How We Got Started

A letter from our Founder/President

Hello everyone and welcome to the Hands Across the Water website. Let me give you some insight into how we got started.

Hands Across the Water was started with a revelation that occurred back in August of 2003, when two relatively young people from two different continents fell in love and ran off to get married in West Africa. While there with my new wife, I was struck by the hardships that faced those kind and gentle people that took in a stranger like me so willingly and selflessly, as a part of the family. They spared no expense attending to me and attempting to show me the respect that they felt for my presence, fully aware that it was beyond their means. I left knowing that I had to reciprocate. The fact that none of the kids were going to school of any kind, due to the country’s recent civil war, and that it only costs 200 U.S. dollars for everything to send a kid to school for the entire year, really just made me mad.

Hands Across the Water was born from that transcendental experience in Africa. Beginning as a grassroots effort, squeezing every penny we could from already cash-strapped family and friends, we managed to raise enough money to provide eight beautiful young children, from the kind of poverty we do not know in the United States, with school tuition, food, uniforms, and supplies for the entire year.

Everything seemed to be going great. The kids were happier than they ever had been. Pictures of the kids in their school uniforms, along with messages to their sponsors, were posted on our newly created website, and we all felt a great sense of pride and altruism. Then, within weeks of each other, two of our students died suddenly of relatively unknown causes, other than the simple lack of access to any type of health care.

The five year-old was named Zidan, a nickname given to her after a famous soccer player because she was practically bald, was the sweetest little girl you could ever meet. She was deathly afraid of me when I arrived, as she had never seen a white man before, and would run screaming from me whenever I approached. By the time I left Africa she was a permanent fixture in my arms and refused to be let down. It makes me cry to this day when I think about her. The other little boy was my nephew. His name was Isso. He was eight years old when he died in his grandmother’s bed, because the was anemic and the family could not find enough money in time to get him the blood transfusion he needed to live. Enough said.

The fire inside me has been lit ever since. Now it seems naïve of me to think that raising a few dollars to send kids to school was an accomplishment worthy of the pride that I felt providing it, because really what good is an education if a person does not live long enough to benefit from it?

That is what has kept me up at night and given me the strength to do battle with “The Man” AKA the mighty Internal Revenue Service and recently manage to make Hands Across the Water a federally recognized 501(c)(3); a charitable, public, non-profit organization, fully exempt from federal taxation and able to receive federal, state, and local grant monies, as well as charitable donations from corporations and the general public. J

Our goal now is to provide more than just an education. We plan to build our own school AND health care facility in West Africa. You can believe me when I tell you it will happen. That is the promise that I have made with our departed little angels. I hope you consider being a part of it.

Sincerely,

David M. Hession

Founder/President – Hands Across the Water 501(c)(3)       

To contribute our cause please click below:

Social Equity - Equal Education & Employment Opportunity Statement

Hands Across the Water is committed to equal employment and equal educational opportunities for all qualified individuals regardless of race, color, sex, religion, national origin, affectional or sexual orientation, age, disability, or other classifications that are protected under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and other pertinent state and federal laws and regulations.

Direct equal opportunity inquiries to:

David M. Hession - AAEO

29 Deacon Circle

Southington, CT 06489

860-620-3735

support@handsacrossthewater.net

Our Board

Among the Board of Directors and Executive Staff there is extensive business administration experience, local, state and federal legal counsel, and an extensive health and education background.  Also included are real estate management, general management, and foreign language experience – English, Spanish, French, Tagalog, Dioula, and Bambara.  Our Executive Staff has extensive knowledge and experience in HIV/AIDS awareness, prevention, testing, and treatment.  The staff at Hand Across the Water not only has extensive international travel experience, and a multitude of years living and working overseas, but they have the support of family and friends with key contacts in the countries in which we plan to operate. We have a wide web of friends and business partners of various backgrounds positioned around the globe who are available for support. Staff educational backgrounds include degrees in International Business, Marketing/Advertising, Educational Leadership, Teaching, Public Health, Government, Law, and Foreign Policy.

Hands Across the Water works in collaboration with Let’s Go Africa - utilizing its vast web of resources both nationally and internationally.

Our Administration

David Stuart James - Director of International Programs

Born in Hamilton, Ontario Canada, executive Director David James' history of travel throughout the Caribbean, Asia and Central America has deeply impacted his life and has encouraged him to tirelessly advocate for the global rights of international morality for the disadantaged, displaced and poverty stricken peoples. 

After graduating from The College of New Jersey with a Bachelor's degree in Art Education, Kate was intent on getting as many different experiences with children as possible.  She began as a 3-year old preschool teacher for a leading childcare center in Princeton, New Jersey then was offered the opportunity to work with 4-5-year old preschool children with autism in the Hopewell Valley Regional School district and trained in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA).  At this point she also took the opportunity to be the supervisor of the early morning and after school programs run at the school through the Pennington YMCA.  All the while, she was taking graduate classes in early childhood education/development.  Her foundation in Early Childhood Education, along with her teaching opportunities and furthering her education, gave her great insight into the many different beginnings that students may have and how this affects their growth socially, emotionally, and academically in the future.  She carried this knowledge with her when she began teaching at Trenton Central High School – West Campus as an art teacher.

Immediately after starting working in Trenton she realized that the students needed guidance. That is when she brought the In Touch Youth Mentoring Program to her school. She and a group of teachers began mentoring and tutoring students in need on a volunteer basis. The program was very successful from the beginning and Kate knew that she had to find funding to offer the program to any and all students that needed it.

Her focus now is to expand the reach of the In-Touch Mentoring Program and include more parents and community leaders, as well as other schools in the district and beyond. We know benefactors will reach out and fund this program immediately upon hearing about its successes.

Kouao F. Mea - Director of Tutoring and After-School Programs 

Kouao F. Mea was born to a loving family in Cote d'Ivoire, Africa where he grew in knowledge and passion for the youth of his country. Mr. Mea was ewarded a Master's Degree in Political Economics from Abidjan University and was afforded the opportunity to work closely his beloved country’s government as a Government Economist where he birthed programs such as “Fight Against Poverty”, a program designed to educate his community in regards to financial self reliance.

Mr. Mea’s passion led him to the shores of the United States of America in 2004 where he continued in his quest to educate the youth of America. Mr. Mea’s qualifications in Mathematics and Government allowed him to obtain his goal of reaching the youth of America for the Trenton Board of Education.

Mr. Mea’s contribution to this community is priceless and he continues to reach and restore the youth of the city of Trenton and cities around the region through our In Touch Youth Mentoring Program, as the Director of Tutoring and After-School Programs.

Mr. Mea’s passion is evident in his classroom and in his community, he is a formidable foe against poverty and the misfortune of America’s underprivileged.