ZOE is a program of support and encouragement for people (children, really) who are trying to make their own way.  We give financial assistance to support them, which appears (at least in part) in the form of grants for them to get started, with things like crop seed or animals, if they choose the route of farming (so they can sell the produce of the crops they plant, or eggs or milk) or training, if they choose trades such as barbering or carpentry.

But also (and this is why we’re physically traveling to Africa), it is a ministry of social support.  We are traveling to meet our friends,to show them that we are interested in their progress, and to learn more about them so we can bring their stories back to our congregation.

(Here is a more eloquent version of the same thing: UnforgettableJourneys.pdf.)

These are the families we are traveling to meet. We have had their names on our refrigerator door for the last six months, praying for them, and wondering how they are.  Now we finally get to meet them.