A Message From Michael Berg & Madonna.
Category: Charity.

Hello Friends,

When Madonna and I founded Raising Malawi (www.raisingmalawi.org), our dream was to provide direct physical assistance, long-term sustainability and psycho-social support for the orphan children of Malawi. Today that dream is becoming a reality.

We’ve made great strides in establishing contacts, raising money, and breaking ground in Malawi. Just last month we received incredible worldwide exposure when Madonna was featured in Time Magazine discussing her motivation for co-creating Raising Malawi:

Now we are in the midst of raising funds to support our Raising Malawi Millennium Village Project in the Mchinji District of Malawi—a sustainable village for 5,000 villagers that we are co-creating with Columbia University’s Jeffrey Sachs, PhD.

“We at Millennium Promise are overjoyed that Raising Malawi is leading the fight against extreme poverty by partnering with the Village of Gumulira, Malawi. Gumulira’s 5,000 villagers now have the chance to escape from the trap of poverty, disease, and hunger and to achieve self-sustaining economic progress.”

—Jeffrey D. Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University

Professor Sachs is one of the pioneers in the effort to end world poverty. Together with a team of scientific experts from The Earth Institute at Columbia University and the UN Millennium Project, Professor Sachs created the Millennium Promise. (www.millenniumpromise.org)

Millennium Promise is currently working with more than 75 villages in ten different African countries. Professor Sachs’ respected work in Africa has been endorsed by the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, former President Bill Clinton, philanthropist Bill Gates, and a wide range of experts.

Millennium Promise Villages are based on the concept that an impoverished village will transform itself in five years by investing in, and educating, the local inhabitants about health care, food production, general school education, obtaining clean water, and building an essential infrastructure. Given the proper technology and training, these villagers and villages will propel themselves forward on a path of self-sustaining economic growth. These community-led interventions will enable impoverished villages all over the world to escape extreme poverty, and become educated and empowered to sustain themselves once and for all.

The cost to fund such a project—a single sustainable village—is $300,000 per year for five years. With your donations and support, we plan to raise the amount of $1,500,000 by November 1, 2006.

By making your gift today, you will join us in our efforts to provide urgent, effective help to those most affected by the extreme poverty.

Please make your donation today. Help us reach our goal. Support Millenium Village.

Thank you. I am truly grateful for your ongoing support. Only by working together to serve others in need, can we experience the Light of fulfillment that we all desire.

With Love & Light,

Michael Berg