Letter From Muamba

Hello and holiday greetings to my Leja Bulela Community,

As you are aware at the July 2008 Annual Leja Bulela Conference in Dallas, Texas the next generation of LBers chose to organize and create an action group. As a group we have had some success in 2008. I wanted to share and also give a preview of 2009.

2008 Highlights

1) July 6, 2008. Go LB YAO it's your birthday. We were born from an idea that we have a moral obligation to help our family and our community in the Democratic Republic of Congo. We come in the spirit of Leja Bulela and Yes We Can.

2) July 27, 2008. We are LIVE! Our first national conference call. We are connecting via telephone in the USA to our friends, family and LB YAO members, discussing our agenda, sports, culture, politics and all things DRC. We are live Sundays 5:00 pm pst and 8:00 est

Sunday Conference Call Information
Conference Dial-in Number: (712) 432-1601
Host Access Code: 307891*
Participant Access Code: 307891#

3) American Express Members Project. This showed who we are and our potential. This group put out an aggressive agenda in a very minimal amount of time. It also showed our ambition. We set up a campaign to solicit potentially $1.5 million from American Express for the KHMC clinic. From initiation of the idea August 3 on our conference call by Theirry to project deadline date of August 19 members of LB YAO came together like Barack and Hillary supporters during the primaries. We managed to submit this piece of history of our cause:
Can You Hear Us Now (Congo's Children)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvGgpyFt-sY

Our project did not get nominated for the grand prize but this showed us how we need to organize, initiate and most importantly ACT!

4) $500 from Allstate. The lesson learned from this donation is the simple fact that big change starts small. To get this award it started from hearing Abbe Muyombo. This man spoke at the Dallas conference and changed the way I view the world. I learned what my purpose is. Help those in need. Every little effort counts. We are just getting started....

5) Reconstruction

After a great start to our action group we became complacent and stagnant. Many factors contributed. The 2008 election, Financial Crisis, and just the realities of life for us LB YAOers. December 6, 2008 we re organized, in the spirit of the swift and calculated cabinet nominations of Mr President Elect Obama, We too have a "team of rivals."

Coming in January 2009: The 2009 LB YAO previews, coming to your computer screen, it's gonna be a BIG SUMMER! Dallas is gonna be HOT!

Respectfully submitted,

Muamba
LB YAO