Seeds for the Harvest
The green leaves start to receive the first rays of the sun, leaving the darkness and cold of the night behind. It is 6 in the morning and the harvest looks ready – ready to be separated from the corn bush, ready to become part of a meal, and ready to be part of a change in the lives of an entire community.
This is the fruit of seeds planted with hope, watered with hard work and dreams, and, at last, harvested with joy.
Pastor Damian checks two sacks full of beans. It is just the beginning of the harvest and the fruits already look promising.
Another man, Brother Juan, a seasoned farmer with dark skin and gray hair, is a perfect example of a Salvadoran farmer – thin but somehow robust, quiet and wise. Juan has served as an adviser to Pastor Damian since they decided to implement program “Double Seed.”
Juan talks about the beans and how they should keep some leaves and dirt in the sack so the beans will not lose the humidity they need.
“This way, they can last for about a year,” he adds, and smiles, knowing that the efforts made these past three months have given results – promising results that translate into hope.
It has been three months since Double Seed started in the community of Corinto, in Zaragoza, a city located eight miles south of the capital city, San Salvador, in El Salvador.
These past months meant sweat and great efforts for the people, but it also meant hope for a future that did not seem so clear a few months before. (more…)
Continue Reading ›Fighting Infant Mortality in Tanzania
Martha sits on the chair facing the window, arms crossed, and gives a great sigh of relief. She looks at her big tummy and realizes that the days have advanced very quickly. Not many days are left before she visits the clinic.
Martha is six months pregnant. She is expecting that perhaps this time she will hold a baby in her hands, and be able to breast-feed it until weaning age. If this happens, the baby will be her first surviving child. Martha has had two pregnancies at an interval of three years, but neither of the children were delivered safely.
She lost her first child through labor complications because she could not reach the maternal clinic early enough to get medical attention. Her second child died a few days after birth because of lack of proper care and medical treatment.
Martha is so alert and aware at this time to do all she can to have her child survive. She cannot withstand the horrible idea of losing her third child after nine months of painful pregnancy. And she wants to be respected and not mocked in the village and in the family of her husband. She hopes the child inside her will reverse this. (more…)
Continue Reading ›
Meeting Sarath
NOTE FROM EDITOR: This content honors Compassion’s historical work in India. While we no longer have an India sponsorship program, we are grateful for the lives changed and meaningful work achieved through our sponsors and donors in our nearly 50 years there. For a detailed explanation of the end of our sponsorship program in India, please visit: compassion.com/india-update.
When I was in India last month, I met the boy I sponsor, Sarath. I had been hoping and praying to meet him, and I just happened to be taking a work trip to India.
I was a bit nervous. Don’t tell, but I’m not great with kids. I know I work at Compassion, but I’m a writer–more natural with a keyboard than with real, live people, let alone children who can smell fear. So I wasn’t sure how this was going to go.
The day I visited his village outside Chennai was Pongal, a festival in the state of Tamil Nadu. Along the way, we saw bright sand drawings outside every doorway and cows adorned with flower garlands for the holiday. I had put on my nicest salwar kameez, vainly worrying he would think I was some weird-looking old white lady.
We arrived in Sarath’s neighbhorhood, and I was so happy to see that it was a relatively nice, pleasant place. There was space between the homes, his family had their own bathroom and even a little courtyard to play in and wash dishes.
Sarath was waiting outside. I’d like to say we rushed toward each other and hugged and cried. We didn’t. (I learned on my trip that Indian children don’t seem to be as into hugging as other cultures are.)
We shook hands and he whispered something in my ear. He was very sweet. He was so shy that during the entirety of my visit, he only whispered a couple of short phrases in my ear, so quietly I couldn’t tell if they were in English or Tamil.
We stepped inside and I met his mother, two lovely sisters, aunt, and cousin, who all share the same little room for their home.
On their shelf was a picture of my husband and I. His mother told me that he likes to call us “Mommy” and “Daddy,” even though the project taught him to call us Auntie and Uncle. Sarath tells his mom that even if she dies, he knows he’ll be OK because there’s someone else who cares about him. (more…)
Update From Compassion Togo
Remember when we registered our first child in Togo? That was about five months ago. Would you like to know how Compassion Togo is doing now?
Good! We have that for you!
Visit Togo’s news page and read what the Acting Country Director has to say about Compassion’s impact in Togo thus far. We think you’ll be encouraged 🙂
Also, if you would like to stay updated on what is happening in our newest country, you can subscribe to the Togo feed.
Excuse us! Is that you? Are you still here? Move along now, go read the update!
In the Midst of Poverty
Abortion. War. Recession. Poverty. Terrorism. Injustice. Abuse. Hate. In a world full of so much evil, it’s easy to forget that God is still sitting on the throne. That He hasn’t abdicated His power. That He hasn’t forgotten or abandoned us.
Long Time No… Read?
So, it’s been a while, and in case any of you had wondered where I had disappeared to, I am back to fill you in on the latest happenings in my neck of the woods. Considering it has been over a month, I have a lot tell you, so buckle up. *que Top Gun theme song*
Last time we spoke, it was the week before Christmas and I had just made the move from the Web Team to Donor Services. While I am still under Curtis, I am also working closely with two powerhouse women that I want to introduce you to.
Malaria in Africa: Nana’s Story
The sun was at its zenith on that Thursday I visited. Nana had been at the center since the morning. After the holistic child development program, it was now lunchtime. Many children who were not part of the development center gathered round the church’s courtyard, staring at the registered children enjoying their meals.
Every Thursday there are two groups of children that meet at the development center: registered children and those waiting to be registered. It was such a privilege for Nana to be registered.
After lunch, Tou-Wend-Sida, the team leader, took Nana home. The boy’s left foot was wounded and he could not walk home from the student center. When the team leader and Nana reached home, the boy’s father was sitting in the shadow of one of the two huts that compose the household.
He was resting after working the whole morning to put harvest in a safe place in their loft made of high grass. A smile of complete satisfaction could be seen on his face. The rainy season had been satisfactory, and the harvest was better than in the previous year.
“Hopefully, there is going to be enough food this year after a time of severe food crisis that turned so many lives into hell on earth,” the boy’s father seemed to say to himself, while staring at the loft.
The boy’s mother and sisters were nearby, making brooms out of grass plucked in the field that they will use to sweep the courtyard and the huts.
Some months ago, Nana’s family was going through hard times. Nana was sick from malaria. The family might not have not noticed that the child was sick except for a fortunate accident. Nana was riding a bicycle with his older brother when his left foot got trapped in the rear wheel’s spokes. (more…)
Colors of Compassion
Is it possible for the corporate world to truly work with nonprofit organizations to effectively impact children in poverty? Absolutely!!
Such is the case with the recent partnership between DaySpring and Compassion. DaySpring has launched a new product line called “Colors of Compassion,” which will be used to help children receive critical medical care in the countries where Compassion operates its ministry.
A percentage of product sales (i.e., 6 percent of net wholesale sales) will be donated to Compassion to help children in its programs receive medical treatment and immunizations that will improve their overall health condition. This is critical in the developing world, where so much disease and other health risks threaten children every day.
DaySpring’s relationship with Compassion represents a unique partnership between two organizations that recognize the mutual benefits of working together to help those in need around the world.
While the world of business is understandably focused on product development, customer purchasing behavior and financial profitability, occasionally a company comes along that sees the importance of giving back, and acts upon it. Yet not all philanthropy carries a return-on-investment as wonderful as the one that will be realized by DaySpring.
The bottom line in this case is saving children’s lives.
I’d love to see more businesses investigating what their impact on children could be by partnering with Compassion. Perhaps there are other businesses that could benefit from this type of bottom line!
Letters From Kenya
It amazes me how often God uses the “least of these” among us to teach us valuable life lessons. Having worked here for a little more than four months, I have already experienced this phenomenon many times, as the children we serve “speak” to me about things such as hope, faith, love and trust.
Last week, they spoke to me again from a place where you wouldn’t expect to find much of anything at all except despair, doubt, hatred and cynicism. (more…)
Today Is My Birthday
Yesterday was our birthday, and “Today Is My Birthday” … so says our newest widget.
The “Today Is My Birthday” featured child widget is now available for you to use on your blog or MySpace profile. It’s not available for Facebook, but we do have a featured child widget you can use there.
The “Today Is My Birthday” featured child widget DOES work on wordpress.com blogs.
And it can also be used in your e-mail signature block.
Here is our original featured child widget. It works in the same places the “Today Is My Birthday” widget works.
A Picture of Poverty
I recently got back from India where I was with a team of people interviewing children and their families so we can share their stories and photos with you – Compassion sponsors.
At almost every home we visited, the families were so excited to receive us that they put together mini-feasts. At most homes we were given tea with milk and sugar, and many of them cut fresh coconuts for us, served with straws. I’ve never eaten so many coconuts in my life.
Others would serve us fresh cashews, bananas or pasayam, a sweet cardamom soup. Visiting four families a day, I was more than stuffed and a bit overwhelmed by the generosity. One of these families hadn’t even eaten the day before.
For the interviews, the children typically put on their best clothes, the outfits they got for Christmas from their sponsors.
They were so proud to look their best for us and for their photo shoot. This was a very big day for them. The neighbors would lean over the fences and stop in the streets trying to figure out what three white people with a boom mic, camera and video camera were doing in that place. It was often hard to interview over the hoots and comments of the neighbors.
We would take their portrait photos in their best outfits, and as we tried to get photos of them doing their typical chores around their house, we would ask them to put on what they might usually wear. They would come proudly out in their second-best outfit.
This was occasionally somewhat humorous. For example, one very sweet, very incredible 14-year-old girl was trying to pump water in her beautiful new and bejeweled salwar kameez she’d gotten for Christmas. The fuchsia scarf kept falling off her and into her bucket, which I could relate to, having unsuccessfully tried to keep my own scarf on all week.
You can see how it might be difficult to get pictures of what a typical scene might look like, with 20 neighbors shuffling in the background and the families in their Sunday finest, some even with special makeup for the day. And how it might be hard to get pictures displaying the need of the family. These families are excited to be profiled, and of course want to put their best foot forward. What girl wouldn’t want to put her best outfit on, rather than her scrubby clothes, for a very exciting international photo shoot?
I bring this up because I sometimes hear, “Those children in Compassion photos don’t look very needy.” And it’s true. Many of the sponsored children stand out among their neighbors. For one thing, they’ve been taught to comb their hair and brush their teeth at the child development center. They’re also potentially the only ones on the block who received a nice new outfit for Christmas.
But besides these obvious differences, the dignity of the child and the family comes first for Compassion. Chuck, the incredible photographer I was with on this trip, respects the 14-year-old girl’s desire to look her best. He doesn’t ask her to please replace her bright new outfit with the older one with holes in it. He captures her beauty and dignity as she would want to be seen by the world.
Happy Birthday!
Happy birthday to us!
Happy birthday to us!
Happy birthday to the Compassion blog!
Happy birthday to us!
Photo by Elizabeth Karanja – At the Mathare Child Development Center in Kenya, birthday parties for sponsored children are celebrated bi-monthly. The birthday children cut cakes and share with the other children. They also carry a piece home for their guardians. The celebrations play an important role in their social development.
Thanks for making our first birthday possible! Do you have any ideas about what our second year should look like?
