{"id":50166,"date":"2018-11-27T16:17:02","date_gmt":"2018-11-27T21:17:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wearezoe.org\/?p=50166"},"modified":"2019-05-23T11:49:09","modified_gmt":"2019-05-23T16:49:09","slug":"titus-lifts-poverty-giving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/\/titus-lifts-poverty-giving\/","title":{"rendered":"Titus lifts himself out of poverty by giving."},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt felt so good in my heart to give at the Thanksgiving event,<\/a> and since then, I\u2019ve received far more in return than I gave that day. I believe this is the Bible teaching, \u2018The hand that giveth, receiveth\u2026\u2019\u201d.<\/p>\n

-Titus, ZOE Kenya 2nd-Year Student<\/p>\n

\"Titus\"<\/p>\n

As early as Kindergarten, children in our Western culture are asked what they want to be when they \u201cgrow up\u201d. They\u2019re asked to draw their aspirations in full color, to describe their responsibilities, their customers and what they\u2019d wear to such a job.<\/p>\n

When a child is convinced they can be anything their young heart desires, we, as adults, are never quick to tell them it\u2019s not possible. Instead, we nod our heads and live vicariously through their ignorant bliss. After all, it\u2019s our ability to dream that makes us human.<\/p>\n

But if you asked second-year ZOE 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 in 2016.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy employer didn\u2019t care about how tired I would get,\u201d Titus recalled. \u201cBut, I knew I had to persevere through the harsh conditions to provide for my family. They were counting on me.\u201d<\/p>\n

As an orphan who is head of his household, Titus\u2019 life circumstances are similar to the majority of children in the ZOE program. However, despite their common threads, ZOE children rarely know each other before the program begins due to extreme isolation.<\/p>\n

When ZOE begins a new group within a community, one of the first exercises the children do together is to create a \u201cdream chart\u201d. For many, this is the first time they\u2019ve considered a life that didn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

When Titus made his dream chart, his first wish for his future was acceptance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was afraid they [his ZOE group] would laugh at him,\u201d recalled Titus. \u201cI prayed hard and got the courage to share my dreams with them, and they were so supportive.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

In 2017, Titus approached his ZOE 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.<\/p>\n

\"Titus\"<\/p>\n

Titus\u2019 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.<\/p>\n

More impressively, he recently donated $20 to the ZOE program when he attended the ZOE Kenya Tharaka Thanksgiving event<\/a> in September.<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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\u2019s why I donated $20 to ZOE.\u201d explained Titus.<\/p>\n

In the days and weeks following his donation to ZOE, Titus experienced a significant surge in his business. \u201cIt felt so good in my heart to give at the Thanksgiving event<\/a>, and since then, I\u2019ve received far more in return than I gave that day. I believe this is the Bible teaching, \u2018The hand that giveth, receiveth\u2026\u2019\u201d, said Titus.<\/p>\n

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\u2014and he\u2019s not stopping there.<\/p>\n

Titus\u2019 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.<\/p>\n

By giving back to the ZOE 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.<\/p>\n

Read about other ZOE students<\/a> and graduates<\/a> who\u2019ve 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.<\/p>\n

380 million children living in extreme poverty will rely on charity forever.
\nA 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?<\/p>\n

Learn More<\/span><\/a>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Kiosk\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Titus<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI 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\u2019s why I donated $20 to ZOE.\u201d explained Titus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":50169,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[40,43,1],"tags":[1453,822,1073],"country":[24],"yst_prominent_words":[1450,1440,142,1448,1443,1438,1451,1447,1444,1439,1446,1449,1441,1445,1437,455,1442,126,337,457],"class_list":["post-50166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-zoe-children","category-zoe-impact","category-uncategorized","tag-giving-tuesday","tag-income-generation","tag-spiritual-strength","country-kenya"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50166"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50166"},{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=50166"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=50166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}