UNUSUAL FOUR-legged gifts are being sent this Christmas from Brechin Cathedral’s congregation to villagers in Ethiopia.

The cathedral’s “get your goat” appeal in the autumn raised more than £440 for the provision of goats for poor families in Ethiopia.

The milk from the animals will help parents give their children vital extra nourishment, as well as bringing them an income from butter and other dairy products they can make to sell at market.

One recipient will be Margaret Nakayiza, an AIDS orphan. When both her parents died at the age of 13, she moved 150 miles with her two younger brothers to Bukiiti B Village to live with her aunt and grandmother.

Still only 15, she is doing very well at school and was chosen as a beneficiary because the income from the goats will enable her to carry on with her schooling.

Margaret said, “My grandmother is now getting old and is unwell so it is important that, as well as going to school, I work to help my brothers.

“The goats will mean that the three of us can complete school as not only will we have milk for the family, we will have extra that we can sell.”

Cathedral minister the Rev Scott Rennie said, “At this time of the year when so much money is spent on luxury goods as presents, it’s nice to be able to make a gift to poor families in Ethiopia that will make a difference—by lifting families out of poverty, guaranteeing children an education, and providing a sustainable income and future to people far less well off than ourselves.

“We have so much and take it for granted and they have so little.

“We are delighted to be paying for 16 goats for different African families,” he said.