Back to What we do...                     Starfish Asia 32 Beck Lane Beckenham Kent BR3 4RE UK Telephone +44 (0)20 8402 1914 Email mike@starfishasia.com	Our partners There are several keys to the success of Starfish Asia. First and foremost we give credit to the mercy and grace of God. Without His prompting, His compassion, His patience, there would be no Starfish Asia. But there are other keys: The committed supporters who provide the money that makes the difference. We have no government backing or support from big business (though we would welcome it). Most of our income comes from hard-working and generous people who care. The small army of faithful Pakistani partners who love their people and are working overtime to give education, care, a helping hand and word of encouragement to those that are downtrodden and neglected. Starfish Asia does not start or run projects. We do not open schools, direct schools, oversee schools or control those who do. We do what we can to come alongside national Christians who are gifted, capable and committed to help the poor and to provide them with the resources to do the job that God has given them to do. At present we are working with 25 Pakistani men and women, and this is just a short introduction to a few of them. They need your prayers and support.   Walter Walter comes from a largely Christian village where his family has lived for many years and his brother is a farmer. He has always had a passion to lift up the economic standard of his community. A local government school provides no hope of a proper education. Walter studied theology for 2 years in Scotland and then returned to his village. With help from Starfish Asia he launched his dream in 2008 and opened a school to serve his Christian community. He has further plans to build a small hospital. It is hard to tie a good man down.   Sajida Iqbal Sajida has had many opportunities for a more comfortable or prominent ministry. She studied for two years in a UK Bible School and then returned to her father's village with a passion to start a school and discipleship programme for the young Christians in villages close to her home. With great determination and some help from her friends, Sajida bought land, constructed a small building, purchased a vehicle and opened a school, staffed on minimal salaries by local Christians. The vehicle provides a pick-and-drop service for children from surrounding villages. Sajida has her own website. Salome Salome has been running a school for 8 years in the upper portion of her family home in a Christian colony in Lahore. Her teachers were mostly drawn from her Sunday School, and together their concern has been to provide an education for the local Christian children that will not only equip them to face the future, but also enable them to know Christ and the basic truths of their faith. Starfish Asia has provided resources to enable her to expand the school, pay proper salaries and get better equipment to fulfil her dreams. Ashraf and Wilma Ashraf and his wife Wilma developed a concern for the many children of broken and disturbed families in their community. They took a few orphaned and troubled young girls into their home in order to give them a chance in life. As their family grew, it became increasingly clear that they needed a larger home and funding for the growing community. Starfish Asia has provided some of that funding and there are now 26 girls in the Abba Home -- some orphans, some from broken and disturbed homes -- all of them cared for, given an education and enabled to rebuild their lives.     Every one of the projects supported by Starfish Asia is overseen by reliable and capable partners, such as those mentioned here, who have a personal passion and concern to bring help to the needy and the suffering in their own society. We count it a privilege to be able to provide resources to those who use them so well.