In the News
Paying It Forward
Mercy High School
Guest Speaker: Michele Ostertag
After moving to Kenya in 1998 with her family, Michele Ostertag ’87 saw that because of the HIV Aids epidemic there were many widows and orphans living at the poverty level. At that time, over 32% of the population was affected in some way. In the Kenyan culture families are more united – you will see different generations living together and caring for each other but she saw how hard it was for families who were barely getting by to take in another orphan child of a relative and having one more mouth to feed.
Michele spoke of how Mercy engages their students in what’s happening in the world and teaches them to be conscious members of society. For her, this has been a journey of Faith and is her calling in life. Michele stated that “It is all about uniting people, and that once you have that “buy in” from them, then the community takes this into their own hands and moves forward to make improvements in their life. As the saying goes…. If you give a man a fish he has food for the day, but if you teach him to fish he has food for a lifetime! Thank you Michele!
Originally published in Mercy News & Announcements
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