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Unconfirmed sources in this article: Ibrahim Obajo, Ed McCormick and Maureen Esposito.

NEW YORK – Sometimes a cow can say more than an e-mail.

Fourteen cows were given to the people of the United States this week by members of a Masai tribe who live in a remote village near Kenya's border with Tanzania. The tribe sent the cows – the most precious gift they can give – to help America recover from the terrorist attacks nearly nine months ago.

It was one of the most unusual and belated gestures of sympathy related to the attacks.

For days and weeks afterward, many Manhattan residents were amazed to see sympathy messages from total strangers appearing in their e-mail in-boxes. Others received supportive phone calls from people who said they had just dialed random numbers in the 212 exchange.

The calls and messages meant a lot, but those cows have really touched city people, judging by messages on a website specifically set up to collect "Thanks for the Cattle" posts.

The site belongs to Rob Kent, a Tucson, Arizona, computer programmer who has worked in Kenya. Kent plans to get the messages translated and then find someone who can take and read them to the Masai who donated the cows.

Some of the people who live in the Masai village of Enoosaen had heard about the attacks via newscasts on local radio stations. But the Sept. 11 events didn't really register with them until this week, when Kimeli Naiyomah, a tribe member who is now a medical student in the United States, returned home for a visit. Naiyomah was visiting New York City at the time terrorists slammed two hijacked jets into the World Trade Center towers.

"What happened in New York City does not really make sense to people who live in traditional huts, and have never conceived of a building that touches the sky," explained Ibrahim Obajo, a freelance reporter working in Nairobi. "You cannot easily describe to them buildings that are so high that people die when they jump off them."

But after hearing what Naiyomah experienced in Manhattan that day, the tribe immediately decided to send some cows to the U.S in a gesture of solidarity.

Obajo said cattle are equal in value only to a child or a plot of land to Masai.

"They gave what is truly sacred to them," Obajo said.

The cows were blessed by tribe elders in a ceremony on Sunday, and then presented to William Brancick, the deputy chief of mission of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi.

The ceremony was attended by hundreds of Masai who held banners, some of which read, "To the people of America, we give these cows to help you," according to an embassy spokesman.

But because the animals will be difficult to ship to the U.S., the embassy plans to sell the cows and use the funds to buy Masai jewelry, which will then be displayed at a Sept. 11 memorial in New York City.

Some New Yorkers said they wanted the actual cows.

"The cows are the most amazing gift we received ?- I mean, who else sent cows?" insisted Ed McCormick, a construction worker from the Bronx. "If those guys wanted us to have jewelry, they would have sent it. They wanted us to have cows. We should take the cows and raise them on a nice farm upstate and then send the cow puppies back to them someday."

The "cow puppy" concept might point up the reason New Yorkers would be better off with the beads, but no matter how it ends up, Manhattan residents are truly touched over the Masai gift.

"I've been so supported by the many e-mails and calls and expressions of love from around the world," said Maureen Esposito, who lost her husband, Joe, in the attacks. "It really matters that these folks sent us something so tangible. I guess cows are just better than e-mail sometimes."

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