President's Message - Our Opportunity to Create Change March 2002 Perhaps we don't face a problem as big as illiteracy or as devastating as world hunger. But the need for overall wellness in our homes is just as vital! People need our products and the opportunity that we can give them.

Almost every family needs what Melaleuca provides. This fact has never been more apparent! The number of people who die each year from cardiovascular disease is huge! Even more people are affected by arthritis, depression, obesity and other health conditions. The number of people who are in debt is growing, and at the same time people are saving less and less money. As these trends continue, more people will be looking for complete wellness.

As a company, we envision that in the next 25 years we can capture up to 10% of all the households in North America by bringing millions of people our wellness message. We can enhance their lives with our fantastic health-promoting products and with an unbeatable financial opportunity. Then they will be able to improve their social, family, environmental, intellectual and inner wellness as well. I believe every single household needs these things. The challenge is to share our message with them as soon as possible.

Years ago a man named Yu-Chuen "Jimmy" Yen faced a similar challenge in his home country of China. He had studied at Yale, and he believed in an idea that was revolutionary for his time — that everyone should know how to read. For thousands of years the Chinese culture had taught that only scholars could learn to read and write. It was assumed that the average peasant was incapable of learning. However, Jimmy believed that every person deserved to be able to access the knowledge that the rest of the world had gathered in books and be able to change their lives with that knowledge.

Jimmy faced three "impossible" barriers. First was the cultural belief that peasants couldn't and shouldn't read. Second was the Chinese language, which contains over 40,000 characters that each represents a different word. Third, China lacked technology — books, reading programs, and even good roads to get from village to village. Yet Jimmy was determined to teach the 350 million peasants in China to read.

What huge odds were stacked against him! What a huge task it would be! But he went ahead and founded the Chinese Mass Education Movement in 1923. He worked with the government to bring about a "village scholars" program. And 60 million Chinese people had been taught to read by the time he was forced by communism to leave the country.

How did he do it? By getting started with what he had to work with. He started teaching a few peasants to read — without desks, pens or schools. Then he moved on to the next town. He started with what he had in front of him and gradually took on more and more, little by little. Others joined him in his effort and they kept at it until finally he had changed the culture of an entire country!

Why was Jimmy Yen so successful? First, he had found a real need. He had worked with the Chinese Labor Corps in France during World War I, and found that most of his countrymen didn't know what they were being hired to do or what a war was! Clearly, they needed literacy in their lives. Second, he found in himself a strong desire to answer that need. His desire was enough to overcome the obstacles of poor transportation, superstition, and poverty. And then . he took action. He tried to do something about the problem, even though everyone else knew it was "impossible."

After leaving China, Jimmy Yen founded the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction, which used the same practical teaching methods to bring literacy and functional knowledge to the rest of the Third World. Countries like the Philippines, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Kenya, Columbia, Guatemala, Indonesia and India were greatly improved because Jimmy Yen helped get literacy started. In 1987 President Reagan recognized his efforts toward world peace, and he was cited for an End Hunger Award for developing a program that would overcome the root causes of poverty and hunger in the Third World. He was even listed as one of the ten greatest revolutionaries of our time, along with the likes of Einstein and Edison.

Jimmy Yen was able to bring a new level of wellness to millions of people through his efforts. He was described as "imaginative" and "aggressive" in carrying out his work. The whole world has taken notice of his accomplishments.

Perhaps we don't face a problem as big as illiteracy or as devastating as world hunger. But the need for overall wellness in our homes is just as vital! People need our products and the opportunity that we can give them. They need a chance to improve their health, to better the environment in their home, to feel free from financial stress, and to pursue their goals and dreams. We can help them reach their goals through our message, our products, and our opportunity.

The English author Thomas Carlyle said, "Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand." At Melaleuca our main business is also to do "what lies clearly at hand" and bring our wellness message to others, beginning with our neighbors, friends and relatives. By starting with what is here and now, we can begin a wellness movement that will eventually affect millions of people! We've identified the need. Now we need the desire to answer that need, to do what it takes to share this important message. We need to take action and keep moving forward throughout this year, resolved to make a difference. I thank all those Marketing Executives who have been diligently taking action and sharing our message, and invite everyone else to join us. With desire, determination and action we can make a great change in our world.

Sincerely,

Frank

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