1. Good morning/afternoon everyone
Good morning/afternoon everyone. Welcome to our assembly for Lent Fast Day.
This Lent, we’re invited to think about our neighbours all around the world who live in extreme poverty. Some of our neighbours live near to us, others live far away, but we all belong to God’s family. Many of our global neighbours struggle to earn a living so do not have enough money to buy the basic things in life like food, a home and clothing.
But we can help to change this by joining with other schools across England and Wales to Turn little fish into Big fish.

2. UK
Zambia
First let’s meet one of our global neighbours – this is Florence. Florence lives with her children in Zambia.
Locate Zambia on the map. Compare its location to the UK.
Does anyone know anything about Zambia? Invite responses from the children.
Zambia is a very beautiful country with lots of wildlife and minerals. But for lots of the people there life can be very difficult. In rural areas, like where Florence lives, many people live in extreme poverty. They do not have the basic things in life like enough food, clothing, education and shelter.
CAFOD and its partners (the organisations we work with overseas) are working there to support people who live in poverty. Let’s find out how.

3. Hello.
I’m Bob!
Meet Bob. Bob and his fishy friends are helping to transform lives in Zambia! Watch Bob’s animation to find out how and to learn more about Florence’s story.
Play the animation now, available at:
Alternatively, if you do not access to the internet, share Florence’s story on slides 4-7.

4. Florence’s story
Life was hard for Florence and her family. Florence lives Mbala, a rural area of Zambia. There are few jobs here and people rely on farming. But it is difficult to grow food and Florence struggled to grow enough for herself and her children.
But Bob and his fishy friends helped to change this.

5. Florence was helped by one of CAFOD’s partners (a local organisation)
Florence was helped by one of CAFOD’s partners (a local organisation). She trained to become a fish farmer. She learned how to care for the fish and make them from grow.

6. Florence dug two ponds and CAFOD’s partner gave her some little fish
Florence dug two ponds and CAFOD’s partner gave her some little fish. Soon the little fish became big fish and Florence sold them and used the money to buy more little fish. Before long, Florence set up a business selling her fish. Bob and his fishy friends transformed life for Florence and her family. By turning little fish into Big fish, Florence can now provide enough food for her family and send her children to school.

7. But the story doesn’t end there
But the story doesn’t end there. Florence has taught her neighbours how to farm fish. So life has been transformed for the whole village.

8. Once there was a little fish…
Optional activity (suitable for KS1 and KS2)
Select children to read the parts of the repeating story. Encourage the rest of the children to participate as the repeating lines become more familiar - before long the whole assembly will be joining in the story.
Reader 1: Once there was a little fish,
Reader 2: Once there was a little fish, whose name was Bob,
Reader 3: Once there was a little fish, whose name was Bob, who lived in a pond,
Reader 4: Once there was a little fish, whose name was Bob, who lived in a pond, who had big ideas.
Reader 5: Once there was a little fish, whose name was Bob, who lived in a pond, who had big ideas, who belonged to Florence,
Reader 6: Once there was a little fish, whose name was Bob, who lived in a pond, who had big ideas, who belonged to Florence, who worked really hard,
Reader 7: Once there was a little fish, whose name was Bob, who lived in a pond, who had big ideas, who belonged to Florence, who worked really hard, who learned to farm fish,
Reader 8: Once there was a little fish, whose name was Bob, who lived in a pond, who had big ideas, who belonged to Florence, who worked really hard, who learned to farm fish, who turned little fish into big fish,
Reader 9: Once there was a little fish, whose name was Bob, who lived in a pond, who had big ideas, who belonged to Florence, who worked really hard, who learned to farm fish, who turned little fish into big fish, who sold all these fish,
Reader 10: Once there was a little fish, whose name was Bob, who lived in a pond, who had big ideas, who belonged to Florence, who worked really hard, who learned to farm fish, who turned little fish into big fish, who sold all these fish, who bought more fish,
Reader 11: Once there was a little fish, whose name was Bob, who lived in a pond, who had big ideas, who belonged to Florence, who worked really hard, who learned to farm fish, who turned little fish into big fish, who sold all these fish, who bought more fish, who set up a business,
Reader 12: Once there was a little fish, whose name was Bob, who lived in a pond, who had big ideas, who belonged to Florence, who worked really hard, who learned to farm fish, who turned little fish into big fish, who sold all these fish, who bought more fish, who set up a business, who changed her family’s life,
Reader 13: Once there was a little fish, whose name was Bob, who lived in a pond, who had big ideas, who belonged to Florence, who worked really hard, who learned to farm fish, who turned little fish into big fish, who sold all these fish, who bought more fish, who set up a business, who changed her family’s life, who bought food for them to eat,
Reader 14: Once there was a little fish, whose name was Bob, who lived in a pond, who had big ideas, who belonged to Florence, who worked really hard, who learned to farm fish, who turned little fish into big fish, who sold all these fish, who bought more fish, who set up a business, who changed her family’s life, who bought food for them to eat, who sent her children to school,
Reader 15: Once there was a little fish, whose name was Bob, who lived in a pond, who had big ideas, who belonged to Florence, who worked really hard, who learned to farm fish, who turned little fish into big fish, who sold all these fish, who bought more fish, who set up a business, who changed her family’s life, who bought food for them to eat, who sent her children to school, who didn’t stop there,
Reader 16: Once there was a little fish, whose name was Bob, who lived in a pond, who had big ideas, who belonged to Florence, who worked really hard, who learned to farm fish, who turned little fish into big fish, who sold all these fish, who bought more fish, who set up a business, who changed her family’s life, who bought food for them to eat, who sent her children to school, who didn’t stop there, who taught her neighbours to farm fish,
Reader 17: Once there was a little fish, whose name was Bob, who lived in a pond, who had big ideas, who belonged to Florence, who worked really hard, who learned to farm fish, who turned little fish into big fish, who sold all these fish, who bought more fish, who set up a business, who changed her family’s life, who bought food for them to eat, who sent her children to school, who didn’t stop there, who taught her neighbours to farm fish, who transformed her whole village,
Reader 18: Once there was a little fish, whose name was Bob, who lived in a pond, who had big ideas, who belonged to Florence, who worked really hard, who learned to farm fish, who turned little fish into big fish, who sold all these fish, who bought more fish, who set up a business, who changed her family’s life, who bought food for them to eat, who sent her children to school, who didn’t stop there, who taught her neighbours to farm fish, who transformed her whole village, who had her own big ideas,
Reader 19: Once there was a little fish, whose name was Bob, who lived in a pond, who had big ideas, who belonged to Florence, who worked really hard, who learned to farm fish, who turned little fish into big fish, who sold all these fish, who bought more fish, who set up a business, who changed her family’s life, who bought food for them to eat, who sent her children to school, who didn’t stop there, who taught her neighbours to farm fish, who transformed her whole village, who had her own big ideas, just like the little fish, whose name was Bob!

9. Did you know? Bob and his friends are helping to beat poverty.
Optional activity (more suitable for KS2)
Show slides You may also wish to print out and display each fact. You could use fish-shaped sponges to knock over each fact to show that CAFOD-funded projects such as fish farming are helping to beat poverty, by training communities with the skills to lift themselves out of poverty.

10. reducing. But there is more work to do.
Poverty is
reducing. But there is more work to do.
Poverty means not having the basic things in life, like food, shelter, clean water.
Fact 1. Poverty means not having the basic things in life, like food, shelter, clean water as well as the opportunity to go to school.
Click to reveal the fish
The good news is that poverty is reducing, but there is more work to do. (Since 1990, extreme poverty has been reduced by more than a billion.) Through training projects like fish farming in Zambia, CAFOD partners are working hard to reduce poverty and leave no one behind.

11. CAFOD helps families learn ways to earn money.
In Zambia two out of three people live below the poverty line.
Fact 2. In Zambia two out of three people live below the poverty line – (they don’t have enough money to meet basic needs such as food, housing and clothing).
Click to reveal the fish
CAFOD projects are helping families in Zambia to learn ways to earn money so they can lift themselves out of poverty.

12. Families are learning skills to lift themselves out of poverty.
In rural areas of Zambia, like where Florence lives, more than 6 million people live in extreme poverty
Fact 3. In rural areas of Zambia, like where Florence lives, more than 6 million people live in extreme poverty.
Click to reveal the fish
Through CAFOD partners, families are learning skills in fish farming, tailoring and bee-keeping to earn enough money to lift themselves out of poverty.  

13. Florence can now buy enough food for her family and send her children to school.
Poverty stops people achieving their potential. Without enough food to eat it is difficult to learn well.
Fact 4. Poverty stops people achieving their potential. Without enough food to eat it is difficult to learn well or work.
Click to reveal the fish
Florence can use the money she earns from fish farming to buy food for her family and send her children to school, so they can build a brighter a future.

14. Turn little fish into Big fish
Invite the children to hold up the words to form the statement - Turn little fish into Big fish (see Appendix).
This Lent, we can all help Turn little fish into Big fish to help transform the lives of more families like Florence’s.
Plan your own fishy fundraisers with CAFOD this Lent. You could:
Pay to dress up in fish hats
Make the biggest fish you can out of coins
Have a fish cake sale
Hold a fish fair with fishy games like dodge-the-sponge and hook-the-fish
Invite the children to come up with their own ideas.

15. Turn little fish into Big fish
£1 buys 26 starter fish
£20 buys materials to build one pond
£186 trains someone like Florence to build and look after a pond
We want everyone to work together to turn Turn little fish into Big fish:
£1 buys 26 starter fish for a pond.
£20 buys materials to build one pond.
£186 trains someone like Florence to build and look after a pond.

16. Let us pray
Loving God, We think of our neighbours around the world who live in poverty. May our gifts, prayers and actions this Lent support them as they work to improve the lives of their communities. Together, may we build a world where everyone has enough money to buy the basic things in life, like food, clothing and a home. Amen
We are going to finish with a prayer, so let’s sit quietly together.
Light a candle.
Close your eyes and think about one thing that has struck you from today. Then think about the one thing you are going to tell your friends and family when you go home.

17. Thank you!
Photo credits: Ben White/CAFOD, Roland Unwin/CAFOD, Victoria Ahmed/CAFOD, Gemma Salter/CAFOD.
Illustrations: Alex Amelines