Africa!
The land before time where exotic creatures still roam and nature paints
breathtaking views that render one speechless. Yet this beautiful backdrop
display is only an illusion as you whiz by in your tourist jeep, for just
beyond the safari trails, lurks devastation. Tragic scenes of severe poverty,
war, famine, and disease leave millions of orphans to fend for themselves.
In
Uganda, once considered the Pearl of Africa, there are an estimated 2 million
orphans - with projections of the number of orphans rising to 9 million within
10 years. Although the LRA rebels of Northern Uganda have ceased fire and the
horrific child soldier abductions for the last few years have ended; AIDS,
malaria, and disease continues to kill thousands of people a day and the
orphans remain, desperately crying out for their lives. The plight of these
orphans, along with many more marginalized at-risk and impoverished children having
only one parent or sick parent(s) who are often unable to properly care for
them is truly alarming.
That's
where FISH International
comes in. After the crisis organizations who rush in to assist after the
initial trauma a particular region of the country has endured, many times
communities are left behind fighting to survive. FISH
then rises to the challenge of implementing long term solutions that not only
rescue orphans, at-risk, and impoverished children but provide life change. FISH is only able to accomplish
this by joining hands with donors, local leaders and compassionate villagers to
rebuild communities to become safe, self sustaining, self supporting
educationally based, life-changing environments for the children to be trained
up to become transformational agents in their world and beyond.
You've
heard the ancient Chinese proverb, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for
a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime." That is the
foundation of FISH International,
"Casting the net... for a lifetime catch!" Along with our
compassionate worldwide partners, donors, local leaders, teachers, and
villagers, FISH is committed
to bringing HOPE by establishing educational centers, self sustaining
agricultural programs, self-supporting cottage industries, digging wells,
planting community gardens, building schools for hundreds for at-risk children,
as well as providing safe homes for orphans in these impoverished communities,
working as an all inclusive team with many others, for as you know "it
takes a village to raise a child."
FISH International came into being after working several
years in Africa and seeing global aid disappear into the coffers of corrupt
leaders. It dawned on us that the only way to make a real impact on changing
those children's world, was to partner with the local people who were already
giving the shirt off their own back for their own people. Together with these
compassionate local partners, FISH
chooses to give at-risk children and impoverished communities a hand up, not a hand out, to work with
them side by side in caring for the at-risk children as a "village"
to together transform their community one challenge at a time, knowing it all
begins with education. 
FISH began rescuing at-risk, orphan and
underprivileged children with our initial
"Project of Hope" in 2008 by raising funds to purchase land in an
impoverished community outside of Kampala, the capital of Uganda. With the help
of our generous partners from around the globe, we were able to purchase
building materials to enable the villagers and volunteers to labor together to
make the bricks to complete a large schoolhouse to provide education for the
local at-risk children to attend. In addition, a borehole (well) was drilled to
provide water for the both the school and community.
Since
that time, FISH has been
privileged to work hand in hand implementing additional projects of hope with
the local partners on the ground in Uganda, including building a chicken
hatchery in the northern region near Gulu. Our long-term goal is to continue
building up similar projects, purchasing more land and building more school to
open the doors for more precious children to stream in, while establishing more
cottage industries to support them.
While
our African brothers and sisters have much to teach us about the joys of the
simple life, the practice of gratitude, and how to really dance, we have much to share with them as well. North
America and most of the European countries were built on the backs of
entrepreneurs and that wealth of knowledge is what FISH seeks to share with our African partners and villagers
to together join hands to rebuild their community and raise up this generation
of at-risk, orphan and impoverished children with a new vision to impact their
world.
When
you choose to partner with FISH, in addition to supporting
ongoing "Projects of Hope," you may also engage in the wonderful
opportunity of choosing to "adopt"
an at-risk or orphan child, to support their needs physically and emotionally
by becoming involved in their lives, providing funds for their housing, food,
and tuition, along with caring letters of encouragement to be sent to them on a
monthly basis. You may specify whether you would like to choose to
"adopt" an orphan, at-risk child, displaced refugee child,
impoverished child or the entire family, as there is a ever increasing waiting
list of those in need! In each situation, FISH
has the ultimate goal of sponsorship being only a temporary "bridge"
to then implement more permanent solutions, through agricultural plans to allow
them to become self sustaining solution, in addition to establishing cottage
industries to ensure they become self supporting.
Our
desire is to continue to bring greater global awareness to the plight of these
at-risk and orphan children and partner with like-minded charitable causes, not
only in Africa, but in other impoverished countries where thousands of children are needlessly
suffering daily. As FISH
continues to expand this model of establishing educational centers for at-risk,
orphan, and underprivileged children, as well as raising support to rebuild
impoverished and war torn communities, building up various other "cottage industries" to
generate supplemental income to enable these schools and communities to be
thrive, as well as implementing agricultural
programs to teach the children and villagers critical life sustenance and
entrepreneurial skills for their future, we believe we can transform entire
communities to become 100% self
sustaining, to then duplicate that model over and over again, bringing hope
to many.
With
your valuable support, FISH
will continue to work alongside these impoverished communities and at-risk
children to give them a hand up, not
a hand out, to teach them viable self sustaining and cottage industry skills to
become 100% self supporting as they
join together in helping raise up at-risk, orphan and destitute children in
these impoverished and war torn areas to positively impact their lives and
future global community. Each impoverished child has a big dream of becoming a
doctor, a teacher, or a leader in their country. It is truly our privilege to
be part of raising up the next generation. We truly believe the FISH model of "casting the net, for a lifetime
catch" will be duplicated over and over again in many communities,
creating 100% self sustaining, self supporting villages, where at-risk children
are cared for and raised up with futures filled with hope, not only in
countries in Africa, but in countries all over the world.
We're
thrilled to have you join FISH
in bringing global change for the next generation, one underprivileged child
and community at a time. Thank you for your compassionate heart to reach out to
give these precious at-risk children a hand
up to give them hope and transform their future and the world!