Adopting A Child’s Dreams and Spirit

For years ELI’s has been helping the children of Kipkaren Children’s Home and Illula Childen’s Home in Kenya lead lives full of dreams and hope. ELI’s volunteers have assisted by providing spiritual, emotional, and academic development to the many children in these centers. In turn, many of these children have become leaders in their communities and, one-by-one, are also passing along what they have learned to help lift some of the most impoverished areas in Kenya.

Many of these children seek homes but, if you are unable to adopt, now ELI is making it possible for donors to sponsor specific children in these orphanages and live their development to adulthood. A big part of parenthood is listening, providing guidance and being there when a child needs you. Now you can provide this level of parenthood right from your desk by sponsoring a specific child at one of these centers.
To learn more about this program, please email info@empoweringlives.org.

Battling AIDS/HIV

ELI has, for years, sponsored health ministries throughout East Africa and continues to get involved on initiatives that are important to the community they serve. That is why ELI is collaborating with www.worldvisionexperience.org to help bring added attention (and funding) to the many individuals in Africa affected by AIDS/HIV.

Please consider joining us in supporting this effort!

Have a Cow, Man!

How many times have we felt frustrated about not being able to accomplish a specific task?   What if that frustration was compounded by not being able to provide for your family?

The peoples of East Africa face such frustration everyday. Many families do not have enough money, food, or water to live comfortably. While many would like to work, jobs are scarce. Without jobs, there is no money. Without money, there is no…it’s an endless cycle, and a downward spiral.

Empowering Lives International (ELI) is trying to put an end to this cycle of poverty…and having a cow doing it too!  To help East African families feed themselves and provide a source of income, ELI developed the “Have a Cow” program.  ELI “loans” a dairy cow to a family that nurtures and cares for that animal until she gives birth to a new calf. The family keeps the dairy cow, but pays off their loan by returning the calf to ELI.  The family can then use the cow’s milk for sustenance and as a source of income for themselves —helping to break the cycle of poverty for the family.

If you would like to donate and contribute to this exciting program, please contact us at info@empoweringlives.org and have a cow!

Yes We Kenya!

The Empowering Lives International team in Kenya has been working hard on a program called the Dynamic Business Start-up Program (DBSP). It is a program that targets entrepreneurial minded people and provides them with hands-on training on how to use a small amount of capital to generate a profit. General computer, reading and writing courses are also taught. This program teaches wide-ranging business practices relevant to the environment and culture that the student would interact with on a daily basis. One of our most popular programs involve general agricultural training where individuals are taught how to be farmers both on the land and from a business perspective.

In addition, and in keeping with the mission of our organization, each student is then asked to return home and share the information they have learned with their community. Our hope is to not only foster an individual’s eagerness to learn and provide a better life for their family, but to also create a situation where they are also empowering lives within their network.

For more information about this program, please visit our website at www.empoweringlives.org or email us at info@empoweringlives.org.

Empowering Through Microfinance

Microfinance (or microcredit) has always been connected with the development of entrepreneurs in developing countries through the lending of capital. Starting in the 1970s, microcredit programs began lending to groups of women who would collectively make sure the loans would be repaid. The amount of capital was relatively small compared to the lending practices of multinational banks. Yet these “micro” loans opened the doors for people to take care of their families by setting up their own enterprises. These loans have historically been repaid at extraordinarily high rate —-refuting the conventional assumption that poor people were not “creditworthy” or good customers.

At ELI we have several individuals interested in opening up their own business and looking for training and funding to help them be successful. If you are interested in being part of an ELI micro-financing network, please contact our office at info@empoweringlives.org

Blogging Our Empowering Journey

Hello and welcome to Empowering Lives International’s new blog.

Our organization is growing—-funding the construction of new hospitals, sponsoring professional training, creating a home for hundreds of orphaned children, bringing health care to rural communities, and helping vast numbers of individuals in East Africa. Our goals are lofty and straight from the heart.

We also want to spread our message and inform others, interested in making a difference in the lives of individuals close to home and as well as abroad, about our work and giving them an opportunity to participate.  Whether through donation, event attendance, specific campaign effort participation, or simply spreading the word—there is a way we can all embark on the empowering journey together.

So, to take that first step, bookmark this site and visit it often.  Here you’ll find information about our day-to-day efforts working behind the scenes to help others.  You’ll find news links and learn about area sponsors who share similar goals.  You’ll find new ways to help our daily efforts right from your desk.

I look forward to your comments and feedback.  Until then, have a blessed day!

ELI