“Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for life.” We all have heard this adage, but how many truly have seen it in action? One of the projects here at Hope Church is A Fishing Rod, Not A Fish. It is based on this principle. My team is split between working with two contacts: Alexe and Tavi.
Alexe has been in Comani for 10 years now, and actively is engaged in this project. They provided a donkey and wagon to a widower so that he could have work transporting people and goods in order to provide for his family. They currently are fundraising to purchase a cow. That cow would be given to a family in need. The family would provide a portion of the milk produced to Alexe, who would give it to another family in need. When the cow has a calf, the first calf will go to Alexe, who will give it to another family in need, and the process starts again.
I am with the group that is working with Tavi. Tavi and his family have been ministering to Maruntei for only a couple of years, so they still are laying the foundation to initiate this project in the village, but he has a cow that they are preparing for a family in need when they have identified a family that would benefit from this sort of support.
How cool is that? A real project, run by countrymen, which has a tangible and lasting impact on the needy in our immediate sphere of influence. It has been really cool to hear about, and try to contribute to the project in the short time that we’ve had.
