I am excited to announce the launch of Dear Friend, a program I have designed to pair Kenyan and U.S. children with long-term pen pals. I recently accepted a board seat as Director of Special Programs for Amsha Africa Foundation ("AAF"), and I will execute Dear Friend in this capacity. I am posting to gather the names of children in each country who wish to be matched with a child in the other one, and also to raise funds for the program.

The goal of Dear Friend is to sustain long-term, 1:1 relationships between as many pair of U.S. and Kenyan children as possible, and to help all participating children achieve literacy goals, heighten their cultural awareness, and feel the joy of knowing another child across the world cares about them. This project will preserve the art of letter writing for our generation's children, teaching them to communicate well through the written word.

Any child in either country, between ages five and sixteen, is eligible. Once matched with a child of similar age and same gender in the other country, each child will begin the pen pal exchange. Dear Friend will provide all necessary writing supplies and postage to the parents, teachers, orphanage staff members, and other supervising adults of the enrolled children. All mailings will be directed to the addresses the supervising adults provide at registration; these addresses will either be schools, orphanages, or parents' homes.

Dear Friend will also provide support, ensuring that all children receive letters from their pen pals on a regular basis. (Letters between Kenya and the U.S. typically take two weeks to travel, and we expect that children on each side will reply to letters within a few days to two weeks of receipt.)

Tony Abuta (AAF's Executive Director) and I have begun to accumulate a list of children in both countries who want pen pals. I expect that by mid-February, I will have created hundreds of pairings, and that the letter exchanges will have begun. Tony and I plan to return to Kenya in May. My primary objective for this trip is to meet with headmasters and headmistresses at partnering schools, staff members at pre-selected orphanages, and parents within the community, to increase awareness of Dear Friend and expand my list of Kenyan pen pals.

Between now and this summer, I will spend several hours per week launching, maintaining, and expanding Dear Friend. My work will entail visiting, calling, and emailing Bay Area schools to identify U.S. pen pals; placing calls and writing emails to U.S. parents for the same purpose; and communicating with various AAF staff members, regarding their work securing profiles on the Kenyan children already enrolled.

Request for Donations

Dear Friend will rely on donor generosity to operate, and will gratefully accept your financial support, whether or not you enroll a child in the program. Donation is not a prerequisite to enrollment; participation is free. However, personal donations are critical to Dear Friend's success: Dear Friend will not receive support from AAF's general funds. Also, grant money for international service work is scarce, and can take several months to secure even when granted.

My initial fundraising goal is $5,000, secured through personal donations by March 15, 2010. Your donation is tax-deductible, and AAF will apply 100% of your gift directly to Dear Friend. (If you donate online, Network for Good will deduct 4.9% of your donation as a processing fee, but AAF will apply the entire 95.1% that we receive directly to Dear Friend. If you donate by check, we will apply 100% of your gift directly to Dear Friend.) Tony and I will personally oversee all recording and spending of Dear Friend donations.

Thank You and Instructions for Your Participation and Support.

I extend my heartfelt thanks, for supporting me in facilitating relationships between Kenyan and U.S. children. Whether you enroll children or provide financial support, or both, the lives you touch will be forever changed for the better.

To enroll a child, send me an email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , with the child's name, gender, and age. I will personally reply, and we will move forward with the matching process.

To make a financial gift, please visit the AAF website, at www.amshaafrica.org, and click on the link to Network for Good. Designate Dear Friend where indicated, so that we know to apply your donation to this project in particular, and not to AAF in general. If you prefer to pay by check, click on the site's "contact us" link, and find the address where you can mail your check. Write the check out to Amsha Africa Foundation, specifying "Dear Friend" in the memo line.

I wish you all great joy in 2010, and I thank you again for joining me in this vision.

Many thanks,

Katie Burke

Director - Special Programs

Amsha Africa Foundation