FOUNDERS
Psalm 17:5 (NIV)
I have held fast to your ways; I have never departed from them.
FEDICE was founded in 1994 as a dream and vision of Violeta Groth Vaca and Victor Vaca with $8,000 that Violeta had been able to save over the years. Their vision was to build an organization based on the active gospel of Christ, with an emphasis on social justice, unity and peace.
Focused on social, integral and economic development, Violeta and Victor were lifelong missionaries, working in Ecuador, Switzerland, and Paraguay—where Victor was imprisoned for his activities and subsequently exiled from the country. They later traveled to Europe as consultants for the World Council of Churches on development projects around the world.
They forged their final great chapter by empowering dozens of communities in Ecuador — Victor’s home country — to work with them to overcome cyclical poverty and injustice by expanding sustainable economic opportunities. Thankfully, 28 years later, although both have passed away, their legacy lives on.
Yes, we are still strong! Over the years, the footprints of Violeta and Victor have not been erased; two human beings who still live in each of the activities we develop with the communities with successful projects that generate progress in each family.
Violeta and Victor taught us many things, among them the most important one: “Love your neighbor.” Let’s look at their great way of loving:
Pay attention to your leaders who taught you God's message. Consider the results of their good lives and imitate their faith. Hebrews 13:7 (PDT).
BIOGRAPHY OF VIOLET GROTH
Violet Groth was born in Braham, Minnesota in 1919. She grew up on a small farm with her parents, 2 brothers, and 2 sisters. She graduated from Braham High School. She attended North Park College in Chicago where she spent two years in a Bible Studies program. After completing the program, Violet did home missionary work for the Covenant Church in Northern Michigan. She then attended the University of Minnesota where she received a Bachelor of Arts in English and Education. After graduating, Violet traveled to Ecuador in 1950 through the Covenant Church's foreign missions program and taught English at Theodore Anderson College in Quito as well as teaching in Ibarra in Northern Ecuador. It was in Ibarra that Violet met Victor Vaca. After a long courtship they were married on September 25, 1965 and together they served rural families in Ecuador, Paraguay, and around the world.