Green Sahel Farms is a nonprofit organization with a mission to empower Sahelian rural women facing the dangers of hostile climate conditions through access to hydraulic infrastructures and pragmatic training on sustainable farming for increased crop yields and environmental biodiversity.

I came from humble beginnings, raised in a family of hard-working parents who taught us the values of faith and service to the community.

At 22 I got an opportunity to study in the United States, a land that gave me a great education and a rewarding professional career. 

Recently, while visiting my family in Burkina Faso I was disheartened by the large migration of women and children toward major cities, fleeing starvation and conflicts in their rural communities due to chronic droughts. These events quickly turned into a call for action to protect these vulnerable social groups.

Priscilla Adams Stilwell

A recently retired healthcare executive, Priscilla looks forward to bringing to the Board of Green Sahel Farms her experience in population health transformation models and a belief that our environment impacts the medical and socio-economic health of a community.  With over 30 years of healthcare executive and consulting experience, she is known as a visionary leader with proven value as a strategic advisor. 

Priscilla is proud to be a native Texan and lives in League City, Texas with her husband, Roy. She holds a BA from Texas University and Masters’s degree from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. 

Chris “Vern” Vennard

Mr. Vennard began his career as a musician and recording engineer in New York City, before traveling to St. Louis, Missouri, Memphis, Tennessee, and Austin, Texas.

Along the way, he worked with such well-known artists as Debbie Harry and Blondie and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Marty Balin from Jefferson Airplane. He has played all over the world and has owned and run recording studios in St. Louis, Texas, and France.

About 15 years ago, he also became a co-founder of two Texas-based manufacturing companies, NEUTEX Advanced Energy Group, and IllumiPure ®, Inc. where he works today. As a founder his tasks are myriad, but predominantly his focus at IllumiPure ® is managing content writing and vetting all internal documents to ensure compliance with regulatory commissions including the FDA.

Chris currently stays in Houston, TX while trying to spend as much time as he can get away with in Europe. When not working or engaged in music, he spends time training obedience for dogs, training in Krav Maga, and seeing his three granddaughters.

Green Sahel Farms takes a pragmatic approach to address the rural exodus of women and young men caused by extreme weather events. Our focus is to work closely with experts and technicians in organic farming to provide hands-on training on sustainable organic farming for these vulnerable groups in areas such as water resource management, production of organic compost, soil restoration, vegetable crop rotation, natural weed control and market distribution of organic crops. Proceeds from the sale of crops will provide our cohort of trained women and men with seed funds to set up and run their own farming enterprise.

As the age-old adage goes: “Give a man a fish, feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime!“