September 14, 2004

South of Nairobi, Kenya

Dear Friend & Subscriber,

A cool rain is falling in the hills south
of Nairobi today. In the air, the scent of
lush vegetation, red soil and distant smoke
that is uniquely African. The sounds of
vendors selling, roosters crowing, tribal
music and Alicia Keyes (!) blend together
here in the village market of Kukoyu.
There is an enchantment here that is found
nowhere else.

Many 'touristy' things are available
to the visitor in Kenya - game preserves,
safaris, restaurants featuring exotic game -
but that's not why I'm here today.

I'm here to see what an obscure former
schoolteacher named George Karanga is doing
to help orphans.

George is an ordinary African guy who
is doing something about the HIV crisis
that is ravaging Africa. A long dark
shadow of AIDS is cast over the entire
continent. It is a savage and remorseless
angel of death. Every day in Africa, six
thousand people die of AIDS. Six thousand.

Imagine not two but four world trade center
towers going down not once, but every single
day. And not in a blaze of media glory,
but in silence.

Life on planet earth is not all carmel
lattes and frequent flier bonus points.

No continent has been the recipient of
more generosity, or more thievery, than
Africa. And one thing becomes very
clear when you spend some time here:
Dropping food out of airplanes and sending
billions of dollars of foreign aid is never
going to solve the problem.

When you drop food out of airplanes,
thugs with machine guns surround the food
and use it to achieve their political ends.

When you send aid to African governments,
the money ends up in Swiss bank accounts.
It may preserve stability, but it doesn't
end up helping the people who need it most.

Help must come from the grass roots.
Communities must be built from the ground
up. George Karanga and his wife Jane are
two people who are doing just that.

George was teaching school 300 miles
from here when tribal warfare broke out.
Marauders were burning villages, and he
received word that a bounty was on his
own head, for allegedly conspiring against
the government. He fled with 15 children,
only four of which were his own. The
others were orphans of the war. They had
only the clothes on their backs when they
arrived in Nairobi in a borrowed car in 1997.

Since then George had managed to support
himself through farming and some rental
property he obtained.

The AIDS epidemic has left millions of
children without parents, and it is these
children that George is concerned with. The
worst part of the problem is that AIDS victims
and their children often become outcasts in
the communities where they lived, rejected
by friends and relatives because of fear.

George began a sort of 'virtual orphanage'
for AIDS orphans, out of his own pocket.
Friends and relatives are often willing to
take in these orphans, but the financial
burden can be too much for people who often
make only $100 per month. So George provides
food, clothing and medical care.

Clinics are available here that provide
anti-viral drugs free of charge to small
children, but what is often lacking is the
$1.00 bus fare to go to the clinic.

George bridges this gap. It's really
a foster program of sorts. My wife's
brother Alan, who manages Children's
Relief International, learned about
George and began to find sponsors for
George's children. Now 38 kids are
being sponsored and I met quite a few
of them here. I also met many kids who
need sponsors but do not yet have
sponsors.

George took me to see a girl named
Lucy Njoki and her mother. Lucy's father
died of AIDS and the other family members
threw them out. For a period of time
they were actually living in a rock
quarry. Lucy is 9 years old and is
HIV positive, but with George's help
she is receiving medication and is
quite healthy. (I'd send you a picture
of me and George and Lucy, but unfortunately
I can't upload any photos from here.)

I met another boy named Peter Githiri,
7 years old, who is also HIV positive. Peter
is not doing so well. A sponsor has not
been found for him yet, and lacking medical
attention, he is obviously very sick.

George has a list of 511 AIDS orphans
in his area, and more than 450 still need
sponsorships. In a minute I'll let you
know how you can help out, but before I do
that I want to tell you about a very
cool thing that George is doing.

A few steps from George's office is
a cobbler shop run by a guy named Paul
Mungai. Paul started his cobbler shop
with $50 of 'Micro Enterprise' seed money
from George.

The shop is now thriving and is providing
food and education for Paul's kids. Paul
is a successful entrepreneur - if not by
American standards, at least by African
standards. Paul has a knowing gleam in
his eye and a winsome smile, and as I
talked to him it was obvious that we both
know: Charity is helpful and indeed necessary,
but in the long run, entrepreneurship is
the only way out of poverty.

I get jazzed about micro enterprises,
which are often started with grants or
loans of only $50, $100 or $150 - pocket
change for an American but the lifeblood
of a startup in Kenya. I met another
woman just a few minutes ago who is selling
fruits, vegetables and eggs in the market here.
Her business was funded with Micro Enterprise
Seed Money. Her kids are clothed, well
fed and going to school because of her
efforts.

I love entrepreneurs. I love entrepreneurship.
And I love kids - knowing that had fate dealt
a slightly different hand, my own kids might
be orphans in a 3rd world country instead
of the USA. How would I want someone to treat
them if they were here with no parents? Then
that is how I should treat the children here.

Needless to say, I'm sponsoring some kids.
And putting some money in a Micro Enterprise
fund so that more people like Paul can grow
and succeed.

I'd like to leave you with a thought.

Two weeks ago I was speaking at the X10
Seminar in Queensland Australia, hosted by
Simon Chen and his capable staff at one of
the country's premier resorts. Outside my
window was a PGA golf course. We had a
delightful English breakfast every morning.
The lap of luxury, as they say.

Yesterday I dined in the home of George
and Jane Karanga, two ordinary Kenyans who
believe the best way to serve God is to
serve children in poverty, to lift them
up and give them an opportunity for a
better future, to escape the ravenous
claw of AIDS.

George doesn't live in a resort, he
lives in a concrete hut. George's restroom
is a hole in the ground. A cow went
walking by outside the door as we talked.
It wasn't English breakfast, it was Sweet
Potatoes and Yams with tea and milk.

And you know what? The Sweet potatoes
and Yams were wonderful. Because when there
is love in your house, every meal is a feast.

Simon Chen and his friends at the X10
seminar were gracious enough to contribute
over $3000 to George's project. Three grand
goes a long, long way in Africa. And I would
like YOU to participate, too, even if it's
only in a small way. I would like
you to sponsor a child.

It costs $1 per day to sponsor an AIDS
orphan. For that they get plenty of food
to eat, clothes to wear to school, and
medical care. It makes a HUGE difference.

What do you get? You get letters written
to you by the children you sponsor twice a year,
you get a photo of the child you sponsor,
and updates from time to time. You get
the satisfaction of knowing that far away
on a dark continent, light is shining,
and it is because of you. Just $30 per
month. In the US that will buy you
a Caramel latte or two every week, but in
Africa it saves a life.

Or, if you prefer, you can become
a sponsor of George's Micro Enterprise fund.

In either case you also get something from
me. If you sponsor one of George's AIDS orphans,
I'll give you your choice of my downloadable
coures - the Definitive Guide to Google
AdWords, the Ultra Advanced AdWords Course
with Don Crowther, or the Definitive Guide
to Writing and Promoting White Papers, or
the Video Guide to AdWords. Take your pick.
It's the least I can do to say thanks for
making a difference.

So here's what I want you to do: To sponsor
an AIDS orphan, go to http://sponsor.cadenzane.com
or to fund Micro-Enterprises in Kenya, go ti
http://enterprise.cadenzane.com. Alan and
his small staff at Children's Relief International
will get back to you with details on the what
is happening in Kenya. I'll be sure
and send you your choice of the four
different courses. Please be patient as
If you have any questions, let us know, and be
assured we'll tie up any loose ends.

Thanks for making a difference. I think
you'll find, as I have, that when you give,
the person with the biggest smile on their
face is you.

Sincerely,

Perry Marshall

PS - forward this email to a friend. Thanks.

Go on to the final installment: "There's no place like home"