FOUNDERS
Psalm 17:5
I carefully obey your commands; I do not deviate from them.
FEDICE was founded in 1994 as a dream and vision of Violeta Groth Vaca and Víctor 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 holistic social and economic development, Violeta and Víctor were lifelong missionaries, working in Ecuador, Switzerland, and Paraguay — where Víctor was imprisoned for his activities and later both were exiled from the country.
They also worked in Europe as consultants to the World Council of Churches on development projects around the world.
They forged their final great chapter by empowering dozens of communities in Ecuador — Víctor's country of origin — to work with them in seeking to overcome cyclical poverty and injustice by expanding sustainable economic opportunities. Thank God, 28 years later, although both have passed, their legacy lives on.
Yes, we stand firm! With the passing of the years, the traces of Violeta and Víctor have not been erased; two human beings who still live in each of the activities that we develop with the communities with successful projects that generate progress in each family.
Violeta and Víctor taught us many things, among them the most important "Loving your neighbor" let's look at their great way of loving:
Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.
Hebrews 13:7 (TLV).
VIOLET`S BIOGRAPHY
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 studied at North Park College in Chicago where she spent two years in a Biblical Studies program. After finishing the program Violet did home missions work for the Covenant Church in Northern Michigan. She then attended the University of Minnesota, where she received a BA in English and Education.
After graduating, Violet went to Ecuador in 1950 through the Covenant Church’s foreign missions’ program and taught English at Theodore Anderson High School in Quito as well as teaching in Ibarra in Northern Ecuador. It was in Ibarra where Violet met Victor Vaca. After a long courtship they married on September 25, 1965 and together they served rural families in Ecuador, Paraguay, and all over the world.