Priya Designs Her Dream
Priya becomes an award-winning designer. Priya was eleven years old when her father died. He had worked a modest job, and while his income had not been substantial, it supported a family of four living in Chennai, India. Priya’s mother stayed home while Priya and her younger brother, Gopi, attended school. After their father’s death, […]
Timothy and His Giving Tree
Timothy’s grandmother gave him two gifts before she passed away. The first was a small gourd, meant to symbolize giving. The gourd only darkened if he gave to others. “The darker the gourd, the richer his life will be,” she told him. At the time, Timothy didn’t believe he had anything to give. He was […]
10 Reasons Zoe Empowers is Unlike Other Children’s Charities
Zoe Empowers started as a relief-based organization with short-term, marginal results. In the early 2000s, the AIDS pandemic devastated communities in sub-saharan Africa, leaving hundreds of thousands of orphaned children in its wake. Globally, there was a push to donate to Africa, support orphan charities, sponsor an orphan, and fundraise for an orphanage. Zoe Empowers […]
A new door opens for Faith
Faith still remembers the day she knocked on her uncle’s door. It wasn’t long after the death of her parents. She was fifteen, and her younger brother, Martin, was eight. They hadn’t eaten in several days, and Faith was beginning to fear they wouldn’t survive on their own. After a few seconds, the uncle’s new […]
Beatrice Shatters the Cycle of Poverty
“Losing my biological father at a young age and being abandoned by my stepfather made me feel that everything was lost,” said Beatrice. “Little did I know that Zoe Empowers would come and change the direction of my life.” – Beatrice Beatrice’s earliest memories are in the hot, dusty fields with her mother, Verina. After […]
Daniel’s Ascent into Fatherhood
Daniel was 11 years old when he became the head of his household. His mother unexpectedly passed away of a mysterious illness, and his father had died a couple of years before that. As the eldest of four siblings, Daniel acquired the role of caretaker. Still a child himself, Daniel’s understanding of parenting could be […]
Beyond Graduation: Children Thrive Into Adulthood
When Diffati, a 2017 Zoe Empowers graduate welcomed us into his Malawi compound, our jaws dropped. How did an orphan who once lived in extreme poverty acquire the means for such a lifestyle?
Josephat’s Bridge to Success
Josephat always felt like his ambition never aligned with his life circumstances. He loved to be in school, but his parents could not afford the fees. There were often gaps in his enrollment, dropping out to work for several weeks or months at a time. Then, inevitably, through sheer will and determination, he would scrape […]
How Chickens Turned Into a Home
A busy paved road runs through the village center of Chimwaza, Malawi. On either side is an assortment of tattered-looking shops, freestanding kiosks and persistent peddlers ready to serve the steady stream of loitering locals there to eat, shop and socialize. Two years ago, entering this scene would have invoked shame and anxiety for Mike […]
Crisis resiliency is a marathon, not a sprint
When learning a new skill, the second attempt is always a little easier than the first. On the third and fourth try, there is a sense of familiarity. By the fifth, tenth, twentieth time and beyond, muscle memory kicks in as we work toward mastery. The concept of repetition is proven true whether the goal […]