Hello Potential/Fellow Members: I am writing to invite you to membership of the International Foundation for Nigerian Children (IFNC). Founded in early 1998 by a group of Nigerians in Europe, America, Africa, Australia and Asia, the primary objective of the Foundation is to serve and protect the interest of children in Nigeria. The aim of the Foundation is to adopt children in many communities/villages across Nigeria, for the provision of materials and services relating to health-care, food and general nutrition, education, living shelter and recreation. The founding of the IFNC was motivated by the poor condition of the Nigerian child, by the frighteningly high hurdles that a child born in Nigeria today must scale in order to make good of herself. Surviving the very first hours of life is tough. Only 99 out of every 1000 life-births make it. Of those who survive infancy, forty five percent of children under 5 years of age are malnourished and only 20% of them will have access to immunization. The remainder 80% will be left to vaccine-preventable child-hood illnesses. Of those who survive age one, 19.1% may not live to celebrate their fifth birthday. The health of those who survive past age 5 is threatened by the re-emergence of tuberculosis and other diseases long thought to have been brought under control. Nigeria now ranks 5th in the world in terms of the prevalence of TB. These, along with poor environmental conditions, combine to give a child born in Nigeria today a life expectancy of no more than 53 years. The problems facing the Nigerian child are enormous, and we recognize that the primary responsibility for raising and protecting the child rests with the parents. But it is also widely recognized in our culture that it takes a village to raise a child. The community participates in raising the child because it sees in the child her own insurance, it sees in the child the agent through which her culture, norms, identity, and world view will be preserved years into the future. In other words, it is in a community's best interest to protect her children. By working together, we can make a difference. We certainly do not intend to claim that our efforts will completely solve the crisis faced by children in Nigeria. There is no question that the improvement of the political situation in Nigeria will greatly facilitate economic development, and thereby reduce the suffering of the children. However, even with the improvement of Nigeria's political situation, the devastation that has been wrought on our country through economic mismanagement of successive governments can not be rectified within a short period. This initiative should help save many innocent Nigerian children for the blissful political future we all yearn and actively struggle to attain. Our group is not concerned with your political orientation. We acknowledge your prerogative to participate in whatever political initiatives you believe will solve the political crisis in Nigeria. We ask only that you join us in helping our children in Nigeria. We invite you to join us in this noble but difficult task. We will be honored to have you as a trench-mate in this war to save and protect the Nigerian child. I look forward to reading from you through the IFNC listserver. Also, I would appreciate a wider circulation of this invitation. Sincerely yours, Adey Oyenuga [IFNC@ifnc.org] President, IFNC. =====================================================================International Foundation for Nigerian Children [IFNC] Employer Identification Number: #33-0789601 P.O. Box 515 Orange, CA 92856 =====================================================================