From Tragedy, Make Something Beautiful

How many of us have managed to escape tragedy in some form or another? All of us, at some point, struggle through heartaches and experience moments that threaten to tear us apart. But there’s something else that is also true.

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Doing the Right Thing: A Man Who Took No Bribe

While Patrick was working as an intern at a pharmaceutical company, he was asked repeatedly to pass a drug that had harmful chemicals in it. In fact, Patrick was offered 10 million Ugandan shillings — enough for him and his family to buy land and a new house.

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The Road to Success Is Paved With Diligence

Siva is a timid school girl, but she is also a talented champion in silambam, a popular martial art in southern India. Siva is also one of the most refreshing personalities you could come across.

When Selvi and Kalimuthu gave birth to little Siva at Sandhapettai in Madurai, the odds were stacked against the girl. She was born into a family living in abject poverty. Her two brothers discontinued their studies at a young age because there was no money. In a family of eight with little resources, life seemed hard for little Siva.

Siva’s parents are uneducated. Her mother is a housewife. Her father works at construction sites, earning around $4 per day. They have two sheep and a cow. They sell the milk.

Siva practices silambam

Siva practices silambam with the utmost care and precision.

Fortunately, Siva was registered in Compassion and now she is in 10th grade in the Diocese of Madurai and Ramnad Girls’ High School. She has begun to set an example for others. She mingles well with the other children. She is responsible in her work and also very obedient.

She is especially known for time management. She completes all work on time. She is very disciplined in all that she does. She always stands first in her class. In fact, she even gets first place in general knowledge.

Siva prays and reads the Bible regularly. She always gets first in the Bible quiz. She participates in youth camps, youth meetings and games. She loves to be a part of all spiritual meetings. She shares about the Lord to her friends. She is a humble girl and loved by all.

Indeed, Siva wears many crowns. And this young girl has yet another talent given by the Almighty.

She is extremely good at silambam. Silambam is stick fighting, a traditional south Indian martial art. This style is supposed to have originated from Kerala, a coastal south Indian state. Natives used bamboo staves to defend themselves against wild animals. The techniques were perfected into the art of silambam.

The stick used in silambam is 1.68 meters long (5.5 feet), and its diameter is between 1.5 and 2 inches. Its weight ranges from 1 to 1.5 pounds. For training and sparring, a rattan staff is used since it is supple and does not break easily. But a hardwood staff can also be used to gain strength. At times, a little blade is added, acting like a short spear, with the same technique. (more…)

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We Wish You a Very Merry Christmas

With undying gratitude to our Heavenly Father for seeing us through the year, and to you, sponsors, donors, and friends of Compassion, for your prayers, love and support in 2010 – Merry Christmas from Compassion International!

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Purifying Fire: Burning Away Our Impurities

This work is imperfect because it involves people. Compassion is not program-focused (though program models are used) – it’s intensely, insanely, beautifully child-focused. And sometimes, all of the questions in your letters don’t get answered. Sometimes a child drops out of the program and you don’t get an explanation. Sometimes, you feel frustrated because you want something to work better.

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young girl hitting piñata in front of crowd of children

Christmas in Nicaragua

The festive decorations and music create an atmosphere of celebration. Bible verse competitions are held among the different ages. They also have a piñata, party jumper, delicious lunch and a short devotion by the pastor. Distributing the much-anticipated Christmas presents is the final highlight.

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Rural Life in the Philippines

Due to poverty, many children drop out of school to work in sugarcane plantations. Here, they are exploited and forced to work long hours for meager pay. Negros Occidental has the highest magnitude of poor families in the country, mostly concentrated in rural areas. About 33 percent of the population lives on less than $1 a day.

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Urban Life in the Philippines

Metro Manila, seen as a “land of opportunities,” has lured many people from different provinces to work and live here. About 35 percent of the families live in informal slum areas that are unfit for settlement, such as in low-lying flood plains, on riverbanks, near highways and railroads, and on dumpsites.

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lemonade stand

Got Any Great Fundraising Ideas?

We have this spot where we can share our fundraising ideas and experiences. Bake sales, aluminum can drives, Compassion parties, golf tournaments, lemonade stands — this is the place to bring it. If you’ve organized an event already, please share what you did. What worked? What didn’t work? What would you do differently?

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smiling young man

A Past Full of Poverty, a Future Full of Hope

Just as artists on the stage have people working behind the scenes to make them shine, Felipe has a grateful heart toward one person who helped him shine: his sponsor, Barry. “If it wasn’t for him, his love, his letters, and his sponsorship maintaining me in the center, I’m sure that I would not be who I am today,” Felipe says, repeating his gratitude often.

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happy children holding letters

Delivering Hope

Sponsored children receive letters from their sponsors. Unsponsored children do not.

Andrea, one of the Compassion workers and our translator, told me that the only time there is a true distinction between a child who is unsponsored and a child who is sponsored is when letters are handed out. It’s a little bit like the unsponsored children are wearing scarlet letters.

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graphic describing mixing mud in with food

Crackers or Mud?

Recently, I read about how the poor in Haiti have to mix mud in their food to make it go further. Mud. They mix it with flour to make a few more biscuits or simply fry it up with cooking oil or lard and salt to give it a bit of taste. Imagine a mother having to scoop up mud just to have something to feed her hungry children.

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