Hello All,

This is Jared Ross, Josephine's Son. I just wanted to let you all know what I have been able to do with the very generous donations with which you have entrusted me. First, I want to let you all know that this has been an evolving work and initially I was uncertain how to proceed. The entire project started with a humorous exchange between Josephine and myself after she donated a goat in my name through the Heifer Foundation. After which, I explained that she should have given the same quantity of money to me and I would have been able to buy three goats for that price and donate them to families in Mali. From this, the Josephine's mind, a project I now refer to as the International Mouton Foundation or IMF. I do not know exactly what transpired after, but I was completely surprised when she was able to raise more than $1000.00. Whatever she said, I hope that what I have done with that money has met the expectations and desires of the contributors.

One point worthy of attention is this, I did not buy goats with the money. I purchased moutons, a type of long-eared, long tailed sheep that are something between a goat and our version of sheep in the U.S. The culture of the Malians prefers the mouton to the goat. Additionally, although goats milk can be consumed by humans and the milk can also be used to make a number of different types of delicious cheese; the people from the southern Malian cultures will not use goats milk in any form. They consider it tainted and not acceptable for human consumption. One of the many intractable differences between the Malians and their former colonial rulers, the French. Therefore, the mouton was a better choice for this project.

The first major purchase I made was for 1 male mouton and three females, which I gave to a local farmer who works all the small fields that surround the residence I occupy. I purchased this small herd for approximately $300.00 (conversion rate changes daily but it was 160,000 Central African Francs). The farmer and his family have both the available grazing land and knowledge of livestock to support this small herd. I presented them with the moutons with only one condition; they had to give every fourth offspring to someone as a gift. This, in a sense, was not only to provide a sustainable food source to a hard-working, extremely poor family, but also continue to extend through the society the goodwill that formed the nexus for this entire endeavor. They readily agreed. This was about four weeks ago and I see the mouton every day grazing happily around the neighborhood. They are healthy and the farmer has been able to add one more female to the herd (this will become more relevant in a moment).

After the first purchase, I had an enlightening conversation with a very good friend of mine who works at USAID (United States Agency for International Development), Jean Harman. Jean has been in Mali for more than 10 years and is a profound source of knowledge on most subjects. She informed me that for creating a sustainable herd the best ratio of males to females was 1:7; which usually gets a few comments that this seems hardly fair to the females. Nevertheless, this is the ratio that works best for continuing to develop a herd of mouton through time while also providing a renewable food source. I began to think what I might do with the remainder of the money to make an even more effective contribution to someone's life here in Mali.

Then, through another friend at the US Embassy here, I learned of an orphanage in the area that survives almost on a day to day basis frequently coming very close to completely lacking fundamental necessities for their children. The orphanage, Niaber, is run by a beautiful woman Bibi and a group of volunteers who provide differing levels of support for approximately 200 children. I spoke with Bibi Friday the 18th of June and asked her if they had the space, knowledge, and desire to care for a herd of mouton. She explained to me that this time last year, they did not have the space when they were given a similar donation. Their only option was to slaughter the mouton, providing meals for the children, lasting only through the immediate future. However, very recently they received both a land grant and a financial donation to build a larger housing compound just outside the city limits of Bamako. Bibi told me that it was only now, they had developed the capacity to care for a herd of mouton. Additionally, they have an employee who has appropriate experience in caring for mouton.

I now had a solid plan. After making all the appropriate arrangements, yesterday, June 27th, I went to a mouton market outside of Bamako on the edge of the satellite city, Kati. I traveled there with several key people. I had Jean Harman, Idrissa Coulibaly, and several other supporters. We took two pickup trucks to transport our livestock and arrived there approximately 10:30 in the morning. The market is something only cable of understanding by direct experience. There are numerous salesman and hundreds and hundreds of mouton as well as goats. With Idrissa to translate and Jean to negotiate (and I must tell you, that without Jean's tough negotiation skills we would have never accomplished what we did) we were well equipped to begin. After about two hours of intense and complex negotiations we purchased 17 mouton. 2 males, 10 females, 3 kids, and 3 neutered males. One, and possibly two, of the female mouton are pregnant. Of the kids, one of them is male. The two adult males are very healthy and have very different genetics, a very important factor in proper growth and continuation of the herd. The two neutered males are for a celebratory feast that Bibi wants to have to acknowledge the good fortune and to honor all of those who contributed. I purchased all of this for 460,000 CFA (approximately US $865...if you're doing the math, I exceeded the amount that you all raised...the difference is my monetary contribution to the project).

So, after purchasing the mouton we transported them to their new home. At which time the local village leader, came out and personally thanked all of us and said that not in his grandfather or his father's lifetime as chiefs of the village had they ever witnessed such an act of kindness or good fortune. They all promised to contribute to caring for this special herd and they expect that this will provide a continuing source of food to the orphans as well as give the children an opportunity to learn how to care for these animals that are so vital to the daily survival of many Malians.

I have attached a few photos...I have lots more but the file size and my internet connection make it tedious to send more. I would like to make a small presentation to the church when I return and give you all a short account of the experience. I hope that my words and photos give you some idea of what a magical experience this truly has been. And I also hope that you all have an understanding that this was a result of good will and effort on the part of so many. Thank you all for allowing me the opportunity to carry out such a wonderful act of kindness.

Sincerely,
Jared Ross

BTW - The first photo is Jean Harman and Idrissa Coulibaly evaluating several potential candidates and beginning the negotiation process. The second photo is me (and others) addressing the chief of the village where the mouton now live and the new orphanage will be housed.