7/21/2021
Greetings, friends, from Abuja, Nigeria!

I decided to use my letterhead with the Abuja address, for the last time, as this week I’m packing and moving out of my Abuja flat to go and live permanently at the new SFA site, Peace Village, in Ogun State.

The project in Ogun State is immense, involving not only what SFA is doing among the Fulani, but also the work of Christian Development Foundation, CDF, and Imala Land Development Foundation, ILDF. Those two organizations are building a mega Christian University in Imala and a vocational school. SFA will work together with CDF in a large clinic and cattle ranch. So, you can see the wisdom in my making Peace Village, just minutes from CDF’s and ILDF’s headquarters, my new home base.

Besides packing to move to Peace Village, I’m also preparing to fly to Seattle on August 13, to be on hand for the first showings of the documentary, Kidnapped Redemption, to be shown at Seattle First Free Methodist Church on August 22 nd and Sage Hills Church in Wenatchee on August 29 th . There will also be a showing at Warm Beach Camp in Stanwood, but that date is yet to be announced.

Rev. Mike Henry, Producer, Andy Yardy, Director, and Yayo Ahumada, Cinematographer, have worked tirelessly on this film and its promotion; I cannot thank them enough for bringing this story to the public. May God, who saved my life out there in the bush and has subsequently blessed and favored the work and ministry of SFA among the Fulani, be forever honored and glorified. May His Name be praised. Amen.

Let me update you now with the work of the past three months at Peace Village in Ogun State.

On the twenty-three acres given to SFA by the Imala King, we completed the building of a large primary school, teacher and staff quarters, a small school clinic, and a security post with a gate. We're still working on the guest house.

Also on the twenty-three acres, we fenced off four large paddocks and a holding pen, on which we'll demonstrate Managed Intensive Rotational Grazing, MIRG. We bought three ‘starter’ cows, but Alhaji Bature, the overall Fulani chief of Imala, intends to bring thirty of his own cows to add to our three.

Four hundred acres located around the twenty-three for SFA have been given for four Fulani families – one hundred acres each - for their compounds and grazing – MIRG - with the added benefit of planted grass. I will buy grass seed while we're here in Abuja in anticipation of a fenced, grass farm, from which we will sell, at a very low price, grass for the Fulani to transplant onto their own paddocks.

An additional one thousand, six hundred acres has been promised but not yet allocated. On this, we will create paddocks, plant grass, put a borehole, and drinking trough and hopefully a milk-collection center in collaboration with WAMCO, with whom we've already met twice.

WAMCO is a Dutch consortium, the largest distributor of fresh and powdered milk in the world. I know of them from the Bobi Grazing Reserve in Niger State, where they have a large, economically beneficial project for Fulani herdsmen. I have asked them to partner with SFA in Imala to provide the same benefits to our Fulani friends here.

WAMCO will assist in bringing the herdsmen together into a cooperative, teach them pasture development, MIRG, proper health care, feeding and watering of their cattle and milk collection. If we can prove that 1,500 litres of milk can be delivered to a milk collection center daily, WAMCO will buy the milk from the herdsmen which will greatly improve their economic strength and standard of living.

Now, imagine for a moment a three-legged, African cooking pot. Inside the pot is simmering ‘The Good Life’ for Fulani herdsmen and their families. There are three legs holding up this pot: Family, Environment, and Economy. All three legs MUST be cared for, must be strong and healthy, to maintain this ‘Good Life’. Should one leg fall, all would be lost.

We are paying attention to the family, by providing education and healthcare. The environment is cared for by following holistically sound, MIRG guidelines. The economy can now be strengthened by working with WAMCO to provide an opportunity for the Fulani to sell their milk at a very good price.
Will you help?

Needed is money for grass seed, to pay for the labor of planting this seed in two large grass farms, a borehole, and a drinking trough for the cattle. (WAMCO emphasizes the importance of cattle drinking large amounts of water daily in order to provide the quantity of milk they are looking for.)

We also need money to fence the two grass farms.

A veterinary clinic supplied with medicine and equipment is desperately needed in this project.

Altogether, a minimum amount of $50,000 is needed for this new project, a project to shore up that third leg – Economy – for Fulani herdsmen and their families.

All we are doing is paying attention to this neglected tribe in Nigeria, sowing those seeds of peace towards a harvest of righteousness.

‘Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.’ James 3:18.

This is God’s PROMISE! And we are working on the basis of that promise.

If you are able to help, please send your check to SFA Treasurer, Mr. Donald Standley.

Donald R. Standley, CPA
425-672-1040
22205 93rd Pl W
Edmonds, WA 98020-4512

Thank you so much,
Phyllis Sortor, Director
Schools for Africa