The pupils at Castlelyons National School have been working hard over the past few months raising money to send a goat to a family living in poverty in Africa.
The school have been sending a goat to Africa with Irish charity, Bothar for more than 15 years and the money is raised over the course of Lent annually.
The pupils bought raffle tickets during the weeks of Lent and on the day before their Easter holidays, a raffle for an Easter egg was held in every classroom. Then all the raffle tickets from the whole school were placed into a big draw and the winner of that draw, Victoria Bryan, was given the chance to name the goat, which the school sent to Africa. She chose the name 'Coconut'.
Bothar then visited the school and there was great excitement on the day as pupils got to see the goat and handed over the cheque to Bothar representative, Olivia Cumiskey.
“It’s a scheme that we have been involved in for many years,” said principal Nelius De Roiste. “It’s a nice way to make a contribution to poorer countries.”
Bothar send livestock to impoverished countries every year. They will send an Irish goat on behalf of Castleyons National School which will produce up to four litres of nutritious milk per day for the recipient family. Many of the Irish goats are in kid and this allows the local people in Africa to quickly build up a small herd, thus multiplying the benefit of this gift of life.
