14 Cows For America is about Kimeli’s journey back home to Kenya after being in New York City on September 11, 2001. He speaks to his Maasai elders and they choose to give fourteen cows, the symbol of life, to America to bring healing: “Because there is no nation so powerful it cannot be wounded, nor a people so small they cannot offer mighty comfort.”
14 Cows For America, illustrated by Thomas Gonzalez and written by Carmen Agra Deedy in collaboration with Wilson Kimeli Naiyomah is an important, peaceful book about compassion and healing. The note in the back from Kimeli gives more background on what this gift of cows means, and how the herd continues to multiply, perpetuating the symbol of hope.