This is the story of how Mario went from being a fisherman in one of the world's smallest and poorest countries to becoming an English teacher with a promising future. His biggest fear used to be sharks. Now he dreams of helping develop his hometown.

Thanks to our special partnership with a top independent coffee roaster, Lanna Coffee, you can enjoy great coffee and at the same time help bring hope and opportunity to one of the world's smallest and poorest countries. For each pound of Lanna Coffee purchased (only $12.99 plus shipping), $5 goes toward subsidizing a student's education for one month -- making it possible for a young man or woman to afford critical job-training classes that can change the course of their lives. Order your Lanna Coffee today!

WAVS has just released its first mini-documentary, "Investigating Tinkebell: A Case Study of Charity in Africa" -- view the 9-minute short here and offer your feedback at info (at) WAVSchools.org.

If you haven't had a chance already, watch this 2-minute special video message from one of the WAVS English teacher, Belinda. It's a great example of how WAVS is training its students to become future teachers!

The students of the WAVS sewing program have hand-crafted beautiful table tapestries, shoulder bags, and baby blouses. Some of these items have been brought to the U.S. and are on sale. Click here to see pictures of the items and to shop online.

The primary language spoken in Guinea-Bissau is a Portuguese-based Creole. It’s a language unique to just Guinea-Bissau and its island neighbor Cape Verde. WAVS now has an audio-guided primer and a video lesson for learning some basic greetings in Creole. Click here to check out the audio-guided primer. Below is the video.