The day Salome’s father disappeared is one she’ll never forget. 

She and her two younger siblings had gone to school. Their mother was tending to the small home the family of five shared, while their father provided for the household. This pattern of life resembled many other families living in rural Tanzania. 

When Salome’s father didn’t return home, the family worried but tried to remain hopeful. However, after days turned to weeks without correspondence, Salome knew her greatest fear had come true: her father had abandoned them. 

As an uneducated woman, Salome’s mother had limited income potential and was only able to find work weeding her neighbor’s gardens. Salome dropped out of school to help support her family as they struggled to find enough food, often going without. Eventually, Salome’s siblings dropped out, too. 

When Salome heard Zoe Empowers was starting new empowerment groups in her community, she went to the meeting and explained her situation to the facilitator. Zoe accepted Salome and her family to the program, and within three months, she received a start-up kit to open a hair salon.  

Salome was interested in hairdressing even before her father disappeared, but it wasn’t until she joined Zoe that she believed she could pursue her dream. Her passion for the trade and desperation to feed her family motivated her to run a successful business. 

For the first year, Salome shared a salon with another Zoe group member, which allowed both girls to split expenses and resources while saving money to take care of their families and make improvements at home. One of the first projects Salome completed was building a new latrine. She also added a floor, windows, roof and door to improve her home. 

After Zoe’s staff taught Salome and her group mates the importance of clean water, Salome began educating her neighbors and started a second business selling bottled water and soft drinks. She also sold hotcakes and cassava to earn extra income.

In November 2022, one year into the program, Salome heard that the Tanzania government was encouraging people to move to a new area roughly a one hour drive from her community. The planned development would include new businesses and housing. It sounded promising but risky.

Salome decided to take a leap of faith and relocate her salon business to the new development. She wanted to be the first hairdresser in the market before other salons moved in. 

The risk paid off. Salome’s business grew exponentially—so much so that other young women in the area took notice, and Salome began receiving requests to train other young women to be hairdressers. 

One trainee, Gladness, started the Zoe program one year after Salome and said that Salome inspired her. 

“Salome gave me hope,” Gladness said. “She helped me believe in myself and pushed me to do more.” Gladness said there were times when she felt like giving up, but Salome was there to remind her that the Zoe program works and encouraged her to keep attending the meetings. 

Salome’s impact on Gladness was profound but not uncommon among Zoe groups. Many successful Zoe participants often mentor younger group members. Training cannot only become a source of income for experienced participants and soon-to-be grads like Salome but also creates a robust network within the program. 

To date, Salome has trained thirteen women. “I’ve realized that I love giving back,” Salome said. “Now that I have much, I want to share it with others to experience the same success I have achieved.”

Most recently, Salome has been working on building a new home beside her original house, which she has since renovated with a new door, roof, cement floor, and windows. As a 2023 Zoe Empowers graduate, she continues to meet with her group and participate in their group project. All profits earned by the group are loaned out to its members to expand their businesses. 

“I push my group to the max,” Salome said. “We hold each other accountable by following up with each other, and this encourages us to keep going for our next dream.

As a child, Gladness dreamed of being a hairdresser. When she wasn’t in school, she often hung around the salons in her neighborhood, observing the shop owners. Sometimes, they’d even let her help with small, easy chores, which always seemed big and important to Gladness. 

Gladness’s mother worked in the fields with other women in the community—one of the few jobs available to an uneducated Maasai woman in rural Tanzania. Gladness’s father had long struggled with alcoholism and wasn’t around. 

Life turned upside down when Gladness’s mother passed away unexpectedly. Gladness hadn’t even known she was sick, and then, all at once, she was gone. Gladness, who was a teenager at the time, dropped out of school to care for her three younger siblings. The family didn’t have relatives nearby. 

Gladness assumed the only job available was farming, so she took all she was offered. She couldn’t earn enough to pay for food and keep her siblings in school, so they dropped out, too.

The family’s house, which had been in a fragile state before their mother’s death, slowly became decrepit. No floor, no windows, no roof. Gladness and her siblings patched up holes with cardboard, plastic tarps, and sheets of paper. 

Gladness had a friend in town, who had joined Zoe Empowers a year prior. As Gladness battled to survive the challenges of extreme poverty, she saw Salome, who was also caring for her siblings, grow a successful salon business. Salome gave Gladness hope and inspired her to do the same.

So, in October of 2021, when Zoe launched more empowerment groups in the community, Gladness went to the recruitment meeting. She was accepted and got her first start-up kit three months later. Gladness partnered with another group member to open a salon. The two young women split rent in a high-traffic area to build up their clientele. Before long, they could each afford to move to their own space.

With her income, Gladness re-enrolled herself and her siblings in school and restored her home to a safe, habitable condition with a new roof, door and windows. She also purchased goats and chickens to rear and sell at the market. 

Gladness is especially proud to own livestock in addition to running her salon because after she dropped out of school and before joining Zoe, she believed farming was her only future. Now, it’s merely a source of supplemental income. 

Furthermore, as a member of the Masaai tribe, she always believed she’d have to be married as a young girl and have children. Since becoming an empowered businesswoman, Gladness now understands that she can choose her own husband.

Like Salome, Gladness has become a mentor to other girls in other local Zoe groups. When her trainees ask for advice, Gladness encourages them to believe in themselves. 

“I tell them their potential is limitless,” Gladness said. “Girls especially don’t have to get married at a young age,” she added. “I tell them to stand in their position. They can do anything and succeed in it.”

Gladness’s message is important and illustrates a distinct aspect of the empowerment program: the robust Zoe network. 

Current Zoe participants always have access to upper-level participants and program graduates. Newcomers get to see their struggles and challenges reflected back to them from other youth who have already overcome them, instilling hope and faith early on in their empowerment journey. 

So far, Gladness has trained five young women to become hairdressers. Looking ahead, she would like to continue mentoring while expanding her salon business to include cosmetics. She will graduate from the program at the end of 2024.

In honor of the Day of the African Child, five Zoe Empowers groups united to donate 270 textbooks to Chimungu Full Primary School. The five empowerment groups, which consist of over 130 orphaned and vulnerable households from Chimungu region, collectively raised MK1,323,000 from a recent maize harvest to buy the books. The donated books include essential subjects such as Chichewa language, English language, and mathematics for grades 6, 7, and 8.

During the book handover ceremony, Clever, a 2nd-year Zoe participant and group spokesperson, expressed pride and commitment to making a difference.

“Despite being orphaned, we don’t take ourselves as beneficiaries,” she said. “Through the necessary support from Zoe Empowers, we now have what it takes to be change-makers in our community. We believe that education is the key to a brighter future for an African child, and we are committed to ensuring that our younger brothers and sisters have the tools they need to succeed.”

Frackson, Zoe Empowers Malawi communications facilitator, explained that the initiative for the book-buying project was sparked during a recent regional meeting involving the 5 Zoe empowerment groups. Some group members are students at Chimungu Full Primary School and informed their colleagues about the school’s challenges. The head teacher at the school confirmed that it was common for ten students to share one book during classes.lear

Now, with support from Zoe youth, Chimungu school has additional resources to enhance the learning experience and academic performance of its 1,478 students. Lead administrators in the district applauded the Zoe groups for such a wonderful gift, noting the books will significantly improve the quality of education at their school.

Furthermore, the book donation highlights the spirit of the Zoe Empowers’ mission. Not only is the organization helping orphaned youth become self-sufficient, but it is also fostering a generation of compassionate and community-oriented young people.

This post was authored by:
Frackson Maocha, Zoe Empowers Malawi communications facilitator

The Day of the African Child (DAC) is commemorated every year on  June 16th. This day of celebration is  a fitting moment to take stock and reflect on the progress made regarding  the challenges that impede the rights of children in the African region.

Each year, DAC has a theme that focuses attention on the barriers African children face. This year’s theme is education for all children in Africa: the time is now, which  aligns with the 2024 theme of the African Union (AU), “Educate an African fit for the 21st Century: Building resilient education systems for increased access to inclusive, lifelong, quality, and relevant learning in Africa.” 

Zoe Empowers Kenya has been at  the forefront  in advocating, enlightening, sensitizing, and teaching Zoe families, stakeholders, leaders, and community members at-large about the need to  uphold children’s rights.

Aligning with the 4th sustainable development goal, which is quality education, the Zoe program provides  participants with various learning opportunities through organized life skill training and by facilitating  vocational skills training. The program also supports the siblings who are in school with school fees and uniforms to help with reintegration. Zoe encourages the child who is head of their household to make sure their siblings attend school regularly.

Vivian Njeri, a 17-year-old member of 2022 Umoja Kirimampio empowerment group, is an example of how sensitization and empowerment can restore lost hope. When she  lost her  parents in  a road accident in 2020, Vivian, despite being a minor, had to drop out of school to take up the parental responsibility of her three  younger siblings.

Vivian  fell in the 60% of children between the ages of 15-17 who are out of school in Africa, according to the UNESCO statistics, but through Zoe program support she was able to overcome  this statistic.

In 2022, Vivian received  training on how to tie and dye fabric. She realized there  was high demand in her community for this trade, and she committed to  doing it as an individual income generating activity.

Vivian’s  main focus was to meet the  everyday  household needs of her and her siblings and save enough to go back to school. When she shared her dream with her Zoe program facilitator, the facilitator walked her through the journey by advising how to manage her time, business, siblings, and school. 

By January 2023, Vivian had set a target: save enough to go back to school. The money management training she had received came in handy as she was able to register for mobile banking, allowing her customers to more easily  send money and giving Vivian the option to use a “funds lock” feature to save income. With this tool, Vivian was able to lock a portion of her earnings up, eventually meeting her goal in December 2023.

January 2024 was the right time for Vivian’s  dream to come true. With her savings, she purchased the school uniform and other learning materials. Zoe  assisted with the school fees, and Vivian re-enrolled in form one at a day secondary school in her community.

When the program facilitator visited Vivian at school, she was amazed by the positive feedback from the school management on Vivian’s  good discipline. They emphasized that Vivian was an excellent  example of resilience. Vivian  is actively involved in the school clubs where she shares her experiences and wealth of knowledge gained from Zoe Empowers’ training,  especially on issues involving  child rights and protection.

Vivian has trained two of her siblings how to tie and dye fabric, which they typically  do over the weekend then distribute the fabrics to the shops that sell it and pay her later. Through this arrangement, Vivian is able to attend school and support her siblings comfortably.

According to UNESCO, poverty and illiteracy tend to go hand in hand. Even when education is available, a struggling family may need their children to work and earn money instead of going to school, just like the case of Vivian and many other children in the Zoe Empowers program.

Today, Vivian’s dream is to become a teacher so that she can use her training to help fight illiteracy in her community.

This post was authored by:
Mercy Kendi, Zoe Empowers Kenya Communication Officer

Days before Fiona’s mother passed away, she made one last request of her eldest daughter: take care of her three younger siblings. Despite being thirteen and still a child herself, Fiona promised her mother she would honor this request. 

Shortly after her mother’s death, Moussa, Fiona’s seven-month-old brother, had a seizure. The episode scared Fiona badly, so she packed up the family and moved in with their father, who’d never provided for his wife and children. 

Unfortunately, Fiona’s father still wasn’t interested in helping. He quickly remarried another woman and forced his children out of his home. Devastated and desperate, the four siblings moved in with their elderly and disabled grandparents. 

Fiona dropped out of school to care for her siblings and grandparents. She found work in the community, hauling manure, fetching water, and weeding crops. The pay couldn’t sustain and nourish a family of six or provide proper medical care for Moussa, who continued to have seizures. 

Misery turned to panic when Fiona’s aunt arrived at the house. Ostensibly, the aunt wanted to introduce the family to Kenny, her one-year-old son, but after a couple of days, she disappeared, leaving Kenny behind with Fiona. Suddenly, the family grew to seven.

At night, as Fiona lulled herself to sleep to the rumble of an empty stomach, she thought of the promise she’d made to her mother. Was it even possible to keep it? 

For five years, Fiona struggled to keep her family alive. Finally, in 2022, Fiona, then 18, experienced a spark of hope: She joined Zoe Empowers Rwanda. The timing was an answered prayer as Moussa’s condition had worsened. With swift help from Zoe, Moussa was hospitalized and diagnosed with epilepsy. She finally had an answer to his condition with a treatment plan. 

Meanwhile, Fiona dutifully attended the Zoe Empowers group meetings and soon received her first grant. She knew the grant’s purpose was to start a business but couldn’t resist spending the money on food for her family. The group eventually provided Fiona with a second grant. But, again, Fiona spent it on food. 

Ashamed of her behavior, Fiona stopped attending her group  meetings  and fled to another city, where she found a job as a housekeeper. It wasn’t until she received word that Moussa was no longer receiving proper medical care and was on the verge of death that Fiona returned home. 

The mentor of Fiona’s former empowerment group discovered Fiona was back in town and asked the group if they would welcome her back. They agreed. 

Luise, Fiona’s group mate, said the group understood Fiona’s challenges and empathized with her struggles. “We saw how big her responsibilities were,” Luise explained. “We loved her and wanted to be a part of her life.”

Also, by this point in the program, many of Fiona’s peers had experienced significant changes in their lives. Seeing this, Fiona recalls feeling hopeful.

“I started to believe that I could do it like my group mates  had done,” Fiona said. “I wanted to be like them.” Accepting a third grant, Fiona promised her group that she wouldn’t disappoint them.

Fiona used the grant to start a business selling vegetables. Her profits afforded the medical attention Moussa needed to survive. She also paid back the grant money she had misspent with interest. Eventually, she earned enough to provide adequate food and medical insurance for her entire family. 

A major turning point was when Fiona bought a goat. With a smile, Fiona noted that this particular purchase gave her a rush of confidence. She began to walk more proudly through her community, feeling smart, strong, and capable.

Rearing livestock amplified Fiona’s earning potential. She reintegrated her siblings into school and purchased materials to build a house. The entire empowerment group worked together to help Fiona construct a new home. 

“Witnessing my empowerment group come together to build my home filled me with love and worthiness,” Fiona said. 

Today, Fiona operates a third business weaving shopping bags. A skill she learned through a vocational training program provided by Zoe. Fiona recently helped her sister start a business selling sweet potatoes. Now, they both can provide for the family. 

Though her mother’s spirit fueled perseverance, Fiona still mourns her loss. She often wishes to share her accomplishments with her—show her the goats, chickens, and gardens, the house where her siblings are happy and healthy. This is their life now. Thanks to Zoe, Fiona’s painful past has become a memory. A dark cloud that lifted, parting its seams to let the sun shine through. 

In the heart of Chennai’s bustling streets lies a vibrant oasis called Nila Ice Cream. The small shop is owned and operated by Uma, 20, who spent weeks painting the walls in fun colors and celestial murals, hand-making decor, and procuring seating. Every detail she selected has intention and purpose.

“I chose yellow for the walls because it means love,” Uma explained during a recent visit from Zoe Empowers staff. “Brown means hope.” 

For Uma, Nila Ice Cream is more than just chocolate shakes and ice cream sandwiches to beat the South Indian heat. It’s a dream come true. 

Five years ago, Uma’s childhood was upended when her father died. As the breadwinner, his abrupt absence left his family in immediate financial hardship. Because Uma’s mother has a chronic disability, impeding her ability to walk and work, Uma assumed the role of caretaker, including responsibility for her brothers, who were four and five at the time.

Uma’s mother eventually brought her children to the temple, where they begged for food each day. Additionally, Uma found work cleaning shops at the market—grocery stores, salons, restaurants, and anyone who would hire her. Time spent sweeping and mopping floors instilled a yearning to open her own store, but Uma doubted the feasibility. 

Then, in January 2022, Uma heard about Zoe Empowers and attended a recruitment meeting. Hearing Jabez Williams, Zoe Empowers country manager in Chennai, explain the empowerment program moved Uma to tears. She had prayed for an opportunity for four years. This was it.

“He [Jabez] gave me so much hope,” Uma recalled. “It was the hope that changed my life.” 

After a couple of months of training, Uma started Nila Ice Cream. A business loan from her Zoe Empowers group covered the cost of a freezer, product inventory, and other business supplies. Uma secured a space to rent in a busy marketplace and wasted no time opening the doors. 

On the wall behind the register, Uma hung a framed portrait of her father. She credits him for teaching her to be bold and brave, take risks, and chase her dreams. She is emotional thinking of her accomplishments in one year with Zoe. Her life is unrecognizable. Rich with meaning.

However, Uma’s ambition isn’t unusual for a woman in her circumstances. “The slum kids have the biggest dreams and work the hardest,” said Jabez Williams, who has helped thousands of orphaned and vulnerable children in India through Zoe. “The more desperate their circumstances, the faster they come up.”

Today, Uma’s lively ice cream parlor serves dozens of customers a day during the summer months. Business slows in the rainy season, but Uma accommodates by saving and investing her earnings. Eventually, she hopes to franchise her business and is actively looking for the right partner and location to expand. 

With her profits, Uma can afford regular meals, rent a home, and access healthcare for her entire family, including her mother, whom Uma cares for. Overcoming homelessness, food insecurity, and stigmatization through Zoe Empowers has given Uma a hefty dose of confidence. 

“The training taught me to push through, and now I have the ability and resources to solve my problems,” Uma said proudly. “I can figure out anything now.” 

Uma’s brothers are reaping the benefits of their older sister’s success. After joining Zoe, both boys enrolled in school. One is training to become a carpenter and assists Uma at the ice cream parlor. The other is training in data transcript processing and hopes to be hired by Amazon in the future. 

Uma’s talent and determination have stood out among her Zoe empowerment peer group, who appointed her as the group secretary. The responsibility requires Uma to attend regional meetings, where she swaps stories and business lessons with other Zoe participants. 

The group aspect of Zoe has made Uma’s years of isolation and loneliness a thing of the past. “I have made a lot of good friends,” Uma said. She specified another young woman named Nivetha who sells dresses. “We like to share ideas and help each other’s businesses.”

Furthermore, Uma shares her knowledge and strengthens the economy in her community by training other children. So far, she has trained sixteen children how to operate an ice cream parlor, and six have opened their own shops. 

Friendship and ice cream have ignited a profound joy and sense of purpose Uma can’t believe she lived nearly twenty years without. It’s as if her life has just begun. And, in many ways, it has. Given her resilience, determination, and creativity, Uma’s future looks as bright as her ice cream shop walls.  

Zoe Empowers helped Pascaline find stability for her family of ten.

Extreme poverty befell Pascaline and her family four years ago. 

It happened in a matter of days following the death of Pascaline’s mother. The family returned to their matriarch’s home village in rural Rwanda for the burial. There, Pascaline’s father swiftly abandoned his six children, leaving them with their eighty-year-old maternal grandmother, who was already struggling to provide for three of Pascaline’s cousins. 

Pascaline’s grandmother had suffered an arm injury several years earlier. Without access to proper healthcare, she’d lost the function of her right arm. Able-bodied Pascaline, then fourteen, was the eldest of the nine children, ages three months to ten years old. And so, almost overnight, Pascaline became responsible for a household of ten. 

Pascaline spent days collecting leftover charcoal to sell and weeding the fields. But the meager earnings—scraps of sweet potatoes, cassava, and corn—from odd jobs weren’t enough to feed the family. Hunger haunted their household. Nights were endless, filled with crying infants desperate for milk Pascaline couldn’t afford. On occasion, mothers in the village would have pity on Pascaline’s begging, sharing milk and porridge. But when that option failed, Pascaline fed the babies solid food.

“We never had vegetables or legumes,” Pascaline recalled. “I was praying for God to send help. I felt abandoned and began to believe I was alone.”  

Unable to afford education, Pascaline and her siblings languished in perpetual need. If a family member fell ill, Pascaline could do nothing. No one had birth certificates, disqualifying them from need-based programs. 

Four years passed in this state of hopelessness and despair, each more bleak than the next. Finally, in January 2023, Pascaline heard about Zoe Empowers and attended the information event. She wept to Albertine, a program facilitator in Rwanda, as she recalled her strenuous battle to keep her family alive. 

Pascaline was accepted into the empowerment program, and at the first group meeting, she created a Dream Chart to outline her vision and goals for the program. Placed prominently at the top, Pascaline drew a picture of her motivation: children crying out of hunger. 

More than anything, Pascaline dreamed of becoming food secure. So, when she didn’t attend the second meeting, her group was confused and concerned. They tracked Pascaline down and learned she hadn’t found work that day and could not feed her family. She’d skipped the Zoe meeting to beg for food. 

Pascaline’s peers, who were also vulnerable and hungry, deemed Pascaline’s situation an emergency. They banded together, promising to help Pascaline find food for a few days to allow her to keep coming to the meetings. Their kindness and generosity moved Pascaline to tears. Never before had anyone come to her home and listened to her struggles. 

Pascaline started a small business selling fruits and vegetables with her first Zoe grant. But this glimmer of stability was disrupted when a government mandate required all children under eighteen to be in school. 

Once again, Pascaline thought she’d have to drop out of the Zoe program until Albertine, the program facilitator, proposed a solution with government officials and the school: Pascaline received a contract to supply sweet potatoes and cabbage to the school through her business, allowing her to get an education and remain in the Zoe program.

The partnership seemed promising, but Pascaline needed a loan to buy sweet potatoes from another supplier to meet the school’s upfront demand. Luckily, after many conversations, Pascaline connected with a farmer who trusted the Zoe program and rented her a plot of sweet potatoes to harvest. Her group mates helped transport the crop, agreeing that Pascaline would pay them once she received payment from the school.

After a few months, Pascaline’s business grew and stabilized. The steady income allowed Pascaline to participate in her group’s merry-go-round fund, a banking method used across program countries requiring group members to input small sums weekly to receive loans as needed to grow and diversify their endeavors. With access to the merry-go-round, Pascaline acquired more livestock, including chickens, a goat, and a pig. She expanded her farming practice, renting land and sharing crops. 

Wanting her family to build self-sufficiency alongside her, Pascaline gifted each sibling one chicken. Her family members used the money from egg sales to pay for school supplies. Zoe had subsidized the cost of medical insurance so Pascaline could focus on her business. But by the six-month mark, Pascaline could afford 50% of the cost of medical insurance. By the end of year one, Pascaline covered the expense on her own and Zoe helped her to obtain IDs and birth certificates. 

With an expanding business, Pascaline recently hired two employees, and during planting season, she hired five more—all impoverished people in the community. Pascaline pays her employees fairly, in cash, unlike how former employers exploited her for labor. She even made arrangements for an employee to care for one of her pigs, and when the pig reproduced, they agreed to share the piglets, thereby spreading the wealth.

At school, Pascaline was chosen as the leader of her grade, representing her class in conversations with school officials. When asked about this responsibility, Pascaline beams with pride. 

“Before Zoe, I thought I’d never smile again,” Pascaline said. “I believed God had punished me for something. But, today, I can smile because I’m happy.” 

Pascaline’s journey exemplifies the power of collective support and individual resilience. With two years remaining in the Zoe program and her primary goal of food security achieved, she is focused on bigger milestones: land ownership, a new home, and possibly reuniting with her father. Like many vulnerable youth, Pascaline never lacked drive and determination, only support and opportunities. With both, she’s proven herself to be unstoppable.

Manley is no stranger to grief and hardship. After losing his mother in 2006 and then his father in 2008, he went to live with his aunt and uncle. Manley’s aunt used brutal ways of parenting: shouting, beating, corporal punishment, and food deprivation. She depleted him of the little confidence he had left. But still, he stayed for five years.

After Manley finished the advanced level of education to qualify for the university, his uncle kicked him out of the house for good. Manley returned to his rural home, where he learned his paternal relatives had assumed control of his parent’s land. They had even sold off part of the estate for profit. Manley was devastated, but as an orphan, he knew he could not make demands of his elders. He drifted on the streets, toiled in the fields, and begged for corn and cassava. Occasionally, he grew desperate enough to return to his uncle for food or ancillary needs. 

In 2014, Manley joined Zoe Empowers Zimbabwe. He received training on starting a business and a grant amounting to 150 USD. With the grant, Manley bought several broiler chickens, which he reared, then sold. As his income grew, he diversified his offering, tending to pigeons, rabbits, guinea pigs, and other larger farm animals. He bought and sold groceries and second-hand clothing. The more his businesses grew, the more self-reliant he became. Eventually, he did not need to return to his uncle. 

The Zoe Empowers staff equipped Manley with the resources to repossess the land his relatives had stolen. There, he settled into the most stable living arrangement he’d had since before the death of his parents. Because he’d achieved high marks in the advanced level of post-secondary education, despite his miserable home life, Zoe staff and his peers encouraged Manley to consider going to college. This possibility had never occurred to him, but he couldn’t unsee it once he envisioned himself in a college classroom. 

Manley enrolled at Midlands State University (MSU) in 2016. He chose Psychology as his major and was accepted into the Honors program. Because Manley relied on his businesses to afford tuition, he hired an orphaned young person in the community to manage his operations while he was at school. Before long, his entrepreneurial spirit prodded him to start another business at college. 

Manley consulted his Zoe Empowers group about the idea, and they loaned him money to start a new endeavor: printing and photocopying. He also bought and sold clothes. All the money he made went toward his school fees. During semester breaks, he returned home to participate in his empowerment group activities and check on his other businesses. 

In 2020, Manley completed his Bachelor of Science degree. He was recognized for his stellar academic achievement, winning the Best Undergraduate Student Award, Nyaradzo Life Assurance Award, MSU Book Prize Award, and First Mutual Health Award for best undergraduate student in the Department of Psychology. After graduation, he returned home to intern for Zoe. 

One year later, in 2021, Manley enrolled in a Master’s program at MSU, focusing on Community Psychology. Upon completion, he was, again, awarded the MSU Book Prize; and the Allied Health Practitioners Council Award for being the top student in his class. He aspires to earn a Ph.D. in psychology in the near future. 

When Manley reflected on his journey with Zoe Empowers, he described himself as “a village boy with a city dream.” A dream he never thought was possible until his Zoe group  helped him realize it. The dream chart taught him that a negative mindset is a barrier to success, but a growth mindset opens avenues for the less privileged. “A dream does not become a reality through magic,” Manley said. “It took sweat, determination, and hard work to fulfill my city dream. But I know that, with God, nothing is out of reach.” 

Zoe Empowers recently hired Manley as a program facilitator in Zimbabwe. As a Zoe team member, he shares his testimony with the young people in the program, offering advice and encouragement to orphaned children and vulnerable youth as they endure the challenging process of changing their lives for good. He often shares with them, “Men die of boredom, psychological conflict and disease. They do not die of hard work. Zoe Empowers is the catalyst that propelled me from dust to destiny.”

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