By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
DAVID Cross cared so much about the plight of children sold into slavery that he moved to Thailand to make whatever difference he could.
The former Maranatha Christian School student moved to the country in 2010 with his wife, Andrea, and three children to join the ZOE Foundation, which he still volunteers with today.
Now students from David’s old school are also going to do whatever they can for the children in Thailand, with plans to raise $10,000 for those kids at risk of, or who have been rescued from, trafficking and enslavement.
The fund-raising campaign officially kicked off at Maranatha’s Endeavour Hills campus on Tuesday.
“What the students have offered to do is amazing; we wanted to do something to improve the lives of the kids at ZOE,” David said.
“They’re helping to raise money for a library at the Foundation. All for educational purposes, for children we’ve rescued that can’t go to school.
“There are over 70 children at the Zoe Foundation. We’ve got bookshelves but hardly any books, and there’s nothing sadder than an empty bookshelf.”
The Zoe Foundation, which originated in the United States, began in Thailand in 2003 and has since been granted legal status by the country’s government.
The foundation sees its mission as rescuing and rehabilitating children who are sold, or at risk of being sold, into slavery.
Maranatha Christian School Principal Roderick Crouch commended the students on their fund-raising initiative, noting the school’s existing partnership with orphanages in Thailand that sees student groups travel to the country to volunteer assistance throughout the year.
“There’s two views of children in the world,” Dr Crouch said.
“Children are precious, but in other parts of the world it’s seen that children are a resource, and it’s important for children to understand there is a second view – that view’s wrong and how can we change that?
“We introduce that with a sensitivity.”
For more information about the ZOE Foundation, visit www.zoefoundation.org.au.
