News
Updates
ICAN Advisory Board Expands
One of our greatest strengths – and a testament to the promise of ICAN’s fee-enterprise “orphan rescue” plan – is the quality of our Advisory Board. Charter members of the Board, which was formed in 2006, include:
Former President, Marine Military Academy;
Major General Terrance Murray, USMC (Retired), Executive Vice President, U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association;
Reverend John Mutula, Director, Worldwide Children’s Aid Network (WeCAN).
Having agreed to join ICAN’s Advisory Board this year are the following outstanding citizens:
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Ambassador Edward J. Perkins
Ambassador Edward J. Perkins, Executive Director, International Programs Center, University of Oklahoma. Dr. Perkins is former United States Ambassador to the United Nations and Permanent U.S. Representative to the U.N. The highest ranking African-American in the history of the U.S. Foreign Service, having served as its Director General, Dr. Perkins has far-reaching experience in affairs of State, with special focus in Asia and Africa.
In 1978, Dr. Perkins was assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Accra, Ghana, as counselor for Political Affairs. He was named Deputy Chief of Mission to the American Embassy in Monrovia, Liberia in 1981; he served as Director of the Department of State’s Office of West African Affairs from 1983-85; and in 1985, he was appointed Ambassador to Liberia.
Indicative of his strategic importance to ICAN’s Advisory Board, Dr. Perkins served as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of South Africa, ICAN’s base of operations, from 1986 to 1989, and was responsible for crafting and implementing U.S. policy there during the troubled waning days of apartheid rule.
Dr. Perkins holds Masters and Doctorate degrees in Public Administration from the University of Southern California, as well as a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland. He served three years in the U.S. Army and four years in the U.S. Marine Corps.
During his Foreign Service career, Dr. Perkins received the Department of State’s Distinguished Honor and Superior Honor Awards, the Presidential Distinguished and Meritorious Service Awards, the Una Chapman Cox Foundation Award for Distinguished Foreign Service Work, and the University of Southern California’s Distinguished Alumni Award, among many others.
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Joseph N. Smith
Joseph N. Smith, President, U.S. Veterans Initiative, and Director, Los Angeles County Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.
As Director of the LA County Department of Military and Veterans Affairs since 1988, Col. Smith is responsible for the duties of the County’s Veterans Service Office, which assists veterans, their dependents and survivors in obtaining benefits earned by virtue of their military service; and the operation of Bob Hope Patriotic Hall, the County’s veterans’ memorial building.
Col. Smith holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Texas, and a Master of Arts degree in International Affairs from American University and the Inter-American Defense College.
As a Marine Corps Officer he led Marines at various levels, served as a Marine Advisor in both Vietnam and Chile, was a Congressional Assistant for the Commandant of the Marine Corps and, while a Division Chief with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was responsible for 12 treaty negotiations and military representation at the United Nations. His combat service earned him the Silver Star Medal, Purple Heart and the Vietnamese Cross for Gallantry, among many others.
Col. Smith is also a founder and has been President of the Board of Directors of the United States Veterans Initiative, which guides our nation’s largest provider of transitional housing for formerly homeless veterans.
June 2007
The bricks are not heavy.
"They’re for our brothers and sisters!”
Three of the seven children on the left are orphans. Two are being cared for temporarily by extended family. One is a “street child”. That is about the ratio of all children in Africa today.
The reasons are many. Parents succumb to disease, primarily malaria and tuberculosis, often brought on by AIDS. Civil strife. Malnutrition. Combinations. The “situation” has been studied to death (sic) by well meaning organizations, but little is being done.
There are some 12 million orphans in Africa today; and there will be many more (projections vary) in the years ahead. There are orphanages, but far too few, and most are dying of financial starvation.
Are human beings expendable? Is this “situation” insoluble? Is there no hope? The children on the left don't think so. They hold pieces of the solution in their hands – triple-wide bricks like the ones that form the walls of the building behind them, the new Welcome Center of ICAN’s first Children’s Village.
WeCAN Workers
The bricks were manufactured by the Hydraform™ machine run by our WeCAN* workers (at left).
The solution is not to study the “situation”, but to do something about it. Build Children’s Villages (CVs), including dorms, dining halls, health and rec facilities, surrounded by “cottages” affording home-like settings as bridges to neighboring schools and communities.
But who pays? Governments can help, but for political reasons they cannot favor one faction’s solution over another. (And none seem to be working anyway now.)
ICAN believes that the system is the solution – the free enterprise system, that is – certainly the most powerful economic engine the world has ever seen.
*WeCAN is ICAN’s non-profit sister organization on site
in South Africa.
Proven Paradigm for Success
How can free enterprise get the job done when nothing else can?
Most of you who received this Update are already somewhat familiar with ICAN’s goal and action plan. But to reiterate:
...our goal is to create a successful, self-sustaining “orphan rescue” model that others can replicate;
...we plan to establish a construction business to build and generate operating income for our Villages.
Here is the opportunity in a nutshell: Africa needs modern housing and infrastructure for her people -- including millions of orphans. She has plenty of raw materials and willing labor, but they must be turned into building products (such as bricks) and trained in the building trades. We intend to finance Children’s Villages by creating a business to fill this need.
June 2007: Children gather outside the Children’s Village Welcome Center. In the foreground, footings are already in place for the 12,000 sq. ft. Dormitory & Dining facility.
So far, so good. Together with our South African sister organization, WeCAN, we laid the groundwork for our new “enterprise” just one year ago. Land for our first Children’s Village in Soweto, Gauteng Provence, was donated by WeCAN. Last August, with officials of the South African government in attendance, the site was dedicated and construction began.
Laying the Foundations:
...a wrought iron security fence around the entire five-acre site to protect the children; .a 3,000 sq. ft. Welcome Center, which also houses administrative and paramedical offices;
...the concrete slab and footings for the 12,000 sq. ft. main dorm and dining facility.
A WeCAN worker installs a gate in the Children’s Village security fence to afford access from the new paved road being donated by the government of Gauteng Province.
We have also procured steel strictures and roofing for the main building, and we are turning out bricks for the walls. In recognition of our progress, the government of Gauteng Province is constructing a paved road to our Village. The government of South Africa will supply furniture and fixtures for it. And we have already secured land in Gauteng and Mpumalanga Provinces for three more Children’s Villages!
Now the time has come to “prime the pump” of our construction business. Which is where you come in – again, if you have already made an investment in ICAN. Now, we need you to be among our first “customers”. By buying bricks, you will not only assure completion of ICAN’s model Children’s Village; you will also launch the proven power of the free enterprise system on behalf of Africa’s orphans.
Flood Updates:
N E W S
June 2006: Rev. John Mutula, Director of WeCAN, and Dr. Bill Peters, President of ICAN, survey empty wasteland on the outskirts of Soweto, Gauteng Province,
South Africa.
WeCAN Workers
June 2007: Children gather outside the Children’s Village Welcome Center. In the foreground, footings are already in place for the 12,000 sq. ft. Dormitory & Dining facility
A WeCAN worker installs a gate in the Children’s Village security fence to afford access from the new paved road being donated by the government of Gauteng Province.
