{"id":50243,"date":"2018-12-12T14:41:50","date_gmt":"2018-12-12T19:41:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wearezoe.org\/?p=50243"},"modified":"2023-09-13T15:16:30","modified_gmt":"2023-09-13T20:16:30","slug":"silent-no-dorcas-finds-voice-forgiveness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/\/silent-no-dorcas-finds-voice-forgiveness\/","title":{"rendered":"Silent No More: Dorcas Finds Her Voice Through Forgiveness"},"content":{"rendered":"
\u201cThrough ZOE, I learned that children have the right for food, wear clothes, attend school, express ourselves, right to worship, and to do good things,\u201d said Dorcas. \u201cThis motivated me to stand-up for myself and for others like me. I want to be a voice to help bring out the voice in others who have been silenced.\u201d\u00a0 –<\/em>Dorcas<\/p>\n
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Standing at a mere five feet tall on a good day, Dorcas, with her sleek, low ponytail and petite frame dressed in a kaleidoscope of Kenyan prints and patterns could easily be mistaken for a girl about to enter junior high. Until she speaks, that is.<\/p>\n
Dorcas, whose eighteen years of life experience has included unthinkable physical abuse from a family member, parental abandonment and subsequently, the responsibility to care for her two younger brothers, isn\u2019t shy about sharing her journey out of poverty through the ZOE program.<\/p>\n
When she talks about the nightmares of her past and the happiness of her life today, it\u2019s not boastful; it\u2019s reflective of the confidence and poise unearthed from the years of feeling alone and exploited. She has discovered her voice, and after a single conversation with her, it\u2019s evident she\u2019s never letting it be silenced again.<\/p>\n
Before Dorcas began the ZOE program in July 2016, she described her life as \u201chopeless\u201d. After her father passed away, her older half-brother began to misuse his position in the family by taking advantage of then 14-year-old Dorcas, to the point of her needing to withdraw from school due to physical and psychological injury.<\/p>\n
After her half-brother colluded with her uncle to force her mother out of their community, Dorcas was left as the primary caretaker of her two younger siblings. The young family struggled to eat just one meal of potatoes or bananas a day and were tortured with the feelings of isolation, fear and shame regarding their inability to serve their community.<\/p>\n
She and her siblings worked hard, long hours in the crop fields as cash laborers. Community members also physically and verbally treated them poorly and underpaid them for their efforts. One neighbor told Dorcas she didn’t want her to socialize with her children because Dorcas would teach them bad habits.<\/p>\n
Things worsened when Dorcas\u2019 uncle stole the land in which her family\u2019s house was situated. Not knowing who to turn to for support, or that she had the right to speak up to authorities about such an issue, she found refuge elsewhere while her uncle proceeded to demolish the home to use the plot as he pleased.<\/p>\n
Dorcas truly believed she was alone and other children in her community weren’t suffering the way her family was. To her surprise, when she joined the ZOE program and learned of the dozens of other orphaned children in her community that could relate to her circumstances, she immediately felt comforted.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the group accepted me as I was, I found a sense of living. I became hopeful. I could see that my challenges wouldn\u2019t last forever,\u201d explained Dorcas.<\/p>\n
As part of the ZOE model to empowerment, Dorcas was trained on how to start a business in community. For orphaned children who\u2019ve been boxed into a economic status group and plagued with unfavorable judgements about their character by community members, the realization that they, too, have talents to contribute to their society is incredibly motivating.<\/p>\n
Dorcas chose to open her own grain shop where she sold seeds, such as corn and rice, to local farmers. Because the culture in small African communities is to support every business within it, as owning a business symbolizes he or she cares about the longevity of the community, Dorcas\u2019 grain shop experienced growth quickly.<\/p>\n
Now, in her third year of business and the ZOE program, she consistently earns upwards of $7 per day and is making plans to relocate her shop to a bigger market in the near future. Her income has allowed her to transform her life in a multitude of ways, including re-enrolling siblings in school, purchasing new clothing and regular, nutritious meals for her family.<\/p>\n
More impressive are the changes that manifested since Dorcas learned her child rights through ZOE. \u201cI learned that children have the right for food, wear clothes, attend school, express ourselves, right to worship, and to do good things,\u201d said Dorcas. \u201cWhen I learned all of this, I was motivated to tell our group mentor about my family issues (abuse and stolen property) and bring it to the village Chief at his office.\u201d<\/p>\n
Given the Chief\u2019s strong support of the ZOE program, he invited Dorcas\u2019 uncle to come meet him and Dorcas to discuss the issue in a common place. \u201cI was nervous but my group members came to support me,\u201d recalled Dorcas, smiling. \u201cWe talked about the issues and the Chief instructed her uncle to build another house for Dorcas\u2019 family and to find her mother.<\/p>\n
Without question, her uncle took all the commands from the Chief. He proceeded to build Dorcas a better house than what they’d had before, paid for her youngest brother\u2019s school fees and returned everything he’d taken away years before, including her mother.<\/p>\n