Who we are Mission and vision Mission and vision Our Mission At Hands Across the Water, our mission is to ensure each and every child in our care lives a life of choice rather than chance. Our Vision We believe that all children deserve the chance to build a future full of possibilities, opportunities and dreams. We believe that by providing the right support and guidance as well as a variety of options to create a pathway to the future, that our kids can flourish regardless of the cards that life has dealt them. Our commitment to the children in our homes, those we support in outreach programs or the broader community who benefit from our support is for the long term. As our kids grow and mature, our focus is on helping them see the future that lies before them as well as create new and exciting opportunities well beyond the loving homes that are our foundation. You can’t aspire to what you can’t see and therefore it is our focus to help our kids see that the opportunities that lie before them is just as important as filling their bellies with healthy food. A little bit more about our mission... You start with the things in front of you that are the obvious things to do. When we met the kids living in a tent, we built them a home. We provided them with food, access to education and health care and we employed caring and loving staff. When we met the kids of Baan Home Hug who were dying from a lack of access to HIV medication, we provided the funds to ensure uninterrupted access to the medicine they needed. When the police bring us children who are the victims of sexual and physical abuse, we provide them with a safe and loving environment. That was what we started out doing. It made sense. There was an obvious need and we did what we could to stop what shouldn’t be happening and ensure what should have happened did in fact happen. When kids have gone without food you provide food. When kids have no shelter or family you build them a home. When kids are sick, you provide access to doctors and medicine and make them better. There is nothing complex or revolutionary in what we have done. There was an obvious need and we did what was within our powers to meet that need. But just continuing to do what we have always done was not going to be enough. When we started out, providing food, shelter and access to health care was a massive step up from live pre Hands. But we did that, we needed to do more. We needed to ensure the donors funds we were receiving were used in the best way possible. We have always prided ourselves that 100% of donors money goes to the kids and community. The bigger question to ask is are those funds used in the best way, are we achieving all that we possible can with those funds. Just like the kids in our care, we grew up as well. We followed their journey, and as they started to come to the end of their schooling and asked “what now?”, we asked ourselves the same question. The answer became one of choice. What choice did the kids have when it came time to leave our homes. Sure we did a good job in ensuring their needs were met whilst they were in our homes, but were we preparing them and creating opportunities for them when it came time to leave? The measure of our success quickly became were we creating a life of choice rather than one of chance for the kids? You can’t aspire to what you can’t see and it quickly became our focus that helping the kids see the opportunities that lie before them was as important as filing their bellies with healthy food. Our commitment to the children in our homes, those we support in outreach programs or the broader community who benefit from our support is for the long term. As we grow and mature, just like the kids we are asking what is the next stage of our growth and without question it is creating new and exciting opportunities well beyond the loving homes that are our foundation.