Breeding an Atmosphere of Hope
 Why did I go? I struggled with this question months before we ever left. I definitely did not want to go as a tourist. I did not want to go as a cheerleader. I wanted to go....because I wanted to somehow, in some small way, make a difference. It doesn't take much. Really! Just a willingness to serve God and your fellow man.
Even if God is not the focus of your life, you can serve out of kindness and a hope that one day, all nations will be as blessed as America.
I went, willingly...joyfully...and I was changed. I had to check my big American ego at the door and allow God to direct my footsteps. It's hard to be obedient when you're as hard-headed as I am. The truth is, I had no idea what "aquaponic" meant until I saw it happen in front of my camera. I had no idea that Nigerians are some of the nicest, most humble and hospitable people I've ever met, but that they lacked a real hope that anything significant was going to change what they knew from day to day: survival.
The talent, the intelligence, the work ethic-- it was all there. But how do you start a business without capital? How do you build without materials and tools? We've been tossing the world’s poor fish to satisfy their hunger, but we haven't helped them help themselves. Until now.
A handful of amazing people from Back2Back Ministries and SSE (Self Sustaining Enterprises) decided it was time to do more than just hand out fish, They wanted to help start a fishing industry. Know what happens when ONE person is creative, motivated and successful?? It breeds an atmosphere of hope. An "If you can do it, then so can I" attitude. And that's what we hope and pray for: a community of successful businessmen and women who dare to step out in faith, work and train with someone who has been there before, and then pay it forward.
I went and I will, God willing, go again without hesitation. Even if it means laying down my crown and accepting the role of "cheerleader."
God bless Nigeria and her beautiful people !
“All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.” Proverbs 14:22-24
--Heidi Dose, March 29
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