[Dear Chris & Dave, As we write this letter, Tarzan -- still the image . . .]

xThe correspondence says as you know, making Africa's invisible realities visible, by providing accessible information to those willing to use it in advocacy and education, is at the heart of APIC's work; we continue to reach out to new people: we add over 50 new addresses a month to our Africa Policy Electronic Distribution List, now at more than 2600 addresses; last month the Africa Policy web site was receiving more than 300 visits a day, up from less than 200 visits a day at this time last year; last month more than 20 people a day, including large numbers of teachers, filling out the survey on our web site to request a free poster of Africa's Regions; just in the last few days it has suddenly jumped to over 100 people a day. The correspondence says in addition to our electronic outreach, APIC's print publications, such as the recent Africa's Debt background paper, are being widely used by advocacy groups; and we have been able this year to organize more events outside of Washington, including recent workshops in Seattle, Washington and Flagstaff, Arizona; our strategy for the period 1999-2000 calls for further increasing direct interaction with constituencies around the U.S. and with partners in Africa, which are the essential complement to our electronic publication work. The correspondence says in April Executive Director Pearl-Alice Marsh resigned for personal reasons; the APIC Board appointed us as a three-person management team to direct the organization, with a commitment to continue the program strategies that have led to APIC establishing itself as a leading resource for Africa-focused policy and advocacy networks both in the U.S. and internationally. The correspondence says our current staffing picture includes some very positive developments; as of June 1, we have our first "Electronic Communications and Network Manager," Dawit Isayas; Dawit comes to us with more than three years of experience at the Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa. The correspondence says we have also secured the commitment, beginning September, of Dr. Maliq Simone as the principal coordinator of our new Electronic Roundtable, which will be launched in the fall in partnership with the ECA; Maliq, currently at the University of the Witwatersrand, brings to the task extensive experience and contacts with both scholars and activists around the African continent, with African-based networks such as Codesria and the African NGO Habitat Caucus; in addition, we will shortly be welcoming Imani Countess back on board as project director of a follow-up to the 1997 Constituency Builders' Project, which will allow her to meet with constituency groups in several cities around the country over the next 18 months. The correspondence says the bottom-line, however, is that we need your continued and increased support to sustain these advances; we are hopeful of additional funding from foundations, but it will not be enough. The correspondence discusses Salih Booker and Codesria (Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa).