Tifie looks at education projects in a new way. Our basic needs approach focuses on developing tools and creating the capacity for people to lift themselves out of poverty. Education is one of our strongest initiatives because it provides the building blocks for lifelong learning and human development in and out of the classroom. “We are stuck with only what we know and experience. When we can read and communicate in writing, the whole world is ours.”

We asked our founders, Angé and Robert Workman, to share their views on education and happiness. Robert believes that the “tools needed for happiness can be taught and doing good with the right intention is one of the best tools for happiness in the galaxy.”

Angé believes that happiness is not really taught, but the steps to reach it, can be. We can teach happiness through service, by being kind, and spreading unconditional love. “When we get outside ourselves and engage with others in a healthy way, we get to learn from them and them from us. We are all connected. When we do something good, it has a ripple effect. When our actions, our words, our thoughts are focused on good, it affects others in a profound way.”

“The learning center in Ghana is a perfect example of engaging with others.” Power and light have expanded essential learning tools and content along with the ability to study after the sun goes down.
By installing power we can share and learn from another culture in real time. Two people from halfway around the world get to share their joy, tears, victories and challenges. We are all united as humans through this experience.

Education is a key for personal and social improvements and the capacity for self-reliant development. Angé states that “happiness is learned or discovered individually through life experiences.” As children gain knowledge and skills in the classroom, they get integrated into community learning programs for adults. The classroom is an incubator for building self-esteem and helps an entire community build its own bright future.
“I have seen young children in an orphanage blossom when they are loved and given opportunities to grow and learn.”

We currently have educational projects all over the world. Modern classrooms are being constructed at the Kola School in Kinshasa, DRC. Basic learning needs are being met through skills training and apprenticeships for marginalized women in Morocco. Health, nutrition and fertility awareness is being spread through our partnerships with Operation Smile. A greenhouse project in Peru is teaching agricultural techniques so that tomatoes can be grown at high elevations and sold locally. This means that families can thrive in their own villages.

Both Angé and Robert “have witnessed joy and happiness growing in the form of hope and light as understanding comes and as opportunities are presented.”

Beyond the classroom we can share this learning and the joy of learning by sharing our stories.