Orphaned Starfish works to save lives

Andrew Stein founded the Orphaned Starfish Foundation in 2001 to help orphans, victims of abuse and at-risk children worldwide escape their cycles of poverty and abuse through education and job training. And, two years ago, Mr. Stein came to American Samoa with the Troy & Theodora Polamalu Foundation – where he became dedicated to saving lives and victims of abuse here in American Samoa.

Last week, Stein and his wife Dilia visited the children from his computer program hosted at the Department of Youth and Women Affairs – and excited the children with goodies and a presentation ceremony of awards and certificates.

After the awards ceremony, Stein told Samoa News during an interview that they were dedicated to coming back. “When we came here a little over two years ago, we committed to this program for life and we committed that we would come back to American Samoa in at least two years – and now we’re back as we promised”.

He continued, “We also committed to improve and bring more to this program every time.”

From humble beginnings, building a small computer vocational training center in an orphanage for young victims of abuse in Santiago, Chile, he has built the Foundation to now serve over 9,500 children in 46 programs in 21 countries. He has also partnered with local partners in each of the 21 countries, including Save the Children, Rotary Club, and USAID.

Stein told Samoa News that he was overwhelmed with the progress of his program here in the territory, saying “It is beyond amazing and it is so wonderful to see the progress that’s been made over the last two years and we’re so hopeful for the progress that’ll be made going forward.”

The founder of the Foundation said, “Its progressed more than I ever thought and it has so much more opportunities that I could’ve ever imagined. To see these kids when we first came – there were two things. One they were very very shy, and now they’re not shy anymore.”

He said, “We saw their presentations, and they were confident, they gave their presentation with knowledge and you can tell that they did their research and that they used the computers thoroughly.”

Stein added, “And then the second thing is that over the last two years I’ve seen that there’s a desire to do more with their lives — we interviewed some of the kids and we asked them what they wanted to do when they grew up. When we first came ninety percent of the answers were either working in the cannery or going into the Army. And now, their answers are: ‘I want to be a Doctor’, ‘I want to be an Engineer’, ‘I want to be a Lawyer’, ‘I want to be a Teacher’ – there’s so much more and they’ve already seen the opportunities that are going to come.”

He explained, “Every child that enters our program has every opportunity to bring success into their life. They have the desire, they have the drive, but they don’t have all the tools – so our goal is to give these kids all the tools they need to be a success in life.”

In conclusion, Stein wanted to thank those who have helped in establishing his program here in the territory. “First, I want to thank my lovely wife who’s brought not only love and joy and smiles to these children, but a professionalism in our media and a love of the arts.”

Dilia Stein who has sung with Mariah Carey and danced with Beyonce told Samoa News that she wants to bring her Te Amor program to the island as well. “I want to bring dance here, I want to bring the media here, I want these children to have skills and I know all the artists that can come and work with the kids, I really want to bring them to American Samoa.”

Stein concluded, “in terms of thank you’s first and foremost I’d like to send a special thank you to Troy and Theodora Polamalu — if it wasn’t for their dedication to American Samoa, they’re dedication to helping the children of the country not only with football, but Troy was adamant to want to do more than just football — and an opportunity given to me because of football.”

“Not everyone is going to grow up to be a professional football player, and to have these kids have an opportunity to education and learning  and job training and job placement it’s what he and Theodora really wanted”.

The Stein couple added, “We’d also like to thank Ethan and Irene Lake and their whole family for being true friends and being true patriots for DYWA.

“We would also like to thank Zena Iese, who has been a motivational instructor for these kids. He understands what they need and getting them from point A to point B as they’re having a great time they’re learning along the way.

“Last but not the least I want to thank the Honorable Governor and Lt. Governor and the American Samoa Government for supporting this program to support the lives of your children,” they said.