Archives for July 2020

July 29, 2020 - No Comments!

Education: Bringing Powerful Change

ZOE Australia believes that ‘Education’ is one of the key ways in which students of all ages can gain understanding and knowledge about the issues surrounding modern slavery and, in particular, child trafficking. 

It is through a combination of informal learning at home, and formal learning during school time, that children develop personal and social skills. Even from a very young age, children interact with others - beginning to learn and explore issues such as fairness, respect and problem solving skills. 

As children grow and are exposed to more complex human rights issues, education gives them opportunities to learn, challenge, problem-solve, influence and contribute to bringing about change, in powerful ways. 

ZOE helps Australians to learn about the local and global issues involving the exploitation of children by building understanding, empathy, and a sense of shared responsibility. 

Through education, ZOE seeks to equip and empower whole communities (parents, staff, teachers and students) to prevent child trafficking from occurring, by offering relevant curriculum resources and informative tool kits.  We use our experience gained from working with child trafficking survivors along with current research and methodologies to work alongside leaders, educators and influencers to learn, assist, collaborate, develop and produce resources that will change attitudes and behaviours.  

We have developed several (free) secondary school curriculums for teachers to use. We currently have a team of Australian teachers collaborating to write a primary school curriculum to cover important issues relating to slavery. 

We see informal education (awareness) as an important way to engage with larger communities, or specific industries, by sharing information and resources that will equip them to be a voice for change, and to know how to effectively contribute to prevent (and end) child trafficking in their sphere. That’s why we developed our toolkits.

We believe that our toolkits can help bring awareness in industries such as: health, tourism, travel, sports, farming, clothing/fashion, hospitality and can be used by social-action groups. 

For faith-based communities like churches, youth and children’s ministry, we have prayer-based guides which focus on God’s heart for the fatherless. Over time, we believe like-minded people will respond to the stories, information and the ‘heart’ behind ZOE’s work. 

By using ZOE’s curriculums, toolkits and guides, individuals, groups and whole communities will better understand and change their actions towards others - whether directly or indirectly - igniting a movement that will bring about powerful change.  

July 20, 2020 - No Comments!

Taste and See!

TASTE AND SEE … the Lord is good! 

As a Christian organisation, we believe that God is good and His goodness is evident all the time. Sometimes when we crave a quick “fast food” type response to our prayers, we have to remind ourselves that it’s oftentimes the answers that took a bit longer to “prepare” that really satisfy. Just because God may not immediately give us an answer, does not mean that He is not in the process of answering. Our job is to pray, be patient and trust in His timing knowing that He is cooking up something good for us all the time! 

Food For Thought! 

  • Join our ZFA Prayer nights on Monday evenings (email us for details) 
  • Cook one of our ‘Taste of ZOE’ recipes, share it on social media, #atasteofZOE and tag us
  • Watch and share videos, blog posts and social media feeds. (here and here)
  • Order a Taste of ZOE cookbook and pass it on to a friend. (email Sharon
  • Have a Taste of ZOE potluck dinner, watch one of ZOE’s videos from youtube and have a discussion about it. (YouTube)
  • Petition for ZOE’s Year 9 or 10 curriculum to be used in your school. (click here)
  • Parent of a teen? Watch the free online Chapel video with your child. 
  • Person of faith? Pray for ZOE’s work in Prevention, Rescue and Restoration. (join a prayer group or get a prayer guide)

July 12, 2020 - No Comments!

What is Food?

Are animal intestines food? Are leaves food? Are frogs food? Are ants food? And what about cockroaches?

Since moving to Thailand, I have had to rethink the question of, ‘What is food?’

I used to look at leaves as just things that fell off trees and created work to sweep up … and insects were something that caused me to whip off my shoe and attempt to crush.  But now, I’m beginning to wonder if they could actually be tasty treats?

According to www.Dictionary.com:

[food] –noun

  1. any nourishing substance that is eaten, drunk, or otherwise taken into the body to sustain life, provide energy, promote growth, etc.
  2. more or less solid nourishment, as distinguished from liquids.
  3. a particular kind of solid nourishment: a breakfast food; dog food.
  4. whatever supplies nourishment to organisms: plant food.
  5. anything serving for consumption or use: food for thought.

 … I will leave you to decide!

  • Food For Thought! 
    • Join our ZFA Prayer nights on Monday evenings (email for details) 
    • Cook one of our ‘Taste of ZOE’ recipes, share it on social media, #atasteofZOE and tag us
    • Watch and share videos, blog posts and social media feeds. (here and here)
    • Order a Taste of ZOE cookbook and pass it on to a friend. (email Sharon
    • Have a Taste of ZOE potluck dinner, watch one of ZOE’s videos from youtube and have a discussion about it. (YouTube)
    • Petition for ZOE’s Year 9 or 10 curriculum to be used in your school. (click here)
    • Parent of a teen? Watch the free online Chapel video with your child. 
    • Person of faith? Pray for ZOE’s work in Prevention, Rescue and Restoration. (join a prayer group or get a prayer guide)