Written by: Amber Van Schooneveld

Children are the most ignored and vulnerable group in Bangladesh, and the children we serve there are some of the poorest in the world.

But these children, who live in circumstances we can’t imagine, are learning to see hope in their lives and how to help others.

When they heard about the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti and that Compassion-assisted children were affected, it broke their hearts. Every day they were at the development center, they prayed. But they went beyond that as well.

Read the rest of this entry »

Written by: Marsalina Lekan

At some point, everyone feels like God has left them. Yunita, one of the youngest translators for Compassion Indonesia, felt as though she had been abandoned by God until she read the words of a sponsor.

Yunita had grown up filled with passion for God. She entered the university in 2001, became involved in a campus ministry, and was entrusted to become the leader of the organization in 2006.

Yunita has a heart for children, and with six of her friends she established a group to help children from a landfill in Sumampow, Manado — children who don’t have the opportunity to go to school. She and her friends go to the landfill every Friday and Saturday to teach the children.

God’s love for her kept flowing. She had taken English literacy as her major, which gave her the opportunity to translate child letters for Compassion East Indonesia. Even though she was a student and didn’t have much time every day, she volunteered to translate 100 letters a week, which she’s been doing since 2006.

God had entrusted Yunita with many things and she felt alive. Though she came from a broken home, she began to believe that she could do anything. But all the success caused her to become arrogant. She thought that she would be able to do anything by her own effort.

Read the rest of this entry »

Written by: John Bayingana Gatete

The 1994 genocide destroyed Rwanda’s fragile economic base, severely impoverished the population, particularly women and children, and eroded the country’s ability to attract private and external investment. However, Rwanda has made significant progress in stabilizing and rehabilitating its economy since then.

Continued growth in this area depends on the maintenance of international aid levels, the strengthening of world prices of coffee and tea, and on having strong future leaders with good character — something Compassion Rwanda is in the forefront of helping develop.

In a recent interview, Pastor Matthias, parish priest of Gahanga Anglican Church, expressed his views on how sponsorship can influence the political arena of his country.

Read the rest of this entry »

Written by: Galia Oropeza

At only 5 years of age, Michelle had to say goodbye to one of the places she loves the most: her child development center.

Michelle has been sponsored since she was 3. She was raised by her grandmother, who registered her at the center. But when Michelle’s stepfather found a job in another city, they decided to move there.

Often, children and families don’t tell church staff they are moving. The children suddenly disappear, so the tutors have to go look for them.

Whenever a child stops coming to a development center, the tutor or social worker will visit the child’s home to find out what is happening. The tutors even go to the schools, and usually that’s where they find out the child has moved to another place.

When Michelle stopped attending the center for a couple of weeks, her tutor went to visit Michelle’s home. The tutor was told Michelle wasn’t coming back.

Read the rest of this entry »

Written by: David Adhikary

The people of the Santal community have lived in the northwest region of Bangladesh for hundreds of years. They are one of the major tribes in Bangladesh.

The features of the Santal people are quite similar to those of the Bengali people, the original inhabitants of Bangladesh, but the Santal people are a bit darker in color and have curly hair.

The Santal people practice ethnic religions or idolism. They do not practice Hinduism, but they worship several Hindu gods along with nature. They have their own tribe language, called Santali. It is completely different from the Bengali mother tongue, Bangla.

About a century ago, the Santal tribe possessed vast land properties in the northern part of Bangladesh. But according to Santal history, some cunning people from other communities took advantage of their addiction to home-made alcohol called Chuani and grabbed their land, not only making the Santal tribe poor but also ruling them for decades.

Read the rest of this entry »

Written by: Paul Henri Kabore

 Twelve-year-old Fadilatou is one of the top five scholars of her age in all of Burkina Faso. She is the youngest child of the family, with six brothers and sisters. Because of her parents’ hospitality, they have received some of their nephews and nieces, along with their children, so the total number of people in the family is 23.

Fadilatou’s father was a driver, but is now too old to work, so he stays at home all day taking care of his grandchildren.

Her mother is a hairdresser and provides food for all the family with her income of less than $2 a day. Sometimes the mother goes to bed without eating, so the rest of the family can share the little food she has gathered.

In 2004 Fadilatou enrolled at the Assemblies of God Patte d’Oie Child Development Center. Her father was not for it because he did not know about the ministry of Compassion, but her mother insisted and convinced him to allow the girl to be part of the program.

Since she joined, Fadilatou has been the top pupil in class. She dreams of going to a military academy next year. “I would like to become minister of defense of the country,” Fadilatou tells her parents.

Read the rest of this entry »

Written by: Amber Van Schooneveld

I am a sucker for reality TV. Seriously, if someone is weighing himself or trying to win a quick-fire cooking challenge or ripping down a house on TV, I’m there.

But I’ve got to tell you, working at Compassion spoils you for pop culture. Suddenly everything is in perspective.

Before starting my job here, I used to love Extreme Home Makeover. I loved seeing the crazy kitchens, the creative design and the happy people. I would cry with them when they yelled with Ty, “Bus driver, move that bus!” And I still do love the heart of helping and generosity it is spreading.

But since being daily faced with the realities of the majority world, I can’t help but be distressed by our sometimes-trend toward bigger is better and more is more attitude. We seem to be in a never-ending game of one-upmanship.

I don’t personally think there’s anything inherently wrong or sinful about a big house. What is dangerous is the subtle message we are ingesting that if our homes aren’t big, if they aren’t new, if they aren’t decked with the trendiest design, it’s a reason to shake our heads shamefully. We can begin to look around at what we have and think, “This isn’t that great” when we compare it to the over-the-top luxury we see.

It’s sad. We have so much! Think of Joshua’s home in Indonesia. Read the rest of this entry »

Written by: Web Team

The Saturday program at Mathare Community Outreach begins by focusing on the spiritual development of the children. It starts with devotions and worship and is followed by 30 minutes of small group Bible study.

For the children who have accepted Christ as their Savior, the center staff conduct a discipleship class which occurs during the Bible study.

In addition to the spiritual development of the children, the center has programs to address the physical, social and economic needs of the children.

The key factor in creating a stable economic future for the children is education; Education is the key.

But beyond focusing on excellence in school, the center staff help identify and develop the talents of the children, musically and artistically, so they have even greater opportunities to succeed.

The center has a cooking program, choir and music program and drama team and works with the children to develop their public speaking abilities.

Here’s a sample of what the kids are producing.

Read the rest of this entry »