OPIS Foundation

Dear Friend, 

God doesn't make no trash! Have you ever seen someone throw litter on the street? In the United States, it happens all the time. People carelessly toss unwanted things on the ground. There is no investment of care or concern for what they discard. They don't name it or have a relationship with it. It is garbage -- a nuisance they no longer want to think about or have around. In that way, Africa is much like the United States. Without care, unnamed and unwanted things are left in the street. The difference in Africa and other third-world countries is that because of Malaria, AIDS, childbirth mortality, and simply too many children, far too often these unnamed, unwanted things are not garbage - but children!

It's a wonderful blue sky Sunday afternoon on the patio at your home somewhere in the Southeastern United States. Your daughter, son-in-law and your two grandsons are over for the afternoon to enjoy the lovely day and some of your world famous bar-b-que.  Your three year old grandson is having a great time running up and down the lawn.  Your daughter who is eight months pregnant watches comfortably as your fifteen month old grandson naps nearby. You are comfortable with the thought that you will soon be welcoming a new granddaughter and you will be able to watch your grandchildren grow up.  You don't give a second thought to the occasional mosquito bite your grandson gets while playing on your grass or whether your granddaughter will be born without complications for your very pregnant daughter or herself.  A perfect, thoroughly enjoyable day.

Now, move the location of this family get together to Sierra Leone in West Africa.  As a parent and grandparent your day, while as enjoyable as possible, is tinged with worry.  You can't ever forget that the mosquito bite on your grandson's little leg could have serious consequences from malaria and you ask yourself over and over what you can do if your daughter develops complications during labor.  You worry because you know that almost twenty-eight percent (28%) of all children born in Sierra Leone don't live to the age of five.  That's the age of five!  Even worse, you know that any complications in your daughter's final weeks of pregnancy, labor and delivery could be life threatening for your daughter and the baby she is carrying.  Sierra Leone's lack of malaria bearing mosquito control and adequate medical clinics for pregnant women and newborn babies are your cause for worry.  And you are powerless!

During recent business trips to Sierra Leone, we have become aware of these problems and many others in this West African country whose land mass is about the size of the state of Louisiana.  In conjunction with the various Ministries of the Government of Sierra Leone, we are planning business projects in the country which will employ thousands of Sierra Leoneans.  Our projects will make a small dent in the 65% unemployment rate for the country.  In addition, we are looking for help from our friends and neighbors to work towards solutions to Sierra Leone's other problems, especially the fight against malaria carrying mosquitoes and inadequate medical care for pregnant women and newborn babies.  In our modern world, it is inexcusable to have an infant mortality rate before age five of more than one out of four and to have healthy women and newborns die from complications that are considered minor almost anywhere else in the world.

We are oil and gas, construction, and finance professionals.  After visiting this African country, we realize that we have a moral responsibility to do more than we have been doing.  In recognition of this responsibility, we have formed a social welfare humanitarian foundation, The Opis Foundation, to apply our problem solving expertise and the financial support from our team and your donations to work towards solutions to these serious problems we have seen in Sierra Leone.  We are applying for tax-exempt status under the US Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)4, so your donations to the Foundation will be tax deductable to you. 

We are asking you to view our plans by visiting our website at www.opisfoundation.org. 

You will see some of what we are planning to do.  From a business point of view, our plans are designed to create jobs, improve infrastructure, and help develop new streams of income for the people of the Country and additional tax revenue for the Government.  Some of the ventures we have proposed will take years to turn a profit.  However, we believe that the improvement in the livelihoods of the people make the investment worthwhile.

However, the fight against mosquito borne diseases and expectant mother and infant mortality is today and it is critical.  Every day the world loses valuable citizens to disease and maternity complications which have been nearly wiped out in our more developed countries.  We are asking you to help the Sierra Leone people with this fight.  If you can, please click the link to donate.  Whether you give one dollar or a million dollars, remember that no contribution is too small or too big to change the world.  Whatever you can send, even if its only $5, we urge you to take 5 minutes, and write a short note and forward this e-mail to 5 friends asking them to do the same.  This is a fight that all of us as world citizens need to pull together to win.  Obviously, the larger your donation, the more we can do.  However, your donation, whether large or small, will go a long way to making winning this fight possible.  Because we are seasoned business people and not ivory tower visionaries, you can be comfortable that your donation will go towards making a difference, and not disappear into exhaustive studies of the problem, administrative expenses and executive salaries.

We thank you for your help in improving the longevity of women and children in West Africa.

Very truly yours,

Eric Martin
Director, The Opis Foundation

www.opisfoundation.org
info@www.opisfoundation.org