Sent: Mon, 21 Jul 2008 10:01 pm
Subject: Starfish Initiative

July 21

19:48

Albuquerque, NM

Tony,

I would like to propose that FoA thru the Starfish Initiative fund a small village initiative. In 1986, or there abouts when I was a Vice Consul at the US Consulate General in Istanbul an American guy walked up to the AmCitizens window to talk about his plans to go to Peshawar and he hoped into Afghanistan to write article on the Soviet jihad. I invited him to my home that night and we had a nice talk about the place all the readers of this message love. Time passed, much time actually. Then about a year or year and one half ago he called me out of the blue and over the phone and email we got reacquainted. He is now an anthropologist civilian embedded with a US military unit in Afghanistan.

One of his mandates is the find worthwhile projects that the military can implement on a village by village and even person by person level for civic development projects. He has found a village woman who has lost two children and has a young amputee daughter. The husband is in Iran looking for some kind of work, probably a hamal.

The gentleman's name is Jim Emery(kachin2001@). He would like to get the woman a sewing machine and a supply of cloth and thread, etc. so she can earn a pitance of a living for her and the little girl from her home. He thinks he can do this for about $50 or $100. I think this would a worthwhile project for FoA or your student group to fund.

I strongly suggest that you contact him on behalf of the groups mentioned and determine exactly how much he thinks he needs. Since he is out in the field, he is good source of information on needy people and needy villages. He and his unit can deliver school supplies, or tools, etc. and the donors can have 100% assurance that what they are paying for gets into real human hands.

Thanks for looking into this. All the best to Yaseer and Ted Achilles.

Randy Biggers

Kabul 74-76