that America would like to use the cows’ offspring to fund education in the village – and that the

states would like to kick off the “cow trust fund” by

donating 14 high school scholarships to the village.

From The New York Times,

Sunday, September 10, 2006:

When Masai tribesmen marry, they give cows. When a son wants to earn the respect of his father, he gives cows.

When there is a friend in need or a condolence call to make, more cows.

So it was, in this one-cow-fits-all spirit, that the elders of Enoosaen four years ago donated 14 prized bulls

and heifers to the people of the United States to help ease the pain of the Sept. 11 attacks.

But there was one little problem: the cattle — and how to get them from here to there.

Link to the Times for

more…

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