EMPOWER ASIA has had a very strong emphasis on empowering local indigenous leaders of good reputation and standing within their communities to "own" the various projects. This is why we have expanded so effectively. These quality local leaders have real power to make real decisions about how their work can be both maintained in quality and expanded in quantity.
EMPOWER ASIA is not dependent on western personnel. We do not necessarily think that the western way is the best way. With all due care, we believe that consultation, working together in partnership and esteeming one another will bring about desired positive results for the communities that we work amongst.
Our aim has been to build and maintain a network of indigenous operated Christian leadership development homes for impoverished teenagers so that in time, these educated young people will move out as adults to become change-agents within their own communities.
Day One of a new life for these tribal boys. They had not been attending school and had largely been living in the jungle.
In Detail:
The indigenous house parents who operate our homes consider that the children in the homes are their children. Our homes could sometimes take in more children than we do, but we work to develop a family environment rather than the feeling of living in an institution.
At present, we have projects throughout Southeast Asia, Nepal, Kolkata (India) and Bhutan. These projects are not simply “social work” in nature. Our aim has always been to build and maintain a network of indigenous-operated leadership development homes for impoverished teenagers so that in time these discipled and educated young people will move out as adults to become Christian change agents within their own communities.
The young people living in the homes are normally between 13 – 20 years of age. Additionally, we are in close contact with many of our graduates who now no longer live in our homes and who instead are either attending theological studies, university, polytechnic or, who have now completed their tertiary studies.
Our Client Group:
We work with young people from a broad range of religious and cultural backgrounds. Most of our children come from difficult and somewhat dysfunctional family backgrounds. A number have been neglected, orphaned, or even abandoned. Over our countries of operation, we can clearly see that girls are seriously at-risk (through no fault of their own) of entering the sex industry, slave labour, or other forms of exploitation and unsafe employment.
We have specialized in selecting children from people groups that have historically been resistant to the gospel and who have received little attention from other organisations or charities.