Electronics Repair Empowerment

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What Physical Limitations?

ZOE is combating entrenched poverty by bringing empowerment to one of the most challenging places in the world – the slums of Chennai, India. Here, the daily struggle to survive is complicated by the near lawlessness of the environment.

The slums are tightly controlled by “strong men” and outsiders are distrusted. Through patience and perseverance, ZOE India’s Country Manager Jabez William gained the support of the slum gatekeepers and now helps hundreds of vulnerable children achieve what others thought impossible – financial and social empowerment.

Fatherless and unable to walk, Lakshmanan was a slum orphan without resources or opportunities to support himself and three siblings. However, as he now observes, “ZOE is giving life to people who are physically challenged.” After Zoe Empowers provided training in computer/ cell phone repair and a grant to purchase a laptop, tool kit and soldering equipment, Lakshmanan launched his small business. A short time later, he added a motorbike delivery service. Now he can take his business outside the slum and connect with the larger community, a primary goal of ZOE.

Lakshmanan epitomizes how ZOE transforms the lives of children no matter what environmental or physical disadvantages they face. This success  is sustainable because Zoe Empowers provides three years of business training and mentoring while the working group offers support, protection and facilitates continued investment. Through Zoe Empowers, the slums of India are no longer a life sentence of misery.