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May 20, 2021 - No Comments!

Spotlight: ZOE Volunteers

Did you know that every week in Australia, 17.5 million steel cans are recycled? That is enough to build 900 cars! (recyclingnearyou.com.au)

Going through the rubbish to find steel cans is not what many of us think of when we picture ways to stop child trafficking but one Aussie man cares so much about the kids at ZOE, and seeing slavery ended, that he even digs through dumpsters to find cans that he can exchange for cash to raise money to send to Thailand.

And as if recycling cans wasn’t noble enough, Tony and his wife Margaret have also organized dinner auctions, barbeques at local markets, sold glow sticks at festivals, and even sold their chicken’s eggs all to help ZOE’s work in preventing, rescuing, and restoring children’s lives.

His daughter Rachael has also given profits she made from selling property, donated thousands of dollars to ZOE, and visited the children’s home several times.

Whether it be cutting 20 kg of onions, selling eggs at their workplaces, or “dumpster diving” (as Tony calls it), this family sure knows how to use every opportunity they have to be an inspiration and make a difference in the world.

Thank you Tony, Margaret, and Rachael! The way you choose to live your lives and the sacrifices you make to help the kids at ZOE, motivates all of us to do more and think about ways that we can use our time, resources, and money to be a change in the world.

November 13, 2020 - No Comments!

A Christmas Like No Other

- Reclaiming LIFE

“This is the perfect time to do things differently and reclaim what might have been lost throughout 2020: generosity, joy, peace, certainty, hope, freedom and LIFE.”

Each year, the additional expenses that creep in at Christmas time create pressure for many people. This ‘commercialised-pressure’ that squeezes already-tight family budgets, has been further intensified this year by the ongoing world-wide pandemic.

Covid-19 has changed many aspects of our lives. We have had to adopt new habits, new priorities and new ways throughout the year, and these will undoubtedly influence how we respond during the Christmas season.

While in previous years, festivities centred around social gatherings and bustling shopping streets, this year provides a chance for us to reflect and reclaim what Christmas is actually all about.

Many people have shared that during isolation and lockdown, they developed an appetite to ‘do’ better and ‘be’ better this year. New hobbies and habits were formed and relationships were explored in different, and inventive ways.

Shouldn’t we then also stop before Christmas comes and think about what’s been lost in the past, what’s really important now, and how our actions can influence others at this time of the year?

Let’s open our hearts for what God wants to do new and fresh in our lives this Christmas, and throughout 2021.

What would reclaiming Christmas look like for you?

Maybe, just like Mary and Joseph, it would mean remembering to trust in God especially when faced with unforeseen challenges.

Maybe, like the shepherds, whose lives were transformed when they understood what Jesus’ birth meant - we could have that ripple effect on the people around us.

Maybe it could look like being generous by sharing God’s love with neighbours and our community.

Maybe it would mean taking time to pause and reflect on the miracle that is God-among-us.

Maybe it means sharing the gift of ourselves with the lonely and those in our circle of family and friends who’d gain more from the gift of our ‘presence’ rather than an off-the-shelf present.

Maybe it’s about getting back to basics and celebrating the LIFE of Christ in a simple yet meaningful way.

As you look back on 2020 maybe you didn’t experience much joy.

-You felt tired.

-You felt depressed.

-You experienced loss.

-You had personal tragedy and difficulties that filled you with grief and sorrow, frustration.

God looks at you. He sees your life. You are valuable. You are worthy of Him sending his one and only son. God can give you strength, help, and victory in this season.

“This is the perfect time to do things differently and reclaim what might have been lost throughout 2020: generosity, joy, peace, certainty, hope, freedom and LIFE.” This will be a Christmas like no other as we unite to reclaim God’s dream for this world to experience His abundant (zoe) LIFE .

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.