December 1, 2000

To: His Majesty Otumfuo Osei Tutu II

From: Paul Swider
Greenstar Corporation
Washington DC, USA

Re: Greenstar Investments in the Ashanti People

Your Highness,

Earlier this year, I had the pleasure and privilege of paying a visit to the village of Patriensah to meet the people, and to learn about the community. Dr. Osei Darkwa accompanied me on this trip. I was assessing the possibility of an investment by Greenstar in the town, and its planned community telecenter.

Based on this short and fascinating visit, and based on subsequent research and conversations with Dr. Darkwa and with the Ghanaian Ambassador to the United States, Mr. Koomson, Greenstar would like to move ahead with the next step of exploring an investment in Patriensah. We would like to learn more about how we can serve you and your people, to make our work among your people successful, and to make a long-term contribution to the future of the country, following on the initiative of President Clinton during his recent visit to Ghana.

I have given Dr. Darkwa some specifics on how we need to proceed, with practical planning. He will tell you about these details, including identifying a management team, developing a relationship with VoltaCom, and starting work on a temporary building for the telecenter.

While this technical assessment is taking place, there are some larger and more important ideas on which we seek your guidance: we call these ideas "future building." They are the purpose of this letter.

Greenstar is trying to be of service in a new way: we come to you with open minds, with no pre-conceived ideas, and no pre-defined systems to implement. We would like to initiate a process of "future building" among the people of the village of Patriensah, to listen carefully to the local community and help the people explore which new tools they can use. We also want to help them share their unique Ashanti culture with the rest of the world.

Greenstar specializes in establishing valuable cultural links, including music, artwork, stories and other traditional forms, between traditional villages and people all around the world -- in the developed countries, and in developing countries. We can also help through our experience with advanced technologies -- but installing technology is only a small part of the work. The more important job is deciding how to use technology, in concrete, practical and immediate ways that benefit the children, men, women, old people, the families of a community.

Starting that thought process is the purpose of this letter.

Greenstar would like to work with Patriensah and the entire Ashanti community to supply tools so that the people can grow and develop in their own ways, in terms of health, education, business, environment, energy, communications, training, and more. We will do this through technology and through our own connections with many organizations and individuals that have particular specialties, who share with us an interest in the future of Ghana and the Ashanti people. We cannot do everything, but we can help you to move in the direction of many positive things, once the ideas are clearly focused and the people are behind them. The community will tell us what it wants to do to achieve its visions of the future.

Some time early next year, I would like to return to Patriensah for another visit. I would spend about four days in the town. I want to talk to the people in the town as one large group and also in smaller groups. I want to talk to the school children, the teachers, the business people, the mothers, the fathers and workers, the doctors and healers, the old people and the sick. I want to learn what are the town's biggest hopes, its biggest day-to-day problems, what people see as their greatest assets, and their best opportunities.

I hope during this trip that I may also travel to Kumasi and meet with you or your representatives in order to include the senior leadership of all the Ashanti in this effort. The project will initially be focused on the one village of Patriensah but can ultimately be implemented throughout the region. I hope that we can meet with mutual respect, and talk openly and honestly. Greenstar wants to become your partner and your student, and not to be regarded as outsiders with their own agenda.

We have nothing to sell; we don't want your people to become consumers of Western ways. Greenstar is not looking for money or from funding from traditional government or international sources, though we will happily collaborate with anyone who can provide real value to the people. We are driven by the idea that traditional Ashanti culture, as developed and protected by countless generations over the centuries, is a vital part of world culture, and that its purity must be respected and extended.

As Dr. Darkwa can tell you, Greenstar's investment can be used in many ways: we can enhance health facilities, we can bring new educational information, we can help the Ashanti people develop new businesses. We have much to learn from you -- about your people, your history, your culture, your art and music. We want to use our experience with global media to share the Ashanti way with the rest of the world, while the world shares its technology tools with you. We need to know how you feel about this, and how you would like to work with us, whom you might appoint to assist us in hearing the right voices, so that the people of Patriensah can make correct decisions.

Greenstar cannot do everything. We are not rich Americans with high tech equipment to give away; we are simply a group of people who want to make a difference in the world. Greenstar's mission is founded on a belief in the great skill and energy of the Ashanti people. We want to develop a real partnership to help Ashanti people develop these cultural assets so their voice can be heard round the world. It is vital that the people themselves drive and sustain this process, so they can develop a new independence.

This letter explains Greenstar's ideas in a basic way, which I will be happy to develop further in person, and which Dr. Darkwa can help to explain. I include also a document explaining more fully Greenstar's business. There are also resources on the Web that can describe more. Of course, I am available for questions at any time. I look forward to further consultations.

I hope this is the first step of a very productive partnership and friendship between the Ashanti region, Patriensah and Greenstar. I look forward to talking to you about these ideas.

Sincerely,

Paul Swider
Director, Special Projects
Greenstar Corporation