“It felt so good in my heart to give at the Thanksgiving event, and since then, I’ve received far more in return than I gave that day. I believe this is the Bible teaching, ‘The hand that giveth, receiveth…’”.

-Titus, Zoe Empowers Kenya 2nd-Year Student

As early as Kindergarten, children in our Western culture are asked what they want to be when they “grow up”. They’re asked to draw their aspirations in full color, to describe their responsibilities, their customers and what they’d wear to such a job.

When a child is convinced they can be anything their young heart desires, we, as adults, are never quick to tell them it’s not possible. Instead, we nod our heads and live vicariously through their ignorant bliss. After all, it’s our ability to dream that makes us human.

But if you asked second-year Zoe Empowers Kenya student, Titus, he would tell you that not knowing he had the right to dream, to think he had the ability to live a life above poverty, nor the parents to encourage such imaginative thinking, is also what made him feel less like a human before joining Zoe Empowers in 2016.

After the death of his father, Titus dropped out of school to work from 6am to 10pm every day at a local restaurant, a place where he sometimes opted to sleep at night, if he was too tired to walk home after long hours of laboring under the demands of an apathetic boss.

“My employer didn’t care about how tired I would get,” Titus recalled. “But, I knew I had to persevere through the harsh conditions to provide for my family. They were counting on me.”

As an orphan who is head of his household, Titus’ life circumstances are similar to the majority of children in the Zoe Empowers program. However, despite their common threads, Zoe Empowers children rarely know each other before the program begins due to extreme isolation.

When Zoe Empowers begins a new group within a community, one of the first exercises the children do together is to create a “dream chart”. For many, this is the first time they’ve considered a life that didn’t involve 16-hour work days, excruciating pain from hunger, illness or many of the other contributing factors that keep children like Titus trapped in the cycle of poverty.

When Titus made his dream chart, his first wish for his future was acceptance.

“I was afraid they [his Zoe Empowers group] would laugh at him,” recalled Titus. “I prayed hard and got the courage to share my dreams with them, and they were so supportive.”

The encouragement from his peers ignited a feeling Titus has never felt before. Suddenly, his life seemed limitless, and his dreams got bigger. His mindset shifted from simply wanting connection to wanting to own his own kiosk, a stand where he could sell fresh fruits and vegetables, and eventually, the coffee he cultivated and homemade shortbread.

In 2017, Titus approached his Zoe Empowers group with a business plan for his kiosk. They accepted and issued him a micro-grant of $50 to buy inventory. He opened his kiosk, and his community responded positively by giving him frequent business. On average, he was able to save $3 of the $6 he earned each day.

Titus’ disciplined approach to saving has enabled him to pay the fees for his two younger siblings to re-enroll in school, regularly provide food and clothing for his family and actively save to purchase a new plot of land.

More impressively, he recently donated $20 to the Zoe Empowers program when he attended the Zoe Empowers Kenya Tharaka Thanksgiving event in September.

“I was really touched when I heard the money was going to support other kids like me. I remember where God has brought me from. I know how those children feel. That’s why I donated $20 to ZOE.” explained Titus.

In the days and weeks following his donation to Zoe Empowers, Titus experienced a significant surge in his business. “It felt so good in my heart to give at the Thanksgiving event, and since then, I’ve received far more in return than I gave that day. I believe this is the Bible teaching, ‘The hand that giveth, receiveth…’”, said Titus.

His success has funded a second shop, plus the purchase of a motorbike as well as the ability to hire an employee to conduct taxi service in his community—and he’s not stopping there.

Titus’ has already set the goal of owning his own supermarket one day, proving that every child, regardless of life circumstances, has a dream, a vision deep down in their soul, to make something of themselves; however, those children living under the suffocating weight of poverty need that load lifted, first, before it can be realized.

By giving back to the Zoe Empowers program, Titus has continued the effort to reach more orphans throughout Africa and beyond who have yet to discover the hope needed to overcome poverty.

Read about other Zoe Empowers students and graduates who’ve given back to the organization that successfully transitioned them into healthy, self-sufficient entrepreneurs with the knowledge and skills to provide for themselves and their families for the rest of their lives.

380 million children living in extreme poverty will rely on charity forever.
A monthly gift of $39 over 3 years empowers 5 orphans out of poverty to never need charity again. How many children can you give lasting sustainable change?

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“I’m so happy about where God has brought me, and I know there are many other children going through what I went through,” said Antony, now 24 years old. “I want to assist them so we can be empowered together.”

On a hot, cloudless September day, outside the rural village of Thiraka, Kenya, four Zoe Empowers groups gathered at M.C.K. Karwamba Church to kickoff of a two-month initiative, self-organized amongst the groups, to fundraise together, with the intention of giving the money back to Zoe Empowers to fund another empowerment group in Africa.

As the groups made their way around the collection basket, giving what they could that day, one recent Zoe Empowers graduate came forward, in a proud but humble fashion, to drop in his $100 donation, the highest single donation of all the children gathered to celebrate.

The donor’s name was Antony.

Today, judging by his outward appearance and pleasant demeanor, no one would guess Antony’s past included all the collective forces that keep children and adults worldwide trapped in the cycle of poverty: lack of food and regular income, inadequate shelter, recurring illness and, ultimately, the absence of hope and dignity.

Just a few years ago Antony hated life as he knew it. After the death of his mother, his father suffered a debilitating stroke, causing Antony, 16, to become head of his household, which included caring for two younger sisters, ages 14 and 11.

Antony struggled to provide for his family. He and his sisters dropped out of school to spend their days finding cash labor jobs to earn a meal. On days they couldn’t find work, they would sift through garbage cans to find leftover food scraps. The family even tried their hand at growing their own food, but without knowledge of farming techniques and use of poor quality seeds, their harvests didn’t yield enough to sustain them.

Growing angry and frustrated, Antony sold the sole chicken he owned in exchange for $1.50 to buy a one-way bus ticket to Meru Town. “I thought I’d be able to start a better life there,” he said. “I arrived that morning with only the clothes on my back. No money. I searched all day for cash labor work but couldn’t find anything, so I slept on the street that night.”

It didn’t take long for Antony to find himself befriending other street children to survive. Stealing and taking stimulants to numb himself of the violate situations he participated in was a regular occurrence that went on for two years.

One day, while out in Meru Town, Antony bumped into a pastor who recognized him from Gatunga, his home community. The pastor expressed his concern for the way Antony was living his life and offered to take him back to Gatunga. Antony obliged.

Upon returning to Gatunga and his family, who was relieved to see him alive, Antony began working as a masonry on construction sites, carrying heavy loads of materials for $2 a day. On days he couldn’t get a masonry job, he cultivated land for farmers, working roughly five plots a day at the rate of .10 per 10-foot by 10-foot plot.

Although he was getting cash labor jobs, he and his family still struggled because Antony’s average income was only enough for a daily meal, typically consisting of dried corn and beans, and never allowed them to invest in and improve other areas of their life, such as fixing their dilapidated home or paying school fees for his siblings.

Despite feeling abandoned by God, Antony still prayed that one day, help would find him. Two years following his return to Gatunga, his prayers were answered. Antony was 20 years old when he and his siblings were accepted into the Zoe Empowers program and what would become known as the Joystar Gatunga group.

Soon after group formation, Zoe Empowers coordinated for outside farming experts to come to Gatunga to teach the Joystar group how to cultivate healthy crops. Children then received high-quality seeds and planting tools to apply the training methods, and they were encouraged to collaborate during all stages of planting and to harvest their crops.

In the highly communal Kenyan culture, community members tend only to acknowledge those who have money to contribute to their society. As an orphan living in poverty, Antony usually felt isolated, ashamed and belittled by his community. Working side-by-side, growing authentic relationships through shared experiences and hardships, with his Zoe Empowers group members evoked a sense of camaraderie and belonging that he’d never known before.

Instruction was also given on how to properly store the food for later consumption and how to care for unused seeds so they could be used for the next planting season. Antony chose to concentrate his efforts on planting green grams, a high protein bean known for good profit at the market. His personal yield on his family’s land, along with the consistent returns from the Joystar group, laid the foundation for food security that he could build on throughout his years in the Zoe Empowers program.

Each group member was also responsible for choosing an occupation to earn an income. Given Antony’s experience on construction sites, he chose to become a mason. As a materials handler, he made $2 a day, at most, but as a builder, his earning potential more than doubled. Antony put together a business plan to start his own masonry business; his group accepted the proposal, and as a result, Antony was provided with additional masonry training and tools.

“The first thing I did when I started earning more money was save enough for a cell phone ($9 value),” explained Antony. “When you have a phone number for customers to reach you, you become more valuable and can charge more.”

Antony’s masonry business allowed him to save $3 per day, a personal goal he’d set for himself, and invest back into his family. He was able to pay school fees so both of his sisters could be re-enrolled in school. New clothing, food for three nutritious meals a day and upgraded doors for his home are just a few examples of improvements he was able to afford.

After a couple of years running his masonry business and saving income, Antony trained another young orphan in his community and one of his Joystar group-mates to be masons to continue his business so that he could shift his focus to new ideas. Utilizing the market analysis skills he’d acquired through Zoe Empowers, he realized his community could benefit greatly from a butchery and restaurant.

“Being a butcher gives me more independence, because my payment isn’t influenced by someone else’s schedule,” Antony said. “I get to do the majority of cutting in the morning, and most of my meat is sold by 4pm, which leaves me more time with my family at night and increased income security.”

On average, Antony’s daily income has grown to $20, save for market days where he earns upwards of $60. He’s used his earnings to hire one full-time butcher and expand his farming activities by buying 11 goats, 10 chickens and two cows. Beyond providing milk, eggs, meat and manure for his farmland, these animals also serve as a liquid form of savings and a visible status symbol in the community.

On a personal level, Antony admits it was ZOE’s health and hygiene training that had the most impact on him. Before ZOE’s program, Antony and his family didn’t understand the importance of personal grooming and home hygiene and its impact on recurring illnesses. After completing training and cleaning up around their home, Antony received a water tank to store sanitized water and mosquito nets (from ZOE) to decrease the chance of contracting malaria.

“My lifestyle is so different now. Staying clean is important to me and gives me a lot of dignity. Before Zoe Empowers, I never had a mattress to sleep on or was able to take a shower each day, so that was new and different,” explained Antony.

Antony’s ability to develop and maintain personal relationships has also drastically improved. Being taught how to relate to and respect people, especially girls, in the Joystar group was a strange concept to him at first because of his rough past.

“My biggest challenge then [upon joining ZOE] was that I didn’t know how to interact with others who were not like me. I remember getting angry and hitting people for no reason,” Antony recalled. “If anyone insulted me, I’d become very violent.” This aggressive mentality derived out of his years on the streets where attacking others was normal protocol. “When I got to Zoe Empowers, it was different because the people were kind, which helped me learn to be kind and relate more to others.”

When he graduated from Zoe Empowers at the end of 2017, Antony was not only confident in his businesses, but in the life he’d built for himself and his family. The Joystar group had become an extension of his family, providing encouragement and a safety net for him to try new ventures. Through shared prayer and devotions, his group gave him the hope and connection he, just like all children living in poverty, once craved.

“I now know that when the pastor found me on the streets of Meru Town, that was God’s intervention. Before [ZOE] I was so obsessed with survival and finding food, that I didn’t have time to think about God,” Antony shared. “When I started going to church with my Zoe Empowers group, I started to feel like He no longer abandoned me.” Antony was baptized after his first year in the Zoe Empowers program and continues to be eager to share his faith with others.

As a young man whose life today is unrecognizably different compared to the one he was living not long ago, Antony feels a deep sense of obligation to help others who are still suffering and desperately need the anonymous support he received. His love for God and gratitude for the ZOE’s program is what ultimately led him to the Thanksgiving gathering at M.C.K. Karwamba Church in September to donate $100 to the organization.

“I’m so happy about where Zoe Empowers has gotten me, and I know there are many other children going through what I went through,” said Antony, now 25 years old. “I want to assist them so we can be empowered together.”

Today, we’re asking you to join Antony. $100 empowers 12 orphans for one month.

380 million children living in extreme poverty will rely on charity forever.
How many children can you give lasting sustainable change?

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“I believe poverty is the behaviors, values and characters you’re forced into, like digging through garbage bins to find leftover food, being forced to dropout of school or not having a secure place to sleep at night. That took away my dignity. I want others to have the dignity I didn’t have.”

‒ Fridah, Graduating in December 2018 (Kenya)

Fridah vividly remembers the day she heard of her father’s death in 2013. Randomly attacked by malicious thieves on his way home from work, then 17-year-old Fridah was deeply saddened by the news, along with her mother and five siblings. With the sole provider of income gone in an instant, the already struggling family was forced to turn to begging for food to survive.

“We walked the streets, sifting through garbage cans in search of leftovers after community events,” recalled Fridah. “We had to be careful so people wouldn’t notice us and judge us.”

As the eldest child, Fridah eventually dropped out of her final year of primary school as a means of doing whatever she could to support her family. Eventually, she was hired as a nanny for an upper-class Kenyan family who agreed to pay her what is considered a fair wage for that line of work, $30 per month or $1 per day.

Even though she had a steady income, it wasn’t enough to feed the seven mouths in her household. Each day became a disheartening quest to find a meal, which was sometimes only a sweet potato to split amongst her siblings. Other days, it was someone’s trash in the garbage bins. And on the worst days, it was nothing. Fridah and her family lived this way for over three years following the death of their father. In worn, tattered clothes, feeling hungry and hopeless, Fridah was introduced to Zoe Empowers in her small village.

Although she has a living mother, Fridah is considered head of her household, like the majority of children in the Zoe Empowers program, due to her mother’s health status and inability to provide. In January 2016, she began her journey to a better future with the Faith Akui empowerment group, and within weeks, Fridah opened a small grocery kiosk in the community marketplace. She would boil dozens of eggs at night, and sell them, along with other fruits, at her stand during the day. As her business grew, she expanded her inventory to include fresh vegetables.  

Fridah began to cultivate a sense of purpose, beyond just finding a meal every day. She found strength in operating her business, serving her customers and connecting with others in Faith Akui because they, too, had faced many of the same challenges as her. For the first time since the death of her father, she didn’t feel isolated from her community, like she didn’t belong. Fridah began to feel the most powerful emotion typically absent in impoverished communities: hope.

Implementing the money management skills learned in Zoe Empowers trainings, Fridah successfully saved $200 from her grocery kiosk business in the first 18 months. She asked her working group to loan her another $200, so she could buy a plot of land to build a new house, since she and her siblings had been renting a single room to sleep in for $10/month while Fridah saved—one of many sacrifices she made for the long-term betterment of her family.

After Fridah built her house, she shifted her business from selling at a marketplace kiosk to opening a storefront shop. She opted to sell household staples, like flour and sugar, instead of fresh produce and boiled eggs. Her new store had enough space for her to further diversify her business by opening a salon.

Between selling supplies and hairdressing, Fridah successfully increased her daily earnings, but she continued to make sacrifices to save for the future. “I denied myself a lot of fun things to put money aside,” she explained. “I saved $5 each day from my supply sales and $6 each day from the salon.” Fridah joined two additional table banking groups outside of her Zoe Empowers group, giving her access to three savings accounts.

In her second year with Zoe Empowers, Fridah was selected as Ms. Zoe Empowers, a highly coveted peer selected annual award given out to one outstanding male and female in each year of the program. Fridah used her $200 winnings to invest in more inventory for her store, adding items like shoes and clothing, to make it a bonafide boutique, and she hired one employee for each business.

Now, in her final year of the Zoe Empowers program, not having to “strain” to feed her family, along with not having to sleep in the cold, ranks high on Fridah’s list of the many things she’s grateful for. She believes Zoe Empowers guided her to a place of personal independence, and it’s her responsibility to pass along her knowledge to others who are still suffering.

This fall, when four local Zoe Empowers working groups united, for what they deemed a “thanksgiving offering”, to fundraise money for another empowerment group outside of Kenya, Fridah gave a generous donation of $39 to ZOE.

Considering, only three years ago, she made $30 per month, freely giving $39 to help fund another Zoe Empowers group is nothing short of remarkable. Fridah knows, firsthand, the transformative power of the program. Playing a role in funding more groups around Africa brings her an immense amount of joy.

“I want others to feel the freedom I have: to sleep where they want, buy what they want, eat what they want,” she said. “I believe poverty is the behaviors, values and characters you’re forced into, like digging through garbage bins to find leftover food, being forced to dropout of school or not having a secure place to sleep at night. That took away my dignity. I want others to have the dignity I didn’t have.”

To pay it forward in other ways, Fridah has mentored two other girls in her community on hairdressing and entrepreneurship. She pays the school fees of another local orphan, and she’s mobilized a Zoe Empowers group in another village and currently acts as the group’s mentor—all while managing and growing her own two businesses, providing for her mother and five siblings and raising her son, Bradley, who was born right before she began the Zoe Empowers program in 2016.

Earlier this year, 22-year-old Fridah invested in another piece of land near a local sewage plant with the intent of renting the existing structure and adding more income properties to the plot to rent to plant employees in the future. Her ambition and business diversification has laid a solid foundation for life after she graduates from the Zoe Empowers program this December.  

“I feel ready because my faith in God is strong. I believe God is using me in the way I was meant to be used. If it were not for God touching our American Zoe Empowers partners, it would not be possible,” she stated.

Fridah exemplifies the perseverance, hard work and patience it takes to be successful, regardless of life’s circumstances. Had she not been given an opportunity to live out her power through Zoe Empowers, her talents would still be hiding in the shadows of poverty.

Today, we’re asking you to join Fridah and match her donation of $39 to empower five orphans for one month who also need a chance to discover their own strengths and abilities.

380 million children living in extreme poverty will rely on charity forever.
A monthly gift of $39 over 3 years empowers five orphans out of poverty. How many children can you give lasting sustainable change?

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“I believe love is the seed put in my heart to give to others. If I don’t close my eyes to suffering, God will bless me.”

‒ Gentil, 2017 Graduate in Rwanda

What a time it would be if, instead of idolizing those with big muscles, fancy cars and expensive homes, we admired those who had the exact opposite. More specifically, people who didn’t want any of the aforementioned items. All they wanted was a way to survive. To overcome the horror of their reality to live a life they believed was worth living. What if we looked up to people like Gentil, a young Rwandan boy whom you’ve never met but likely won’t forget.

When Gentil’s mother passed away from complications delivering her fourth child, a daughter whom she named Delphine, Gentil was only 11 years old. His father’s death, mere months before Delphine was born, left him the eldest man of the house. Now, without his mother’s help, he quickly became full-time caretaker and provider for his three siblings: 5-year old twins, Jean Claude and Claudine, and newborn Delphine. A profound circumstance many adults would be hard-pressed to fathom.

With little direction but intense intuition, Gentil did what he needed to do to keep his household alive. He set out into the streets of his Rwandan village, wandering and begging to local community members. He pushed bikes of crops to market and often volunteered himself for labor intensive jobs on farms to bring home whatever he could to feed his family at least one meal a day. Luckily, during this time, a family friend stepped in to care for baby Delphine, but she returned her to Gentil after three years.

Although happy to have his sister with him again, he quickly became overwhelmed with the responsibility of caring for a toddler, especially one who wouldn’t stop crying. It didn’t take long for Gentil to learn why: baby Delphine was sick. As a orphan without funds or access to proper medical care, Gentil felt useless. He inquired with others on how to maneuver the healthcare system with no avail and became desperate to help Delphine.

After years of living in poverty, Gentil joined the Zoe Empowers program in early 2015 and was immediately comforted by the community of children in his empowerment group who were just like him. For the first time in his life, he could relate with others and didn’t feel so painfully alone. His group called themselves “Intwari”, a Kinyarwanda word meaning hero.

In the first few months of the program, Gentil’s group gave him a pig to start him on his journey toward food security, the first major area of poverty Zoe Empowers covers. “I was so happy,” recalled Gentil. “I never dreamed I could have a pig.”

The Intwari group collectively purchased and traded animals amongst themselves, with help from a small grant from Zoe Empowers, which led Gentil to also acquire a hen. His hen laid eggs, which grew to be six chickens. Gentil began to sell his healthy farm animals at market and earned enough to buy new school uniforms for his siblings, in addition to supplying his family with more regular meals. And this was just four months into the Zoe Empowers program!

Surprised but motivated by his own success, Gentil took the next step in Zoe Empowers training which included classes on entrepreneurship. Running his own business would’ve seemed impossible and something only for those significantly more well-endowed than him just months before, but now, with the support of the Intwari group, he felt different. He was starting to believe in himself and his potential.

With optimism and hope, he signed up for a class teaching the skill of donut making. Using a few simple ingredients, Gentil learned he could make dozens of donuts, and the local community loved them. Profits from his donut business allowed him to invest in other commodities such as beans and rice. His small business training taught him the concept of “buy low, sell high”, so with his donut business cash, he stocked up on goods at the lowest price he could find, then he sold them for more when the demand was high.

Selling goods yielded more capital Gentil could put back into his donut business, and the cycle continued. He knew he was on to something. “It was at this time that I said goodbye to hunger,” Gentil proudly declared.

Three years after joining the Intwari group, Gentil is a 21-year old, self-sustained business owner whom four local children call “boss”. His food trading business grew exponentially over his time in the Zoe Empowers program, requiring him to hire employees to open his own supply store where beans, rice, corn meal, potatoes and sugar, amongst other items, are sold. Gentil also continues to run his donut business as well as grow vegetables to harvest and sell in his store and at the market.

“It makes me feel happy to be called ‘boss’”, explained Gentil. “It reminds me of God’s love. I use to feel neglected, but now I’m proud when I remember how far I’ve come. Being called ‘boss’ reminds me to do good regardless of what others may have done to me in the past.”

Beyond growing two businesses, Gentil has also successfully nurtured the growth of his three siblings, Claudine and Jean Claude (12) and Dalphine (7). He’s able to pay for their school fees and health insurance, two of ZOE’s major areas of focus. Together, the family eats well (3 meals per day) and actively helps other orphans in the community by paying for their medical insurance.

While Gentil has grown thousands of seeds since he started his journey to self-sufficiency, it’s the seed of love planted deeply in his heart and spirit that is perhaps the most important of them all. This seed is one Gentil has come to realize was planted by God and was always inside of him, he just couldn’t see it when he lived in the darkness of poverty. It’s this seed that has not only made him the hero of his own life, but a hero to countless others in his community.

Today, Gentil is living a life hundreds of millions of other orphans around the world believe is impossible to obtain. For just $9/month, you can help other children just like Gentil get started with a local Zoe Empowers empowerment group, so they, too, can grow their own seeds of hope, strength and love.

380 million children living in extreme poverty will rely on charity forever.

$9 a month can change that.

A monthly gift of $9 over 3 years empowers one orphan out of poverty. How many children can you give lasting sustainable change?

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“When I look at my sister’s baby, Moses, I’m overcome with joy. Zoe Empowers has helped me understand that it’s more of a blessing to care for Moses — and my sister — when I have God.” ‒ Emmanuel, 2017 Graduate in Rwanda

It’s human nature to want to run from our problems. When undesirable circumstances arise and our fight or flight instinct kicks in, often times the craving to run as fast as possible in the other direction seems significantly more appealing than facing the issue head on.

Orphans and vulnerable children living in poverty around the globe are not immune to this desire to escape.

In 2014, Emmanuel believed there was no other option for him than to just run away from his small village in Rwanda. To simply sneak out into the blackness of the night and never look back.

With seemingly no options for work in his community and no money for food, he and his special needs sister, Janine, starved regularly. Their situation seemed irreversible. His frustration and anger with his life grew stronger by the day. These feelings, he believed, could only be extinguished by starting over somewhere new.

When he learned of Zoe Empowers, he decided to join an empowerment group because he heard promising stories from program graduates. He found the success stories of children just like him inspiring, and more importantly, they helped him see that a better tomorrow was possible—without having to leave his community.

One of the first lessons that resonated with him was that of Jeremiah 29:11. “For I know the plans I have you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Never before had he considered that God had a plan for him. He thought God’s plans were only for those who were beautiful and rich. Not him. But through the guidance of his empowerment group, he began to clearly understand that if he ran away from his problems, he would ruin God’s plan—and he worried he might upset God.

About two years into the Zoe Empowers program, Janine was abused by an anonymous community member and became pregnant. Given her significant special needs, she was ill-equipped to handle her pregnancy alone.

Although Emmanuel felt infuriated by the position Janine was forced into, after many months of working within his empowerment group and gaining tremendous traction with his career and stature within the community, he knew this was his time to step up and provide assistance to her.

Emmanuel tended to Janine throughout her pregnancy. When the time came, he delivered the baby boy, whom he named Moses. Emmanuel and Janine’s family name is Isezerano, meaning “promise”. Emmanuel believed the Bible story of Moses being found and the newly discovered promise God made in his own life perfectly suited Janine’s son.

Despite cultural norms, Emmanuel took on the role of honorary father and brings Moses everywhere with him. Beyond his daily actions, Emmanuel’s love for Moses and his well being is evident in the way he looks at him; each giggle and smile brings a twinkle to his eye. He takes complete care of both Moses and his sister including nighttime feedings and routine infant medical visits to the local pediatrician.

Now, as a 2017 Zoe Empowers graduate, Emmanuel earns a living for his small family by farming four of his empowerment group’s 50 rice plots which profits $560 annually. He also steadily works as a respected carpenter within his community. Janine no longer faces abuse from community members because Emmanuel’s achievements have secured him respect and status amongst his peers and community elders and she is closely associated with him.

Although Emmanuel is not genetically the father of Moses, caring for him and his sister has brought significant meaning and joy to his life. He’s grateful he faced his fears and didn’t run from them because he knows that if he had left his community, he would never have received God’s promises.

380 million children living in extreme poverty will rely on charity forever.

$9 a month can change that.

A monthly gift of $9 over 3 years empowers one orphan out of poverty. How many children’s lives will you change?

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Want to learn more about Emmanuel’s empowerment group? You can read more about the other group members and their rice farm project here.

“I once felt like my life was dipping into nothing. Today I feel so blessed that I cannot keep it all for myself so I have started a training program for other youth in my community.” – Jean Claude, 2017 Zoe Empowers Rwanda graduate.

Before Zoe Empowers, Jean Claude remembers being so poor that he could not even buy soap to wash himself. He was ridiculed for his body odor and felt very alone. He is the oldest among his siblings — caring for five younger sisters and brothers. Today, all five of them are enrolled in school and his neighbors say, “Wow!”

Soon after he joined a Zoe Empowers empowerment group, Jean Claude was able to learn carpentry skills through a vocational training program. It didn’t take him long to establish his own carpentry business, which then began to flourish. He found himself asking God to show him how he could give back to help other children. It became clear to him that he could begin to conduct carpentry training for other boys in his community.

John is a young community member who is training under Jean Claude.

Jean Claude started leading carpentry training sessions every morning which continue to impact the lives of others today. The numbers of orders he receives continues to grow to the extent that he can share them with his trainees. His dream is to train a total of 20 employees who will work together and earn a fair wage.

Jean Claude in his workshop with his new table-saw and other tools.

Jean Claude says that his best day was when he received carpentry tools through a Zoe Empowers startup grant. Today he is proud to share that he has purchased a table saw that cost $800 USD, becoming the first person in the community to own one. Currently, his profits are $250/month, which he knows will dramatically increase when he puts his new table saw to use.

His trainees refer to him as a role model and they say that they want to be just like him. His identity used to be wrapped up in isolation and poverty, but now his identity is in God and as a leader and mentor to other youth.

380 million children living in extreme poverty will rely on charity forever.

$9 a month can change that.

It only takes $9 a month for three years to bring a child from begging for food as a way to survive to never relying on charity again. How many children’s lives will you change?

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