Newsletter-Jan-June-2015

Shepherd Food Ministries
Biannual Newsletter
ISSUE 09 Jan —June 2015
Upcoming Events
Matching On
The annual charity gala, African Shepherds Delight 2014, was another milestone
in our achievement as we marked the seven years of SFM. Thanks to
our donors, supporters and members in the UK and Nigeria, SFM continues
to make progress in achieving the objectives of reducing post-harvest loss
suffered by small-scale farmers and of empowering widows with skills and
computer literacy. The impact of SFM over the seven years include the purchase
of 103 acres in Osun-State, Nigeria, to enable the establishment of
preservation hub, demonstration farm and training for farmers. One of our
training for farmers, sponsored by the National Centre for Food Manufacturing
at the University of Lincoln, focused on preservation methods. About 30
farmers benefited from the programme. We have spent the last year planning
the logistic of starting the project on our farmland. Thus, we plan to employ
a farm supervisor and build a farm house in 2015 to begin the process of actively
using the land and forging closer relationship with farmers within our
neighbourhood. We will also look into building a solar powered water pump
that will draw water into a tank for drinking and irrigation.
Volunteering Opportunity:
SFM regularly raise money
for the ‘Lincolnshire v hungry
campaign’ by bag packing
in a supermarket in Lincoln.
Please volunteer for a
couple of hours between 9am
and 4pm .
Lincolnshire v Hunger
Awards Afternoon — will
take place on 26th September
2015 at The Showroom, Tritton
Road from 3pm to 6pm.
The winning school will sing.
To book, please call Anastasia
on 07773608739 or
01522705532.

Reducing post-harvest loss
One potential impact of reducing
post-harvest loss is the financial
benefits it brings to small scale
farmers. Presently, it African farmers
are losing $4billion worth of
trade as a result of this problem.
Hence, many are unable to provide
healthy diet for their family, to pay
their children’s school fees, to pay
for medical care, and to have a decent
living. But overcoming this
challenge will create jobs among
the youths, and increase the tax
revenue for the government.
SFM Land in Osun State
Lincolnshire V Hunger Campaign
The LvH was launched in March 2014 by our patron, the Rt Revd Christopher Lowson, the
Bishop of Lincoln. The objective is to raise awareness about global hunger and the profile
of the UN’s Millennium Development Goal, i.e, poverty and hunger). We hope that other
cities around the world will adopt one of the MDGs to form a network of cities promoting
and supporting initiatives by governments and international organisations to resolve these
problems. In Lincolnshire, SFM is promoting it with a song competition for schools and the
school with the most downloads will win £1000 worth of musical instruments. We have received
a lot of interest from schools and we are looking forward a successful Awards Night
on Saturday 26 September, 2015 at the Showroom, Lincoln.
Donation to Orphanages
Thrice a year, SFM team in
Nigeria visits local orphanages
for children and physically
challenged with a variety
of food items. The aim is
to reduce food poverty
among vulnerable people.
To support this project,
please donate online.

Solar Powered Cold Stores
By Martin Hodgkinson
Dr Ola posed me an interesting challenge.
He has contact with 100 + farmers
in Nigeria producing 3300 tons of
food each year of which 70% perishes
or is wasted within 3 weeks of harvesting
because of inadequate storage
and no distribution facilities. Martin
can you set up a distribution depot
Well I don't have £2-£3 million on a
peg ready to use. What my friends and I have is a 'can do approach' and loads of creative
problem solving ideas. There is also 12+ hours per day of sun in Nigeria. If the farmers can
keep the food for 6 weeks rather than 3, they may be able to use or sell 30% more. That could
double their income with still a 40% waste factor.
The initial idea was to use a solar powered refrigerated container. The Chinese sell them for
$40,000 - $50,000, which have to be connected to back up land line power not available to our
farmers. and much too expensive. Following discussions with over 12 Engineers and Builders
our specification solution is gradually being fine tuned, to take account of what’s available in
Nigeria and the technical details necessary to provide a 'Solar Powered Cold Room'.
Where are we now We are still at the initial design stage of working out the best method of
producing a cold store that will prolong the life of the food produced. We hope to interest
some University Mechanical Engineer students to work with us to fine tune the design to enable
us to build a proto-type on our land in Nigeria. The proto-type will probably use locally
made blocks to form a cold store with an air lock and we think a solar powered air conditioning
unit on the side of the cold store.
An example of a locally built coldroom in Lagos for commercial purpose.

STAR Project
By Norma Murrain
NEW BEGININGS!
Thank you to everyone who attended our
Treasured Jewellery Workshop in December on
the theme ‘God’s Gift’, a great time was had by
all!
The practical demonstration was led by Andrea
who showed us how to make the most beautiful
Christmas decorations, whilst the children
made pretty bead bracelets.
It was great to have Dr Ola and Anastasia of
Shepherd Food Ministries (SFM) in the house.
Dr Ola shared briefly on the work of SFM and our S.T.A.R (Shepherd Treasured Academy and Resources)
in Nigeria, which is a partnership project between Shepherds Food Ministries, Treasured and The Dorcas
Foundation of Nigeria.
We led three Therapeutic Jewellery workshops during 2014, on the themes; Thankful, Joy and God’s Gift.
Each workshop brings an uplifting, hopeful and Universal message as well as, friendship, fun and Therapy
to The Jewellery Quarter, impacting lives right here in Birmingham as well as supporting our overseas
projects.
Our next Therapeutic Jewellery Workshop on the theme ‘New Beginnings’ is on Sunday January 25 th at
2.00-4.00 pm at the Urban Coffee Company, Big Peg, Warstone Lane, Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham.
This is one not to be missed as we will be making Jewellery using found, natural and recycled materials.
This is your opportunity to bring along any old fabrics, broken jewellery, found and natural items and
turn it into something new to Treasure!
So if you love great Coffee, great company and want to have a go at giving your old stuff a New Beginning,
we hope to see you there!
To book your place, call us today on 0121 554 4575 or e-mail treasured@silverfishjewellery.co.uk
Love and blessings, Norma, www.silverfishjewellery.co.uk
A group of widows watching Norma demonstrate how make a necklace.

Solar Powered Dryer
By Andrew Shepherd
Over 50% of agricultural crops in some areas of Nigeria are wasted because they deteriorate in
quality after harvesting and are thrown away. If more of the harvested crops could be preserved
it would provide food for later in the year when prices are higher and people go hungry.
A traditional method of preserving food is by sun drying, which has the advantage of almost no
cost, but the disadvantage that the food must be dried for several days, and is subject to insects
and wind carried contaminants, so the final product is of low quality. Dried food retains almost
all of its nutritional value, and normally keeps their natural taste.
A purpose-built solar dryer keeps food clean during the drying process, with very low operating
cost. There are many variants, from a plastic box for a single family, to industrial scale dryers
with an externally powered fan.
One variant is a solar tunnel dryer. These have a transparent cover that allows the sun to heat
the contents, as in a greenhouse, and a flow of air through the tunnel to carry away moisture.
Some have a solar powered fan to draw air through the tunnel, and some rely on natural convection
in a chimney at one end. They can achieve temperatures high enough to eliminate most micro-organisms,
and a practical dryer costing a few thousand Euros can completely dry 100kg of
produce, e.g. Cassava, in one to three days. This type of dryer has been successfully used in Kenya,
Uganda, Thailand and Sri Lanka.
Solar Dryer
An example of a solar dryer

Pictures form Water Project
By Dr Femi Ogunremi
SFM has distributed water filters
to orphanages and schools in Ibadan,
Oyo-State, Nigeria to prevent
water borne diseases. Our project
coordinator, Dr Femi Ogunremi,
continues to raise awareness about
preventable diseases in various
places in Nigeria.

Norma Murrain
Pictures from ASD 2014
During the workshop I met a widow who owned her own gemstone mine…she told us that because
they don’t have the technology or equipment to cut the stones they have to sell them for little or
nothing By Anastasia ‘rough’. Oyebanji
We paid her a fair price and bought some of the stones back for testing, they turned out to be genuine
natural gemstones.
We hope to return to Nigeria in February 2015 to bring further jewellery making skills and tools including
lapidary and stone cutting machines which will enable the widows to cut and polish the
stones and sell them for a fair price.
We are also extremely excited about the ‘Shepherd Treasured Academy’ with the Dorcas Foundation
which will continue to support and train widows and disadvantaged women in the diocese.
I continue to thank God for this privilege and partnership.
Anastasia, the event coordinator and proprietor of TASHADY catering, explained
the African meal to guests. It was presented in a bio-degradable parcel
(see picture above) donated by London Bio Packaging. Special thanks to
Florissa Designs, London for decorating the venue. We also appreciate other
organisations for their support in kind and cash.
Tables and chairs decorated by Florrissa
Designs.
A cross section of guests at the ASD

ASD 2014 Fashion Show
By Layo Ogunremi
Layo introducing
the attires
to the
guests.
The models posed for a group picture.
Models in
a dance off.

Djembe drummers at ASD 2014
By Bob Jones
Bob making a
presentation to
guests at the
ASD 2014.
Drummers entertaining the guests.
Drumming
at a high
tempo.

Computer Literacy for Youths
By Paul Jennings
In the Western world, we generally take access to computers for granted. Many homes now have at least one computer
for the family unit to use and even where this is not the case, schools, certainly in the UK, provide access to computers
for children to use as young as 5. In most less developed countries, and in Africa in particular, this is simply not
the case so denying the majority of the population a tool which can broaden their education and can give them instant
access to a world of knowledge both of which can provide a tool for those people to move out of poverty.
This is why SFM has a sub project to provide second hand computers for the children to be trained in and to use in those
communities where we are providing skills training for widows. After the success of our jewellery workshop for widows
of the Dorcas Foundation in Osogbo, the Anglican Dioceses provided a hall for the continuation of training as seen in the
picture on the left below. Thus, we envisage sectioning a corner of the training facility off and setting up the computer
stations where we will provide some elementary computer training for the children. Thankfully, we received a donation
of four computers from a company at our ASD gala last year and these are being shipped to Nigeria for immediate use
(see picture on the right below). Internet access will be provided in the hall and a coordinator is in place to oversee the
training. If we can get access to additional second hand equipment, we then would like to issue a computer to every
child who has been trained for them to use in their own homes and hopefully for them to train other family members in
the use of the equipment so spreading knowledge to the wider community. To donate or volunteer your skills, please
contact SFM team.
SFM Newsletter
ISSUE 09 Jan, 2015
Shepherd Treasured Academy Centre in Osogbo and the computers
that put will be used to train youths.
Join SFM on Facebook
and Twitter
Other Ways to Show Support:
Feed the hungry on your birthday by making a yearly
donation on your birthday to SFM via http://
www.justgiving.com/shepherdfm
311 Pershore Way
Lincoln. LN6 0FS. Lincolnshire.
UK.
01522705532 ph
07900908762 mbl
www.shepherdsfood.org.uk