Dr. Sovan Kong is a medical doctor. He is almost 40 years old now. Sovan is a graduate of our boys’ house in Cambodia. He came to us 19 years ago after his father was tragically killed. Sovan’s mum could no longer care for her eight children; in fact, Sovan missed two years of school during this period. Because of poverty, Sovan’s family had to split up, with his siblings being sent out to other people. Sovan was sent to his aunt, who, as it turned out, could not care for him. And then EMPOWER ASIA Cambodia discovered him.
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Empower Asia and Empower Latin America are projects of EMPOWER INTERNATIONAL TRUST.
EMPOWER ASIA was established in 1990 and now operates in several Asian nations. Some of these nations include; Cambodia, Thailand, Bhutan, Kolkata (India), and Nepal. 294 teenagers receive 24/7 care while residing in one of our 20 houses so that they may receive nutritious meals, come to grow in their knowledge of God, and also attend school (or tertiary institutions). This is all carried out in a loving family environment.
EMPOWER INTERNATIONAL TRUST is registered with the New Zealand government, holding Certificate of Incorporation number 894963. The organisation is Australian government registered under the name, Empower Asia Australia LTD, and holds the Australian business number (ABN) 643811107. In the USA, our organisation is a 501c(3) registered charity; Empower Asia Latin America. Each of the three entities has its own board.
EMPOWER INTERNATIONAL TRUST was founded in New Zealand and has been working in Asia since 1990. While we are a Christian faith-based organization, there is no affiliation to any particular group, church, or denomination. The vast majority of funds are sourced from private individuals, families, small businesses, and churches.
“Having spent over 20 years living in Asia and working for one of the world’s largest international development organizations in developing countries, we have seen hundreds of organizations at work in the field. It is clear that some are making a huge impact in the communities they are working in, and others less so. One of the reasons that I personally financially support Empower Asia is that we believe in the basic development paradigm that underpins their work: individuals are valuable, have potential, and can only be changed when one is prepared to invest in them long term and in a holistic way. Empower Asia does this, and is making a difference in many lives. We have confidence in the leadership team of Empower Asia and have confidence in the work they do and the impact they are making.”
- Greg Foster – Past Area Vice President for Africa & Middle East
The Future is Ours.
MARY
"Mary" was a child of the opium fields. Now she has graduated university with a degree in history. She came to live at our girls' preventative prostitution home more than 14 years ago. Her life has been particularly difficult because her home village is adjacent to a civil war zone and the opium fields. Her father has been an opium addict, which left her mum to toil away alone in the opium fields earning only about US$1/day. Mary now works as a school teacher and helps in selecting new candidates to come into the home.
Dr. Santi Watiroiram
Dr. Watiroiram ("Bawm") came to us as a 12-year-old boy. His academic ability was clear, eventually graduating with a PhD in biology from one of Thailand's top universities. Now he is a teacher/researcher at a Thai university.
At age 3 years, he was bitten by a cobra. It changed his life. His foot and leg became severely infected, swelling up so that eventually the doctors recommended that they amputate below the knee. But his parents would have none of it. He writes, “Instead, they regularly cleaned and cared for my foot and leg. They cut a hole in our wooden floor upstairs next to my sleeping mat so that in the middle of the night I could maneuver myself over the hole and ‘go to the toilet,’ aiming into a bucket placed a few metres below me on the bottom floor. Each day, my mum would clean up the mess! I could not walk. My parents had to carry me everywhere. Eventually, I got better, but I could never really play and run around like other boys."
Santi now directs our Thai work and is also Vice-Chairman of Empower Asia Thailand.