Protecting the Children in Our Program

Protecting Our Children

In Indonesia, children’s rights are a critical issue — as in many countries, women and children are often the most vulnerable members of the community. Compassion Indonesia understands the urgent need to address this issue that often remains silent.

Continue Reading ›

A Typical Day at a Child Development Center in Brazil

The weather is cold, and it is hard to get out of the bed. It’s 7:30 in the morning on a typical day, and despite his wanting to stay under the blankets, Renan has an appointment he wouldn’t miss for anything. boy getting out of bed

Lilian, his young mother, enters the colorful room. “Wake up!” she says.

The children’s bedroom used to be the family’s kitchen before the improvement they made after receiving a Christmas gift from her son’s sponsor: a new floor and new paint on the bedroom’s walls. The children decorated the room.

Renan stands up and starts making his bed. The boy goes to the bathroom and brushes his teeth — just like he was taught at the child development center where he is enrolled —  and combs his hair.

He carefully puts on his student center uniform before leaving home with his older brother Jean, who also attends the center. The church gives each of the children a T-shirt to wear. (more…)

Continue Reading ›
Christmas in Haiti

Christmas in Haiti

In Haiti, Christmas is widely celebrated by Christians and non-Christians alike as a holiday with non-religious aspects.

Continue Reading ›
You Foster Generosity When You Give a Christmas Gift

Christmas in Indonesia

One might think that celebrating Christmas in Indonesia – the world’s most populous Muslim nation – can be a problem. Even though 90 percent of Indonesia’s 220 million people are followers of Islam, it does not mean that Christmas is not celebrated.

The biggest signs of Christmas (i.e. the traditions of the Western festive season), can be seen in the malls. Most of the major stores in the larger cities like Bandung have huge Christmas trees, and restaurants tend to put on some manner of Christmas fares.

For example, the big stores have had their Christmas decorations up for weeks in anticipation of cashing in on the season. Naturally, hotels and malls cater to visitors by erecting Christmas trees ornately decorated, and “Merry Christmas” signs. Shopping hours are extended, and the seasonal specials jump out of nowhere.

There is a Christmas tree in every mall, and a man dressed in a Santa Claus suit and a white beard can be seen giving out presents to the children. It is the same in the other cities like Jakarta, where all the major department stores join in on the festive season.

One of Compassion’s partner churches in Bandung is Immanuel Baptist Church. Christmas decorations have been in place since the first week of December. A plastic Christmas tree stands by the front entrance door to welcome all the visitors; its snow-like glitter and many small butterflies on the leaves delight the small children.

Yes, the church entrance had been decorated with an artificial Christmas trees replete with pristine snow-like glittery ornaments and small butterflies – standing unaffected by the boiling tropical heat. (more…)

Continue Reading ›

Only One Season for Giving?

Season for giving Is there ever a wrong time to be generous?

The last two months of the year have traditionally been known as “the season of giving.” Whether it is the good cheer of the holidays or the appeal of potential tax deductions, the year’s end seems to prompt charitable giving . . . This year, I expect that end-of-year appeals will feature a double plea for generosity. Not only will they rely on the tried and true annual “season of giving” sentiment, but they will also likely include some version of the nearly ubiquitous theme:

In these tough economic times…

Now more than ever…

In today’s climate…

. . . But what are we really saying? If we are saying that this is the season for giving or that current economic conditions merit increased generosity, aren’t we implying that giving is unnecessary at other times of the year or when the American economy is strong?

Read more at newsweek.washingtonpost.com

Continue Reading ›

Using One Word to Fight Your Personal Spiritual Poverty in 2010

Do you talk with God? Or do you talk at Him or to Him? How much of your prayer life, your conversations with God, is about you? You talking. What you want or need. What you think should happen. When you’re listening, are you interested in what’s on God’s mind? Or are you really just listening for God to talk about the subjects you choose?

Continue Reading ›

What Are You Doing, God?

The night before, we had prayed that God would do with us what He would. That we would be open and available to what He wanted to do for us … to break our hearts on this trip.

Continue Reading ›

Angelica’s Father Is Missing

Angelica’s father is missing. The last time he’d gone astray, he was found after a few weeks, but now it’s been months. Angelica’s mother explains that her husband is mentally ill. He used to work on the farm, strong as a water buffalo.

“He just went home one day afraid of dying,” says Emma, Angelica’s mother. “After that, he kept on saying ‘they are going to kill me’ over and over until he lost all sense of reality.”

Since then, Emma took on the responsibility of raising their four children. Angelica, 6, is the youngest. Emma worked hard day and night as a house-help, earning only $25 a month, until she developed a heart ailment. (more…)

Continue Reading ›

Does My Sponsored Child Really Need My Help?

In all the time and through all the experiences you’ve had with Compassion, have you ever questioned whether the child you sponsor really needs your help?

Have you ever seen a photo of a Compassion-assisted child and thought, “That kid doesn’t look poor. Does he really need Compassion?”

If so, you’re not alone. Those thoughts even enter my mind – The Poverty of ME.

I have a preconceived notion of what abject poverty in the developing world should look like, and it doesn’t involve a DVD player, television or refrigerator.

My preconception doesn’t mean the child isn’t in need. It just means that the child doesn’t seem to be in the type of need that I feel as rewarded in fighting, when compared to other children’s needs.

To me, this is the same thing I face when I look at all the other needs in the world I’m not helping with — the homeless in America, the persecuted church in China, etc.

I can’t help with everything, so I have to make judgment calls based on something, and sometimes that something happens to be appearances.

So in light of this,

Would your child’s easy access to e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, etc. affect the level of poverty you perceive your sponsored child enduring?

Continue Reading ›

H is for Hunger

Here’s a sad bedtime story: One out of seven people in the world go to bed hungry every night, victims of extreme poverty.

You can help them have a happier ending – compassion.com/youcan

an open book with boy on a mat

Continue Reading ›

A Clean Drinking Water Lesson

The availability of clean water can be taken for granted in developed countries such as the U.S. or U.K. For people in Bangladesh, however, clean water can be scarce.

Watch the clean drinking water video and subscribe to Compassion YouTube for more stories.

In many remote places in Bangladesh, people may never drink clean water. They suffer from waterborne diseases, which are adopted into their lives as normal.

Flying over Bangladesh, you see hundreds of rivers and canals covering the country. But most of these water sources are badly polluted and not safe for drinking or other uses.

So not only is it difficult to provide food for everybody in this impoverished country, it is even more difficult to ensure safe drinking water for the people of Bangladesh.

Haydarnashi Child Sponsorship Program has had a problem finding clean water from the very beginning. The cook had to carry drinking water for 142 children every day. He also had to carry the water for daily cooking. (more…)

Continue Reading ›

Comfort the Afflicted and Afflict the Comfortable

We must ignite passion for children in poverty, to the glory of God. Nobody is garbage.

Watch Comfort the Afflicted and Afflict the Comfortable and subscribe to Compassion YouTube for more stories.

Continue Reading ›