August 20, 2007

Dear Friend:

I’ve never done this before – asked friends to help support an important cause. I am doing so today only because the Congress of Racial Equality Uganda does so much with so little, and truly needs your help.

Even when it had no money left, CORE Uganda pushed forward with life-saving programs. Even when anti-pesticide radicals made death threats against its director, CORE Uganda spoke out in support of DDT as an essential element of comprehensive and effective malaria control programs. When one of its volunteers was severely injured in a car accident, it found money for his family and hospital care.

CORE Uganda is the country’s most ardent, visible and effective voice in support of including insecticides in the battle against a disease that sickens millions of Ugandans and kills 100,000 of its people every year. Coordinator Fiona Kobusingye-Boynes has presented testimony to the US Congress and Ugandan Parliament, written articles for US, European and African papers, held seminars, and appeared numerous times on Ugandan radio and television shows.

The organization also championed the Kill Malarial Mosquitoes NOW Declaration, which has been signed by the country’s vice president, many members of its cabinet and parliament, and hundreds of clergy, civil rights leaders and infectious disease experts, as well as three Nobel Peace Prize Laureates.

CORE Uganda believes strongly in trade and personal initiative – as an alternative to more foreign aid – and it is working hard to bring more investment to the country and generate health and prosperity for its people. It sponsors a program that enables women to make top quality ladies’ hand bags, for sale in US shops, to support their families and buy malaria medicines. When 50 out of 500 students in a Kampala school for orphans died of malaria in 2005, CORE Uganda became a school sponsor and recruited students, teachers and local citizens to clean up the school grounds, plant vegetable gardens, get bed nets and safe drinking water, and vaccinate 600 young students against childhood diseases.

Its dedicated staff and volunteers work long hours every day of the week, to build on this progress and help Uganda become a modern, industrialized nation – and an inspiration for other African countries. But it needs your help, so that it can continue these tireless efforts.

Its entire budget for 2005 was $11,000 … for 2006 $21,000 … for 2007 $25,000. Not a cent is wasted. With these small sums it pays for its offices, computers, telephones, conferences and seminars, staff, mosquito nets, vaccination programs, and food and transportation for volunteers.

CORE Uganda wants to continue and expand on these programs. It will host a march for peace and malaria control, from the capital of Kampala to Gulu in the war-torn north. It will purchase books, food and beds for the orphans. If it can raise $20,000 it will be able to bring in food, clothing, medical supplies and other goods worth $375,000 from a US-based charity, to support the school and poor villages, and get them on the road to health and self-sufficiency.

This tiny organization has made a huge difference in Uganda’s healthcare policies and in many individual lives. Won’t you help support it, even in a small way? Please send whatever you can – even $10 or $100 – to the address below. If your company is able to do so, please ask it to support CORE Uganda. Pass this letter on to your friends and colleagues. If you have kids, perhaps they would like to sponsor a school bake sale or other program to raise money. Every little bit will help.

Thank you for considering this request. Since it is working closely with CORE Uganda on anti-malaria programs, and to expedite overseas transactions, the Washington, DC-based Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow has agreed to accept donations on behalf of CORE Uganda. Therefore, if you are able to help, please send a check, payable to CFACT, to P.O. Box 65722, Washington, DC 20035 – but marked for CORE Uganda in the memo. CFACT will process the checks and send your contribution to CORE Uganda. Both of these organizations are 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational charities under the laws of the United States, and your donations are tax-deductible.

With gratitude and warm regards,

Paul

Paul Driessen, senior policy advisor

Congress of Racial Equality and CORE Uganda