What is it that we do? We work with the poor as teachers, mentors and social workers, specifically targeting the need to change the vision of the poor. Poverty is a way of seeing. It is said, “As a person thinks, so is that person.” As the old adage goes, “give the poor a fish, and they will have fish for a day. Teach the poor to fish and they will have fish for a lifetime.”
With whom do we do it? We find that the best time to teach the poor how to fish is while they are young. It says “teach a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.” So we invest in children—hundreds of them, ages five to eighteen.
When do we do it? We work with the public schools as community assistants. In consultation with the local teachers and directors we follow the year's curriculum by assisting the students with math and language skills. During this time we train and mentor the young people in a variety of other subjects, primarily spiritual and moral development.
How do we do it? Teaching to fish is a hands-on experience.
Great fishermen are mentored. We mentor mentors to impart a healthy outlook on life to all the youth around them. Our hope is to
nurture a whole new generation with a vision for a new hope and a new
future for their generation.
Where do we do it? Our teams go everywhere these
children are. We invite them to our training center in the region. We
are in turn invited into their homes in the village. We are with them,
and that is the point. We say that we communicate what we are, and we
do that by intentionally being with the poorest of the poor as we work on becoming better persons ourselves.
Why do we do it? We do what we do because we are called
to the task. It is a calling informed by the both the urgency of the
needs we face in others as well as by the relationships forged over
time with those in need. We are a family, a network of friends.
