Our Story

Introducing Starfish Asia - Canada

Canadians can now share in the work of Starfish Asia, bringing hope to Pakistani Christians through education.

Starfish Asia (UK) and its partners worldwide serve impoverished and marginalized communities in Pakistan by supporting Christian schools, teachers, and students. Canadian donors can now receive tax exemptions through the ICCM portal.

Starfish Asia supports locally administered Christian schools, (kindergarten through grade 10) which serve impoverished and marginalized communities in Pakistan.

Learn more about the wider work of Starfish Asia on the UK website.

Our Vision

The Need is Great - and Growing...

Since 2003, Starfish Asia (UK) has taken on the support of 50 schools serving over 9,000 students. They not only provide financial support, but they provide administrative and financial training, teacher training, textbooks, and Bible curriculum.

While the achievements of Starfish Asia are remarkable, the educational needs among Christians are fast outpacing the resources of the organization.

Now, with the help of ICCM, we in Canada can make tax exempt donations to support their work. We have undertaken to support four Starfish Asia schools. This will free up Starfish Asia (UK) to meet the growing needs in other Christian communities.

When you donate through the ICCM portal, you may specify in the comments section which school or project you would like to support.

Our support

Starfish Asia (Canada) is supporting four schools:

Action Public School
Francis Town, Gujrunwala

Christian families have few educational options in Francis Town, a suburb of 50,000 people. When a Chinese mission organization there closed its school, it left the Christian community in desperate need.

Roopa and her husband Sajad responded by launching Action Public School (APS) in 2015. They both have BA degrees. Their vision is “to educate the poor Christian community so no one will be without education, and they can prosper.”

Action Public School began with just seven students but quickly grew to around a hundred. Most of their students could not afford more than nominal tuition fees. Roopa and Sajad were running the school on a tiny budget, helped by two volunteer teachers.

In 2019, Starfish Pakistan (UK) began to support Action Public School. Roopa and Sajad invested their savings to expand their home to include a school. Starfish Pakistan provided classroom furniture, solar panels and a bore hole for clean water. The clean water is used to serve the community as well.

Starfish Asia (UK) also began to provide modest salaries for the teachers. The school now employs seven teachers and a helper and over 120 children from kindergarten to Grade 10 are enrolled.

Our Canadian team has agreed to take on the support of this school. To do this, we need to raise $600 CAD per month ($7,200 annually). Your gift of $5 or $50 a month will help us make this a reality.

Ambrose Foundation
Sheikhupura

The Ambrose Foundation School was started in 2012 to serve the nearby brick kiln community. Many rural Christian families work under grueling, hazardous conditions in these kilns. They are often trapped in generational bonded labour. There are more than 20,000 brick kilns in Pakistan.

In 2016, Starfish Asia identified Ambrose School in a nation-wide survey of Christian schools. The school was operating in extremely poor rental accommodations with few resources. It was founded in 2012 through the heroic efforts of Asif Masih, an evangelist with connections to Operation Mobilization. He was determined that children in this impoverished community would have the opportunity for at least a basic education. The school provides instruction for children from kindergarten through grade eight.

Starfish Asia was impressed by Asif’s dedication to the children and his determination to make a difference in their lives. Since 2018, their support has enabled the school to employ a few more teachers and secure better premises. Some basic needs have now been met. A roofed hall was added where classes could be held inside, sheltered from the elements. A watercooler now provides clean, cold water for the students and rudimentary bathroom facilities have been added.

A generous Canadian donor provided this year’s operational costs for Ambrose Foundation School. But they still urgently need funds to enclose and furnish their classrooms. Your one-time donation could make a big difference!

Eden School
Khabeke, Gujranwala Division

Nazia Nazim has an MA degree in medicine, but her passion is human rights and education. She has always championed opportunities for women in this male-dominated society.

In 2007, Nazia founded Eden School in Khabeke, a rural community of 250 families near Gujranwala. Most people here work as day labourers in the fields or in nearby brick kilns.

Eden School has 120 students and nine staff. The students are about 80% Christian and 20% Muslim. This diverse enrollment reflects the makeup of the Khabeke community.

The school’s nominal tuition fees have never covered its costs. Nazia remembers working as a field labourer after a day of teaching to help sustain the school financially.

Since Starfish Asia (UK) started supporting Eden School in 2019, it has been renovated and equipped with new furniture. Starfish Asia (UK) also supplies textbooks every year for Eden’s students.

Starfish Asia (Canada) has agreed to cover the monthly costs for Eden School ($650 monthly, or $7,800 annually). This will free Starfish Asia (UK) to fund one of the many other Christian schools in Pakistan that urgently needs support.

Your monthly gift would make a big difference to this school and to Christian families in Pakistan.

Risen Hope
Rimsha Colony, Islamabad

Rimsha Colony is a shantytown named for the young girl falsely accused of blasphemy in 2012 and later granted asylum in Canada. It was settled by Christians fleeing the resulting violence. Most of the people living in Rimsha Colony work as sweepers and earn less than $120/month. As in many other Christian communities, government schools are not available or accessible here. The lack of education contributes to a generational cycle of poverty and marginalization.

Mrs. Sweeta Zain has lived in Rimsha Colony for the past ten years. In 2016, after completing her BA, she set up a school for local children in her home. Despite Sweeta’s valiant efforts, the school closed due to lack of finances. In 2019, with the help of Starfish Pakistan (UK), Sweeta and her husband Zain re-opened the school. It now accommodates forty children in a tiny, three-room building with an enclosed courtyard. They are currently looking for a larger building to better serve their increasing enrolment. Please consider a one-time donation toward a new school building.

In addition to what they receive from nominal tuition fees, Risen Hope School needs $350 per month for salaries, utilities, textbooks and basic upkeep. Your gift of $5 or $50 per month will go a long way to providing stability for this school and its dedicated teaching staff.

more ways to help

Canadians can also donate to the following projects:

The desperate need for education in the Christian community

In many areas of Pakistan, government primary and secondary education is unavailable or inadequate. Students must often pay tuition fees to attend private schools. The fees are used to finance teacher’s salaries and other school expenses, but it puts these schools out of the reach of many in the marginalized Christian community.

How believers are responding

Christian schools are often started by people with few resources who want desperately to serve the children in their own communities. They charge minimal school fees, just a few pennies a month, which is still more than some families can afford. These fees are often not enough to provide teachers with even a minimal salary. Many serve as volunteers.

How we support them through Starfish Asia

One of Starfish Asia’s priorities is to provide salaries for the schoolteachers in the schools we support. This helps sustain the schools in the long term and positions them to hire teachers with more adequate qualifications.

Inflation is a critical problem right now in Pakistan, and even more so in the poor communities. With your help, our schools can continue to provide these modest salaries to the schoolteachers – and even increase them.

$100 per month provides a basic salary for a teacher at one of the Starfish Asia schools. Please consider ‘adopting’ one of Starfish Asia’s teachers. You may never know which one of them you’re providing for, but God knows each one of them.

Starfish Asia supports the development of their teachers

Many of the dedicated teachers working in schools supported by Starfish Asia have only a minimal education themselves. Every little bit of training they receive makes a difference in their lives – and in the classroom.

Starfish Asia runs several teacher training programs through its administrative office in Lahore, Pakistan. As funds permit, local and regional training sessions are provided during the summer for Starfish teachers. Education specialists from Pakistan and elsewhere also provide ongoing mentoring and training within the schools themselves.

So much is being accomplished – and yet there is so many more ways to encourage and provide training and skills for these dedicated Christian workers. We would love it if you would consider partnering with us in this important work. 

Put brand new textbooks in their hands this year

School texts and workbooks open a world of learning for young children – and older ones too. But not every school in Pakistan can afford to supply textbooks for their students – and their families certainly can’t. Many students in Christian schools simply do without

Starfish Asia has undertaken to provide textbooks to every student in the schools it supports – and, as funds allow, to other Christian schools who need them. Please help them get ahead of this desperate and growing need.  Your gift of $10 will bring joy to a young student as they start the next school year with brand-new textbooks.

Introducing young students to the Word of God

Most of the 9,000+ students enrolled in the schools funded by Starfish Asia come from Christian families. And most of the schools funded by Starfish Asia provide daily a Bible class for their students.

This consistent teaching of God’s word provides the climate where each student can understand the love of God the Father and receive the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ.

Starfish Asia provides free Bible curriculum to these Christian schools and others throughout Pakistan. Please help us to enable this vital Kingdom work.

A new curriculum! “The History of Christians in Pakistan”

There is a silver thread running through Pakistan’s history – the wonderful testimony of Christian proclamation and faithfulness.  This thread can be traced back almost 2000 years.

In 2024, a new curriculum was created << link>> by Starfish Asia founder Mike Wakely. It will help Christian high school students understand and celebrate the history of their faith tradition in their own beloved nation of Pakistan.

With your help, Starfish Asia can continue to provide this important curriculum to Christian schools throughout Pakistan. $10 will purchase a set of textbooks for two primary school students or one secondary student.

Get your own copy of The History of Christians in Pakistan by Mike Wakely

The History of Christians in Pakistan by Mike Wakely, founder of Starfish Asia, has also been published as a book for English readers. It chronicles the preaching of the gospel in Pakistan starting with St. Thomas in the first century CBE and continuing through the centuries.  It highlights the work of the many dedicated believers throughout the centuries who shared the gospel and established churches, schools and hospitals. The book also provides insight into the challenges faced by the modern Christian community in Pakistan and God’s continuing faithfulness to them.

Donate to Starfish Asia through the ICCM portal and request your copy of The History of Christians in Pakistan.

Christian teachers are often on the forefront of the Kingdom in the impoverished communities they serve. They are touching young lives every day. They are teaching the Bible curriculum provided by Starfish Asia. And yet many of them have not had many opportunities to be discipled and taught themselves.

Starfish Asia is now providing distance Bible training and discipleship for its teachers through The Open Theological Seminary (OTS). Teachers gather as part of their school day to study God’s Word together through OTS courses.

Your support of these teachers and schools will be a tremendous encouragement as they grow in their faith and service to God.

Help Starfish Asia school graduates achieve their dreams

Children from poor families in Pakistani schools often do not advance beyond the primary grades. Instead, they become labourers to help support their families, or stay home to care for younger siblings. Those who can continue their education as high school students are often highly motivated.

Starfish Asia students work hard to pass their matriculation examinations during the tenth grade. Passing these exams qualifies them for college-level studies. Successful graduates often want to pursue further education to realize their vocational dreams and help support their families. But most of these students cannot afford the fees for college or university.

Over the years, the Starfish Asia scholarship program has provided many students with tuition and living expenses. Many of these students have successfully completed years of post-secondary education in specialized fields.

Starfish Asia scholarship recipients have studied and trained in radiology, medicine, physiotherapy, economics, chemistry, and education. They have entered the workforce in Pakistan and are able to support their families. One graduating teacher has established a successful school supported by Starfish Asia. Its students are now being accepted into prestigious Pakistani colleges and universities.

It is this culture of achievement that Starfish Asia is working hard to promote through its scholarship program. It is laying the foundation for the Christian community to attain economic stability and to contribute to the wider community.

You can help motivated young men and women in the Christian community achieve their goals by contributing to Starfish Asia’s scholarship program. Just $100 per month will support one student with tuition and boarding expenses.

Help create optimal learning environments sustainably

School closes for the summer in early June, when the mean temperature reaches 38 degrees and can be as high as 53 degrees. But even through the school year it can feel unbearably hot inside the classroom. Donations through Starfish Asia help pay for utility bills for lighting and electric fans for the schools it supports. But utilities are expensive and unreliable in many Pakistani communities.

Solar panels are a cost-effective solution in this country where sunshine is undeniably plentiful.

Do you know of an environmentally-focused business or organisation which would like to invest in solar panels for our Christian schools in Pakistan? Please let us know at info@starfishasia.ca

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