Thinking of buying a goat for a needy person in Africa? (as Kristof suggests in the New York Times). Before you do, read this bracing article in South Africa's Mail and Guardian.
Extract: "A few months ago, at the height of the Christmas shopping season, Oxfam encouraged us Britons to give "the gift of dung" to Africa. That's right: dung. Apparently poor African farmers like nothing better at Christmas time than to receive a bucket of shit with which they can fertilise their crops."