Quotes from parishioners of
the Lighthouse United Methodist
Church of Boca Grande who have
worked with Zoe Empowers
as missionaries:
“Zoe Empowerment’s plan for the most
desperately impoverished children, not only
saves lives, but consistently allows them to
develop self-sustaining life skills. The results
are amazing. It is the most effective
anti-poverty program I have ever seen.”
- Daniel Bayly
“It would be an understatement to say I
was impressed by the level of determination
demonstrated by the Zoe kids in Rwanda
and Kenya. I have been inspired to capture
some of that enthusiasm and apply it to
my own life. I’ve learned to take nothing
for granted and appreciate every single
blessing.”
- Janine Egbert
“I read the literature and saw the reports,
and thought Zoe sounded like an opportunity
to help some unknown orphans. Then
I came here to Rwanda and Kenya and
heard them speak face to face. It became
real when I met a young man six months
into the Zoe program who had worked for
pennies a day and was beaten for stealing
a sweet potato to take to his two siblings
for something to eat. He is now learning
business skills and is feeding his siblings by
selling vegetables at the local market. You
cannot help but feel his pain, as well as his
pride in his accomplishments. You just have
to hug every one of them and tell them how
special they are!”
- Pat Witschonke
trust these other orphans have placed in them,” Gaston
said. “A 12-year-old street child is like a 35-yearold
American. We have 5-year-old kids raising animals
and tending gardens. In our country, even 100 years
ago, everyone worked. It’s still in our living memory
but we’ve become soft. Before the program they
were begging, or being traffi cked. In the fi rst year the
children are still in rough shape, but in the second
and third year they begin to take care of their own
needs, and their siblings needs, and they begin to pull
and hold each other up.”
With all of this information in mind and one trip
with Zoe under their belts, a small group of parishioners
and Pastor Matthew Williams from the Lighthouse
United Methodist Church of Boca Grande
set out earlier this year to see what the program is
like fi rsthand in Rwanda and Kenya. There are about
11,000 orphans in Rwanda, and about 12,000 in
Kenya, in the program.
About three years ago Pastor Williams came into
contact with Zoe Empowers.
The church initially sponsored one group of orphans,
but they now have 10 groups of approximately 100
children each. Some of the original missionaries are
starting to see the changes and progress in their
adopted groups, a feeling that is very fulfi lling. One
of the most beautiful things in the world must be
to watch an orphaned child witness the fruits of a
fi rst crop, to watch them learn how to create their
own clean drinking water system and raise their own
animals ... and how to start to have hope.
For more inforrnation see zoeempowers.org.
/zoeempowers.org