Written by: Meredith Dunn

Friends! It has been much too long. I’m sorry for my extended leave of absence as of late. But I promise … I have a pretty good excuse. Let’s catch up, yes?

Let’s talk Twinkies first.

The Twinkie Project has undergone some serious plastic surgery. Face-lift. Tummy tuck. Lipo. The works. We’ve trimmed her up real nice and purdy. But don’t fret, it’s all for the best.

Who was the surgeon, you ask? Thankfully, not me. I did not excel in anatomy.

This project has been handed off to a team, as in several people, who will be taking it to infinity and beyond. Three highly qualified and ridiculously creative gentlemen are now driving the Twinkie Project to another level of awesomeness. I am still participating in helping to bring it to life, just on a smaller, less time-consuming scale.

Among the many changes that it has seen, the Twinkie Project has been renamed. Granted, the “Twinkie Project” was never on its birth certificate, so the code name still applies for now.

Without giving too much away, I will say this — it has grown much larger than I would have dared to dream.

Turns out the basic idea behind it — sending young people abroad to broadcast their lives to us and teach us about countries and peoples we don’t know — is not so new. As a matter of fact, there are several other organizations and companies that have pioneered this concept.

Only thing is … Compassion is the only one among the crowd that really does something so beautifully different — partnering with the church; equipping pastors to minister to their communities more holistically. We empower and enable people who have the hearts for ministry but not the means.

So while our little “Twinkie” looks like the other Twinkies on the outside, we’re filled with something entirely different on the inside.

Who knew Twinkies could make for such spiritual metaphors? Moving on. Read the rest of this entry »

Written by: Web Team

My name is Peninah Esianoi Pashile. I was a sponsored child at Imaroro Child Develoment Center in Kenya. I would like to share my story with you and hope that it will be an inspiration and encouragement to all who are dedicating their time and resources to releasing children from poverty in Jesus’ name.

Your work is not in vain; your acts of compassion are changing the world day by day.

I was born in 1982, the fifth of seven children in the household. I was born and brought up in a remote village of Empuyiankat in Kajiado district, Rift Valley province in Kenya.

My father is a polygamist, married to three wives with 24 children. My father and his wives have no formal education.

As a girl in the highly patriarchal Maasai community, my chances of attaining an education were dim. Girls in my community are raised to be submissive and dependent upon men all their lives.

Female genital mutilation (FGM) and forced marriages of 13-year-old girls to men decades older than them characterize the lives of 99 percent of Maasai girls. A gender-oppressive culture, few and understaffed education facilities, and long treks from home to school and back across the vast savanna plains full of wild animals are some of the challenges girls in my community endure to access education.

I started school at the age of 6 at Imaroro Primary School. My enrollment to school and the Compassion program was the defining event of my life. Read the rest of this entry »

Written by: Web Team

Another clip from our video interview with the Moody Bible Institute scholars.

After watching it, will you sponsor a Leadership Development Program student? You can do so by yourself, but you can also do it as a group, with family, friends, co-workers, your small group, etc.

Written by: Web Team

More specifically, do you sponsor a child in one of these three child development centers in El Salvador?

• ES526, Bethel Student Center
• ES808, Cachorros de León Student Center
• ES782, Comisión de Amor Student Center

If you do sponsor a child in one of those three centers, let us know. These are the centers that the CompassionBloggers will visit next week, and we have someone going who is willing to TRY to get a photo of your child for you.

We can’t guarantee success, but we will do our best.

Please don’t leave your child’s name or number in your comment. Just let us know you have a child at one of the centers and someone will contact you via e-mail to get the information. Or you can send us your information via our contact form.

From Nov. 9 to 13, four bloggers will witness firsthand how we minister to the poor of El Salvador. Visit CompassionBloggers.com daily to travel with them through their stories, pictures and videos.

Use this code to post the banner on your blog.

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Written by: Web Team

These tips come courtesy of Shaun Groves, learned from his personal experience as a speaker on behalf of children in poverty, figuring out what works and what doesn’t … usually.

They are relevant whether you’re speaking in front of a crowd of thousands or to one person in an elevator.

They are as true for persuading people via Twitter, blogs or Facebook as they are for concerts and festivals.

They will help you effectively speak up on behalf of children in need and our holistic Christian approach to releasing children from poverty in Jesus’ name.

1. Tell us a story. The best arguments and the greatest passion in the world are forgotten sooner than a story. Every bit of advice here can be carried out in a story.
2. Don’t lie. Exaggerating is lying.
3. Why do you care? You’re not in it for the money, right? No, you saw something, felt something, learned something once that changed your heart and mind. You were captivated, fell in love, got angry. Tell us a story that shows us why you care and we’ll probably care, too.

Read Shaun’s entire list.

Written by: Web Team

So, an emperor, a chief and a queen are all in a room together. The emperor is from Uganda. The chief is from the Dominican Republic. And the queen is from the Philippines. Who’s in charge?

Written by: Web Team

Think about it for a second. A birthday may be the most special day in a little kid’s life. Yet nearly 9 million kids a year never make it to their fifth birthday.

Our Child Survival Program helps fight the infant mortality problem plaguing these vulnerable children.