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May 1, 2020 - No Comments!

May Focus: TRANSPORT

What do you picture when you hear the word ‘transport’ in relation to Thailand? Well if you've ever been there on a holiday, you possibly picture chaotic city roads, thousands of motorbikes, tuk-tuks, songthaews, and traffic pollution. If you've had the chance to get out of the cities though, you might also imagine four-wheel drive trucks navigating red, dusty tracks, or unmade roads leading to hidden rice fields and villages.

Our ZOE staff and families experience the extremes of both these types of transportation conditions regularly. From school drop offs, fact finding, meetings with the Police, shopping trips, village outreaches, hospital check-ups, awareness campaigns, visits to relatives, school trips, court appearances, church on Sunday, property maintenance (the list goes on)…ZOE’s fleet of cars and trucks get a lot of use!

In fact, it takes a small team of people to oversee the vehicles and make sure they continue to be in good working order. This team manages the vehicle registrations, insurance, and service appointments. They also coordinate what vehicle will go where, according to the day of the week, destination, number of people travelling, etc. It takes a lot of organization.

This month in Australia, our focus is not only on vehicle transport, but also on just how far your generous donations travel. Our monthly impact giving, helps ZOE to fund all the areas of greatest need. Transport is just one of those areas!

Instead of spending the month highlighting our fleet of cars and trucks (although some people might enjoy this) our social media channels in Australia will cover a broad range of trafficking related content that links in with the both theme of transport, and being transported – ‘moving from one place to another’.

Think beyond just getting from A to B because we want to cover: how transport is used in trafficking, how to spot trafficking in our travels, how trafficking continues to travel during covid-19, just how far ZOE will go to reach and rescue, and the emotional journey from victim to survivor – the restoration process – the child trafficking survivor stories that happen every day. Plus more!

Join us on Australia’s Facebook and Instagram pages to keep up with this month’s theme Transport-ed and please leave us a comment on social media so we know who’s ‘travelling’ along with us!

ZOE Australia Facebook  Instagram

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April 9, 2020 - No Comments!

What Now?

We are all ‘wired’ with such incredible diversity. Are you creative, analytical, relational, thoughtful, insightful, compassionate?

We are all amazingly different. We come from different cultures, families, backgrounds, work contexts and have varying qualifications, and experiences.  

Whilst we all possess a range of viewpoints, skills and relational networks, the question is, how can we share our passion to end child trafficking and work with each other for a common goal? 

Think about this:-

Q: How can you use the way you are ‘wired’ and gifted to prevent children from being trafficked?

Sabina Nawaz writes in the Harvard Business Review, We’re programmed to “go big or go home,” but big goals are more burdensome than they are motivational; they require daunting effort to accomplish and sustain. Instead, the way to achieve big is to start small — through micro habits. Micro habits are small components of a larger habit. By breaking down an ambitious job into smaller, more achievable ones that you build over long periods of time, micro habits help you complete big goals.To succeed with micro habits, you must be deliberate and choreograph steps to sustain them. First, identify a “ridiculously small” micro habit, and piggyback on a daily task, so it becomes part of your regular routine. Next, track your progress and hold steady for a long time before building on the habit. Finally, find others to hold you accountable and keep you motivated. 

We want to help you succeed. For the kids who are trapped in slavery - they need you to succeed. Listed below are some of the ways that you can engage… BUT remember to make a plan that includes breaking down your goal into smaller, achievable tasks first.  

Host an Influencing Event

Are you social?  Do you love parties? How about you gathering some friends for a unique purpose? To share what you’ve learned about child trafficking, ZOE and how it’s touched your heart. 

What you could do:

    • Do a 5 to 10 minute talk about child trafficking.
    • Share your experience of discovery.

What ZOE could help you with:

Education/Teachers/Chaplain

Teachers can help to bring long-term change that we believe will impact ending child trafficking.

We are here to help you.  What do you need?

Resources? Curriculum? A guest speaker (in person or via ZOOM)

We have curriculum and education and chapel videos that are free on our website.  But we’d also love to chat and see how we can help you.

Send us an email.

Fundraising

There is no point ignoring this. Yes, it seems to make some people uncomfortable, but the reality is that funding IS needed to make long-term change that will positively impact on the lives of children.

We have a new platform that gives you total control… You can decide what area you would like to fundraise for. You can create your own page + add your own images and send it to your friends.

Traditionally ZOE have found it difficult to fundraise and ‘market’ ourselves.  We get very busy running programs and helping children - so IF you are someone who LOVES to fundraise… THANK YOU.

Here is a toolkit to help you get started.

Prayer

Prayer is something everyone can do! Would you start a prayer group? To help you get started, we would love to send you a free copy of the ZOE prayer booklet ‘A Call to Prayer.’ Just email us and we will get one to you!

Advocate for children

Will you use your voice to advocate for children? Can you share social media posts from ZOE Australia on your Facebook (link) or Instagram (link) feed?

Will you draw attention to this problem and advocate for change?

How can you create change in your area of influence?  

Download a toolkit with infographics, social media graphics, posters and links to video resources that you can start sharing. You can be the voice for a child who has been silenced.

Make ZOE your charity

Whether you are a business owner wanting to connect your business to a good cause or an individual who simply wants to do something to raise money, we would be grateful if you would choose ZOE as your charity. 

We’d love to connect with you to learn more about you and see how we could meaningfully engage with you and your staff. Please email us and we can have one of our team connect with you.

Have an idea that’s not listed here?

Get in touch with us and let us know what you plan to do! 

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March 1, 2020 - No Comments!

Child Trafficking & Australians

We now know that, in the past, slavery and trafficking offenses occurring in Australia have been under-reported. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has recently seen a rise in referrals. According to the AFP, Australia is primarily a destination country for people trafficked from Asia, particularly Thailand, Korea, the Philippines. and Malaysia.

Between 1995 and 2006, the majority of child sexual abusers and exploiters who traveled to Thailand, to commit sex offenses against children were Australians.

“Australians were the biggest exploiters of Thailand’s child sex tourism” (Johns Hopkins University)

More recently, reports show that Australian perpetrators have been involved in grooming children online, usually in developing countries. The Australian Federal Police is concerned that the demand for child abuse material is increasing across the country.

“In 2014 we received about 4,500 referrals of child exploitation material and in 2015 it was 11,000.” (Justine Saunders AFP Assistant Commissioner)

And even more recently it was reported that, “The United States, Britain and Australia are the main consumers of child sex abuse streamed over webcam.” (spokesperson from the Australian Federal Police)

ZOE raises awareness in Australia through the media, entertainment industry, influential voices, speaking engagements, internet communities, and encouraging university and high school involvement.

Our education in schools is reaching more and more students.

ZOE also raises funds to support programs in Thailand in the areas of prevention, rescue, and restoration. Stay up-to-date with news from Australia here.