Message from the Ambassador of Cape Verde to the USA

As fellow Capeverdean ambassadors, my wife and I wish to invite and challenge you, the people and the friends of Cape Verde, to continue your generous act of giving by extending your direct support to the children of Cape Verde.

In a country in which 42 percent of its population accounts for children under the age of 14, and with a schooling population (ages 6 - 11) at an annual growth rate of approximately 3 percent, poverty relief and education is of vital concern.

Furthermore, although commendable for its 75 percent literacy rate, and its remarkable decline in infant mortality, 23.1 per thousand in 2000 juxtaposed to 120 per thousand in 1974, and an improvement in nourishment and children’s nutrition, thanks to the generous gestures of school cafeterias, Cape Verde still faces an alarming adversity—the need of financial and educational resources to assuage the life of Capeverdean youth, in order to ensure the future of Cape Verde.

Ultimately, the efforts by the Government of the Republic of Cape Verde are insufficient to address the calamities associated with poverty confronting the low-income rural areas of Cape Verde.

It is the dream of all Capeverdean parents to wish upon their children everything in which they (the parents) could not have during their youth: better education, balanced meal, and a better future. Thus, with solidarity, the help of all those individuals who love Cape Verde and its children, let’s make dream become reality by supporting the initiative of CVChildren.com.

Therefore, as empathetic people of Cape Verde, Lourdes and I wish to join you in empowering our Capeverdean community in the USA and Friends of Cabo Verde to a sponsorship financial commitment to ensure a stable society, free of social exclusion, and full of traditional “morabeza”.

By helping each Cape Verdean children, you will help build a prosperous Cape Verde, with more elated children.

Very truly yours,
Ambassador and Maria de Lourdes Brito