The President's "End Of Year" Letter

Dear Friends,

As 2006 ends, we find ourselves with a very eclectic group of projects in an environment of uncertainty and great concern:

The world itself is spinning madly from endless and worsening conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan—where clumsy US Government actions have only added to indigenous violence and suffering-- to Darfur, Chad, the Congo, Somalia, Palestine and Sri Lanka where too little action by our own and many other governments has exacerbated already immense human suffering.

These are unfortunate distractions from the important work so many relief and development agencies do around the world to lift people out of poverty, fight disease and give people a better future through “smart aid” projects which focus on promoting self sufficiency through small scale economic development.

Our own work in Sri Lanka has been hugely complicated by the Sri Lankan military’s bombing of a village we have labored in since the tsunami; freezing the bank accounts of a highly competent local partner agency; and, attacking a displaced persons camp in eastern Sri Lanka and killing a number of children and their parents who had earlier fled their villages to escape being in a conflict zone.

In Cuba, our decade of work continued at the three main pediatric hospitals in Havana, but is in jeopardy as the Bush Administration seeks to curb or cut off American humanitarian aid to that country. Working in Cuba requires licenses from two US Government agencies and a number of groups have been denied or faced long delays in renewing those licenses. This tightening of US policy flies in the face of a bi-partisan majority in Congress in favor of renewing ties with Cuba.

Here in the US, our important work for victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita continues. Just last month, we announced an additional $820,000 in cash grants to dozens of community health projects which cannot rely on local, state or federal financing of their work with survivors of the massive storms. Despite the overwhelming generosity from the American people, the much larger government-allocated funds have mostly failed to arrive where they are needed.

The year 2007 promises more work on tsunami recovery in India, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Indonesia; more work on Katrina recovery efforts in Louisiana and Mississippi; more material support for California’s 200 community nonprofit health clinics; a deepening material aid commitment to several areas of Africa which are in life-or-death situations; the opening of an Operation USA office in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, whose staff will be responsible for all of our projects throughout Asia; and, a commitment to better inform donors like you about our work and to provide you with an opportunity to play a more active role in what we do.

I wish you and yours a Happy New Year.

Richard M. Walden
President & CEO
Operation USA