Empower International

EMPOWER INTERNATIONAL TRUST (EIT) is a New Zealand registered charity. We are also a charitable entity within Australia. We have been operating since 1990. We care for about 300 teenagers who receive 24/7 care while residing in one of our 19 safe-houses. They receive nutritious meals and support physically, emotionally, spiritually and also in terms of education. The work is all carried out in a loving family environment. EIT's basic modus operandi has always been to: Possess a default thinking that wherever possible we empower local indigenous community leaders to have as much responsibility to take on as much of the work as possible instead of using western personnel. This has mea... read more EMPOWER INTERNATIONAL TRUST (EIT) is a New Zealand registered charity. We are also a charitable entity within Australia. We have been operating since 1990. We care for about 300 teenagers who receive 24/7 care while residing in one of our 19 safe-houses. They receive nutritious meals and support physically, emotionally, spiritually and also in terms of education. The work is all carried out in a loving family environment. EIT's basic modus operandi has always been to: Possess a default thinking that wherever possible we empower local indigenous community leaders to have as much responsibility to take on as much of the work as possible instead of using western personnel. This has meant that all of our 19 safe houses (located in Honduras, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Kolkata (India), Nepal and Bhutan) are run by indigenous house parents who are chosen by established local indigenous boards, As a western organisation, we see our mission as working to encourage indigenous folk to have the freedom to make as many decisions as possible on their own. We monitor the work, we give specialised training, lead in fund raising and we encourage them to think in terms of expansion and not simply "maintaining", We work with young people from a broad range of religious and cultural backgrounds. Many 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 are happy to go to difficult places and work amongst people from difficult backgrounds, Because of our operation style, we can be both very flexible and of course we have been able to work amongst secluded tribes/ethnic groups that western organisations would never be able to reach into, It may be that a child lives within one of our project homes for a period of several years, so we can quietly and calmly take our time to develop them by showing love and simple encouragement and assisting them to make positive life decisions, We have no desire to separate the children from their own village homes and actively encourage guardians' participation. During school holidays the children return to their families, Though we may be a faith-based not for profit, we have no interest in criticising the religions or belief system of others. We have seen a very good level of positive development amongst our young people. Some have risen to become medical doctors, professional engineers, accountants, one is an assistant university professor and another a school principal while others are human rights lawyers, community workers and still others are working in NGO organisations. Also, many have become schoolteachers. One of our young men was recently selected to study to become a surgeon at India's top ranked medical college. The young people living in the homes are normally aged between 13 - 20 years. We remain in close contact with many of our graduates who now no longer live in our homes and who instead are either attending university or polytechnic. Other graduates have now completed their tertiary studies. Now our boards in Thailand, Cambodia and Nepal are comprised of a number of our graduates in fact two of the boards are chaired by our graduates.