Hello to all of you guys who have positively responded to the idea of building 200,000 homes in SL over a period of time.  You guys have VISION and apparently are not intimidated by the gargantuan project (smile)!  At this point one can only imagine the benefits that will come from 12 homes a day in our beloved country.  And the plan is to have even some of the poor afford these homes, a far cry from the mansions in different versions.  If you were in SL during the 70s you will remember the low-cost housing project except that this one individuals and families would actually own them; thereby giving birth to a mortgage system, which brings its own employment advantages in terms of loan officers and brokers.

CJ:   We would love to take this to fruition and hopefully your newly-built portal will be instrumental in all that.  We would need every bit of support from the 20% at least who will participate directly with or in this project. 

Akindele:  Thanks for your usual support for ideas that make sense to SL.  I know you will be participating on Saturday re: this worthy cause for SL and her people as Akindele Decker, first and then as a member of the YLSL.  We also have commitment from our own dynamic Dr. Michel Sho-Sawyer of the YSLI.  Now I want to ask Abu Bakarr Messeh - the most dynamic of S/Leonean Youth on the ground (now studying law in England), in public, as to what are his thoughts on this project?  Because our generation or the one before or after us did not reap the full benefits of our country should not mean that the youth of today and tomorrow should not.  This is for the youth of today and tomorrow as they stand to benefit the most from most of these projects.  And I am sure with you guys behind this implementable idea we can lead its successful implementation.

Melbourne:  Over the past week or so I have new-found respect for you.  Primarily because I feel your sincerity in the way you articulate your points with regard to Bunce Island and now the TIDES project.  Your comments here: " Of course this project should not be considered just as building homes, but with homes comes infrastructure - roads, schools, hospitals, etc. to support those who will live in the homes" is right on target because we plan to marry the workers from the jobs created by the project itself into the homes being built.  It will be, and rightfully so, a master-planned community.  Think Columbia, MD in Salone!  I also like the approach of "when" the project is successfully implemented as opposed to "if" as the confident engineer in you explained.  In reference to your other comments as they relate to use of local materials, land tenure, etc. have all been thought about and discussed but may still need additional ideas.  This is an evolving project that we have taken initial steps on, including discussions with the CEO of Rockport, Bill Malone who is very interested in moving forward.  But we have a lot of work to do and it is great to know that you will be opened to getting us there.  Your brothers, Manilius and Maurice are already doing good work for Salone.  Your efforts here (and with the Bunce Island Preservation we have been talking about for about a year now) will probably make you guys one of the most prolific siblings in the new era of Salone's development (3 brothers).  Good luck with your Prince Walean event this weekend!

Ayo:  I believe you have heard from one of us privately re: to your questions.   As they did not appear to the rest of the TIDES posse who are subscribed to the Salone Discussion Group (not the SLN one), I had to forward your email to them.  I think you asked some great and objective questions and hopefully we will be able to use some ideas you have from your indication that you had thought about something similar in the past?  Would you be willing to work with us?

Tunis:  Zimmi Boy!  You will be pleased to know that we have taken care of the geographical error as it relates to east vs. south and thanks for pointing it out (see attached).  Knowing you, it would be a pleasure to have you on board so we can positively move our country forward bra.  Your urban planning skills set would be huge to what we want to do in these locations.  And you have already participated in one of the early Webinars.  (Melbourne's concerns have also been addressed re: including key engineers and architects on to the short list - although we had mentioned "etc" his point is valid).  See we have not strived for perfection; and being human we all need room for improvements.  You guys have already contributed to the project although it would take a whole lot more than just that.

Akpan:  Thanks for your vote of confidence!  We would also rely on your spiritual and Edwardian leadership to help us move ahead.  In a nutshell, we would need the assistance of all patriotic S/Leoneans regardless of ethnic group, religious group, personality differences, egos, etc. into making this possible.  We stand firm in our commitment to taking this as far as we can.  We will only fail when we stop trying.

Thanks again for all your support and we would inform you of the next steps as we only have one week to our first physical meeting that will include the general public.  In the mean time, if you have any questions prior to Saturday we are tallying them to be discussed at our meeting and you can send it to me privately, or publicly.

In a very short period of time we will offer additional documents that will lend more to the overall approach and how YOU can participate as a member of the PEACE initiative.

Moving beyond just discussion and debates we have taken the initiative to offer one of many viable projects to S/Leoneans that we can all benefit from.  Even those of you who will not necessarily contribute to its success will benefit from an additional 1000 homes in SL let alone 200,000.

Keeping hope alive,

Amadu Massally

On 4/6/07, Cecil (CJ) John <cj@virtualdeveloper.com> wrote: