In the summer of 2013, our region was hit by a terrible drought.  Our summers are always very hot and very dry but nothing could have made it worse when the temperatures rose, the rains did not come, all the water holes ran dry and there was no food for animals or humans.  It was a dire situation.  During this time we were involved in the rescue of an additional 146 cows that were headed for slaughter.  This put us even deeper into financial stress, as now we had more mouths to feed.  We put out an SOS and, with much gratitude, we received funds from our supporters.  Most of the cows survived this drought but we did lose some of the older, sicker and weaker ones.

So, the moment of our annual nightmare has arrived again – another drought.  We have started the summer feeding which means, now that there is no more grass, we have to give the cows a feed mix which is expensive but worth it, as it is a matter of life and death during these upcoming months.  We have also stocked up with paddy grass and have constructed many more feeding troughs at the cattle hospital.  Last year we installed another bore well as there was no water in the village as many of the bore wells ran dry.  After many attempts to find water, we eventually got lucky and were able to share this water, which is like gold, with the villagers and the animals.


               

Our fears that keep us awake at night is the intense heat, especially for the buffaloes who cannot handle the hot and dry weather, the lack of water and the fear that the bore wells will run dry and we will run out of food.  We do not know when the rains will come and if our stock of food will last through the summer.  We are kindly requesting your financial support so that we can continue to purchase animal feed to keep us going.  Thank you.