Message from Sam

3 July 2003




SOS Children's Village When I promoted the idea to ask contributions through the then planned but until now not realised ITC global leather website, I had several very positive reactions from people in the industry who were immediately ready to send money. After actually visiting an SOS Children Village in East Africa I was impressed by the way it was run. Convinced that these orphans were taken good care of I made my personal contribution. I'd like to do more, as the need is so huge, all over the world, and a single contribution is just a drop on a hot plate. As a first step I have put a cyber link on my website to the international website of SOS Children's Village, which I invite you to take a look at. I have also asked others to do so and prominent figures have immediately responded and their websites will also soon feature the SOS-link. I hope others will follow and if you also want to insert a link on your website, please contact me. What has leather to do with charity for children? Nothing and everything. Our industry makes money from countries that unfortunately house underprivileged children. I'd like the industry to do something for these children apart from making profit of their countries' commodities. Any contribution is welcome, but this industry is so big and important that together we can provide enough money to run a whole village for a full year. I am told that the average costs per month for an SOS child in Africa is US$166, whereas the average cost of running an SOS Children's Village in Africa is US$223,100. This sum covers the running costs for clothing, personnel costs, foodstuff, medical supplies, school fees and books and different activities for an average of 112 children. The running costs of the operation include water, electricity, transport and administrative costs. If our industry - from traders, machine and chemical manufacturers and tanneries - would contribute only a few hundred dollars each, we'd make a lot of innocent and underprivileged children happy. If you send your contribution to SOS Children's Village and mention the leather trade they can keep track of the amount that arrives and dedicate that to a specific project. Please contact me for any info at mail@samsetter.org



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