June 28, 2007

Can anyone tell me if this is legit?

Got an(other) email last night that tugged at my worthy cause heartstrings. But I don't know if this is legitimate because it came to me through an unsolicited email--some might call it spam it sounds too real to be spam--and I'm hoping it's just one blogger asking some others for help. Minnich sounds for real and the blog is not sploggy, but there aren't any pictures or ways to get to know those involved. So I thought I'd put this out there to see if anyone I know knows whether or not its the real deal. And so that if you'd like to find our or help Minnich, you have the info. And if it is for real, what a perfect social marketing opportunity for Stormhoek!

anywhoo Thanks!

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Hi,

Wait! Please don't delete. Read on and if there is still nothing you can do about it, then at least you will have entertained yourself.


This is not a Spam, and it is not a Nigerian Con letter. I don't need your money to pay for an American Passport or to transfer money from some war torn country or help set off credit card debts or… well, you know how they go.


This is a humble request to help make a change. I have gone through your blogs, all of you (sorry I had to Bcc your Email address as this letter goes to 30 different people) and they are all intriguing, interesting, entertaining, soulful, mindful… all of it.


I am Minnieh, A Girl From Africa, I may have posted comments on some of your blogs or already send you an E-mail earlier. I am 28yrs and in a programme that educates girls from East Africa. I have so far put three girls through secondary school, two are in their final year and one has one more year to go. Requests from my country folk have been coming in and the need is overwhelming. I can only stretch myself so far, and we all know I ain't no Oprah (bless her) so won't be coming up with a Leadership Academy any time soon, not without some outside help (Nothing is impossible). So, I have decided to seek your help to assist me carry on putting them through school, one by one, two by two, whatever we shall manage to do. I do not have a website but the girls and myself have been blogging, trying to do up some short stories and African folklore and sell through a Read-For-A-Dollar initiative at www.girlfromafrica.blogspot.com. I wouldn't mind doing up a website but I thought about it… $36 (cost of a web?) is enough to put one girl through school for a term, …$36 is enough to feed a family of 5 for a month, …$36 is enough to put a dressing on a painful wound, …$36 is enough to… by the time I finish with the list of what $36 can do, I'm not sure I will still be thinking of a web site any more.


So, to all of you fellow bloggers, the young mummies, the super mummies, the mummy fighting the world to save her son, the mommy-to-be who is on a countdown to her delivery date (I am one), the chap trying to translate English for an African girl in a Chinese shop in Germany, the Australian babe making a life in Europe, the Norwegian girl married to a gorgeous guy, the momma of 5 trying to get organised, the chaps whose blogs are raining men, Susan who runs for her life, Kelly whose blog rains men, pet mommies, the Iraqi raising his/her voice for fellow country men, children writing to keep a parents candle burning – a parent killed in the Iraq war, Crystal, a purpose driven wife… all of you, all of us.


All I ask… beg of you is to donate 1 Dollar/Pound/Euro (one will do, 5 will be good, 10 might be too much to ask for but, thanks anyway) through a PayPal account under the email girlfromafrica@gmail.com and, if you could be kind enough, pass this message to a couple of friends kind enough to also make a donation.


If you are not in a position to, thanks anyway for taking the time to read this far, but please do not hurl insults at me, or get too negative about my initiative. It's just an idea I have come up with, and it's my small way to make a small change in someone's life.


Be part of a positive change. Please help put a girl through school.

Kind regards,

Minnieh.

A Girl From Africa

www.girlfromafrica.blogspot.com

girlfromafrica@gmail.com