The Asia America Initiative has proven that
terrorism can be overcome in communities plagued by
social and religious intolerance and suffocating
poverty. Since 2002, we have been working on the
front-line of international conflict, where most
experts thought al Qaeda would rule because
progress was not possible. We have proven that
by providing cost-effective support to address basic
human needs, grassroots communities can become
exemplary leaders for peace and development. In
doing so, we help to curb the spread of violent
extremism that is rampant in Afghanistan and Iraq.
And our Inter-Faith success protects the lives of
American soldiers, our allies and innocents who would
be caught in the crossfire.
AAI programs bring HOPE – Health care, social and economic Opportunity, Peace mediation and Education — where isolation and hopelessness are root causes of organized violence. Our US 501(c)(3) non-profit Asia America Initiative team provides the tools to bring ordinary people of different cultures and faiths together to overcome social isolation and hatred. Our shoulder- to-shoulder labor with local communities provides a needed counterpoint to hard-hitting military operations.
Our programs are bringing to life war-ravaged schools, hospitals, farms, fish ponds, village-based computer centers, churches and mosques which earns the trust necessary for deterring violence and building lasting friendship. For the past four years, our success has prevented large numbers of soldiers and marines from being deployed in hostile zones, at a fraction of the cost spent on military operations. However, where extremists target international humanitarian workers, AAI has proven capable of working in cooperation with local and Allied security forces.
AAI team members are diversified in culture, religion, age and experience, such as World War II veteran and attorney John Hemenway, Vietnam veteran Al Santoli, recent college graduate Ms. Hani Sumndad [an education and youth outreach specialist], peace negotiator Nabil Tan and medical doctor Farah Omar. We are supported exclusively by private donors who make our work possible.
AAI Director Santoli has received death threats from al Qaeda-like gangs because they cannot recruit where our programs have been enthusiastically embraced by the local people. We are recognized as a Private Voluntary Organization by the U.S. Agency for International Development and have actively participated in conferences with the U.S. Marines and Army Special Forces, who appreciate our role in citizen diplomacy. However, we are receiving no government funding. In our international model programs, such as Development for Peace in Sulu in the Muslim Mindanao Region of the Philippines we worked unarmed, protected by the community. Our deep-seeded relationships have proven that profound human bonds of friendships transcend language and culture.
How you can help:
Please help us continue to make a difference by providing support through a contribution. In doing so, you are helping good people to work for for a future without fear and to make that dream a reality. In addition, you are helping us to respect the well-being of our military men and women. We operate in complete transparency and have verifiable financial accountability measures to earn your confidence. We invite you to contact us any time to see how your donation is truly making a difference in building peace through AAI’s humanitarian programs. In addition, the children, scholars, teachers, doctors and nurses you support will send you correspondence introducing themselves and detailing the progress they achieve. We also post photos on our website to verify our activities and the positive results of your support.
Please visit our web site galleries and choose
programs to support, such as:
Peace Zone Schools: Adopt a Classroom is a principal component of our international model Development for Peace program. We have focused it in Sulu, because it is among the most impoverished and war-torn areas in Asia and threatened by al-Qaeda terrorists. Local schools have a 65 percent drop-out rate. In contrast, in our model schools the retention and graduation rates are near 90 percent. Through the Adopt a Classroom project you can provide basic classroom materials: Where classrooms routinely have only one chair for every six students, for $10 you can purchase a desk- chair for an elementary or high student. For $500 you can provide enough chairs for an average size class of 50 students. For $20 you can provide a blackboard and a semester’s worth of chalk for a classroom. And for $10 you can provide a student a semester’s worth of paper, pencils and other basic school supplies. Most importantly for $150 (50˘ a day) you can sponsor a teacher for a semester to have a major impact on the lives of children.
Rural Midwives: The United Nations has designated Sulu as one of world’s leading areas in infant mortality. There is only one general hospital to serve 600,000 persons on 150 islands in the archipelago. The AAI supports 40 midwives through the regional hospital to perform childbirth and maternal care missions in the rural areas. You can help save the lives of countless women and their infants by supporting the fees and a small salary for each midwife or public health nurse. For $30 per month you can help sustain the work of each of these brave and compassionate women. Moreover, each mother and child whose life is saved creates lifelong friendship with their entire community.
Small Business Training: A key to stopping exploitation by extremists, who thrive on hopelessness and hatred caused by despair, is through men and women believing that they have a brighter future through economic opportunities. You can help the AAI sustain model livelihood development programs through supporting our training partnerships with local high schools and colleges to create farming, fishing and handicraft cooperatives. For as little as $1 a day, you can support men and women to attend training seminars and purchase the tools they need to establish family-and community-based businesses.
Music and Arts for Peace: Some of AAI’s most successful community enrichment programs involve music and arts in the public schools and private institutions. These joyful activities are unlike Taliban-controlled areas of Afghanistan where music is brutally banned and children are taught to kill fellow Muslims and Christians alike. For as little as $20 you can purchase a drum or a wind instrument for a school band. For $10 you can provide for the purchase of a uniform or traditional costume for a band or folk arts troupe member. For $5 you can provide artistic materials for an elementary or high school student.
Adult Literacy and Livelihood: AAI has assisted over 120 adult women to learn to read and write, as well as to establish small business cooperatives. For as little as $50 you can assist a woman to purchase the tools and utensils needed to set up a small bakery or wood-stove to prepare smoked fish for sale in local markets. By expanding the ability of men and women who lack formal education to support themselves and their families, the AAI has helped uphold peace in Sulu for the past four years.
We are a small organization working for a much greater cause. We are currently promoting this model to Washington policymakers as a proven and effective counter to the hatred and despair that fuels terrorism. Our strength is in the numbers of partners who assist us to the best of their ability. We ask you to share in our efforts to empower people who live in some of the most violence-plagued areas of the world to develop the confidence and skills necessary to help themselves. Our team has the courage, the heart and the ability, but we currently lack the financial resources to expand our work at this critical time.
Please make a difference by joining us to build peace:
Donate online through the PayPal account on
our web site at www.asiaamerica.org.
Mail a check payable to Asia America Initiative,
at 1523 16th Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20036.
Donate in Memory or in Honor of someone
special.
You can reach us by phone at 1-202-232-7020.
Thank you for your consideration and generosity,
Albert M. Santoli
President, Asia America Initiative
