Yakkity Yak

In 2004, "generous beyond compare" BWG readers bought six goats, six flocks of chickens, a flock of geese, a flock of ducks and a heifer!

Click to view whole image A minimum of 15 impoverished families in mainland China have had their lives changed by these gifts.

In light of our success, I set my sights higher: collect enough to give three yaks to assist families in Tibet.

From Heifer Hong Kong:

The Tibetan Plateau is a harsh place to live in. The weather is often severe and erratic. Natural disasters are frequent. For nomadic Tibetans, yaks - which thrive in such high-altitudes extremes - are essential to their survival.

The yak can provide a family with milk to drink and sell, make butter and yogurt, and meat to supply much-needed protein. Having hot butter tea with friends and families is a tradition that these warm and outgoing herders have kept for thousands of years.

Yaks are strong animals that will lighten the load of a nomadic family as they move with their herds of animals. Moreover, yaks' coarse belly hair makes fibers for study tents called yurts, while soft hair is woven into clothing. Its dried manure can also be used to make fuel for cooking. A yak will give birth on average twice within three years.

The gift of a yak will help transform the lives of a destitute Tibetan family while keeping their centuries-old way of life.

Each yak was HK$3,500; we needed to gather HK$10,500 (about US$1,346) by the end of April. I couldn't think of a better way to kick off Spring than by raining some love on Tibet.

BWG readers rose to the challenge yet again! The total donated was US$1,450.90 (HK$11,317). I rounded the total to $11,500.00, which was enough to add a sheep to the mix!

My deepest appreciation goes out to the following contributors (in alphabetical order):

Anonymous (two; by request), Susan Adcock, Jason Beckham, Brent Bowers, Tom Burwell, Candid Publishing, Cindy Chan (x 2), Nelson Eng, Malora Fernandes, Torgeir Hagland, Linda Hanley, Kwok Shun-lau, Gillian Lam, Allen Law, Charles Lawrence, Yat Liu, Kelly Lucas, Ken MacInnis, Michael McCormack, Stephen Moody, N5RCS, Joyce Ng, Scott Peterson, Scott Roberts, Karen Saulnier, Erin M Shirey, Brent Stone, Karen Tang, Alberto Tronconi, Sara Whitley, and Aaron Wise.

A record half dozen contributors earned a BWG tee by donating US$100 (or more), while 24 people qualified for the draw to win one of four limited edition BWG tees.

Four random draws from numbers corresponding to the names above have yielded our winning quartet: Linda Hanley, Allen Law, Stephen Moody, and Sara Whitley.

Congratulations!

Donations were closed on April 17, 2005.

Next Drive - Heifer Twofer