If you give a fish to a boy he will be hungry again tomorrow. If you teach him how to fish, he will have food each day.
Anon
The Bethsaida Foundation: In 1989 Father Bernardine M. Louis, an Indian from Kerala, founded an orphanage on the former property of a monastery site called Bethsaida. Together with his nephew, Frederik Thomas, he is the founder and the leader of the Bethsaida projects.
Bethsaida is an independent centre that supports people in need of all denominations. It is exclusively run by Indian professionals who are very familiar with the local languages and circumstances.
Thanks to the financial support of Frederik’s family and donations from all over the world the following projects have been be realized in recent years:
- Construction of two large orphanages with integrated schools for over 1000 children and youth
- Opening of a public mixed day school with English lessons for children from the surrounding fishing villages
- Creation of vocational training places for young women and men
- Education and health program for 52 fishing villages in the area
- Hospital with a dental clinic
- Construction of two-day care centres for needy old people and construction of a retirement home
- Financial aid for funerals commemorated with dignity
- Opening of a convenience grocery store
- Opening of an ecologically managed hotel with its own Ayurveda centre.
For further information in German:
http://www.freundschaftmitindien.ch and http://www.freundschaft-mit-indien.de
Here is a recording made by Chuck and Freddy that explains the more recent projects the charity is undertaking – it is in English with German translation. Though the quality of the recording is not great we feel the power of the work done at this foundation and the message given here is too good to omit from the site.