Leading God’s Ministry of Light

Of the thousands of villages in Indonesia, nearly 20 percent remain dark, unreached by electricity. Though sources of energy such as rivers are plentiful and accessible, they remain untouched by technology and have not yet been tapped as electricity sources.

smiling young man in blue shirtWith a university major in electrical engineering, Ronny has a big dream to minister to the poor. He believes that providing electricity is one strategic way to help eradicate poverty in Indonesia.

“I want to help the poor people in Papua villages by providing them hydro-energy technology. They have the resources everywhere; now they need the expertise, technology and people who are willing to go there.”

Ronny considers studying and learning more about hydro energy and other power sources a calling. He has a dream to develop more hydro potential in eastern Indonesia, an area known for its severe poverty, widespread undeveloped areas and lack of human resources.

“When I was going through my transition into the Leadership Development Program, I asked God ‘Why was I here? What was my purpose?’ Surely it wasn’t just to be in the best university in the country. There has to be more to this life than that.”

The Institute of Technology in Bandung (ITB) is among the best technical schools in Indonesia. Only the smartest students are able to enroll. Applicants have to pass a competitive national exam, and the school selects only the best candidates as students. Ronny is the first Leadership Development Program student to enroll in ITB.

Though Ronny’s campus graduates around 15 electrical engineers per year, this number is still low compared with the country’s need for more than 700 electrical engineers every year.

Ronny realizes his country is in an energy crisis. The electricity shortage in Java and Sumatra has confirmed the problem. He hopes he will take part in resolving the energy crisis in his country when he graduates.

“If I wish to change my country, I wish I could be a Minister of Technology and Innovation, who will make a decree and order every university and campus to open their doors for more innovation and research for technology. I would urge them to apply it accordingly to the undeveloped areas in Indonesia.”

Right now Ronny will focus on studying hard and equipping himself with the skills and knowledge needed for the future.

Ronny will graduate in two years. He will then embark on a journey to fulfill his dream of shedding light on Indonesia’s electricity crisis.

“The good part about being in the Leadership Development Program is being able to help people. The hard part is every day you have to keep your focus and realize that you are in constant spiritual battle because that is what God calls me to be in this world — to be God’s minister.”

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Overcoming Racism in Colombia … in Jesus’ Name

Africans were first brought to Colombia to work as slaves during the colonial period of the 1500s. Many of their descendants still live in communities around Colombia. Although slavery was abolished in 1851, the Afro-Colombian community still faces much discrimination.

Jailer is a descendent of those slaves. He’s from Buenaventura, a port city on the coast of Colombia where most of the population is of African descent.

Buenaventura is a dangerous place for children to grow up. Many children experience abuse and violence within their families, which eventually leads them to lock their heart into an unbreakable shell to protect themselves. Many spend more and more time in the streets in an attempt to escape from reality, learning that only the tough survive.

As a child Jailer watched as this environment destroyed the dreams of his companions, who were seduced by the easy path and ended up robbing or killing at a young age, trapped in a lifestyle that’s not easy to leave.

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Music as an Instrument to Release Children From Poverty

Music has long played an important part in Indonesian culture. The Indonesian jofa is one of the most common traditional instruments and it is used in every occasion or celebration.

In Watuliney, a small village in southeast Minahasa, Indonesia, most of the people love music. Those who are able to play the  jofa also like to teach it to their children to perpetuate the musical tradition, but that opportunity does not come to all children. Most schools don’t provide a program for music. The parents who work as farmers can’t afford to buy the instruments for their children or to pay for the music course.

Because of his passion to preserve traditional culture, Adri, the coordinator of Silo Student Center, proposed to provide the jofa for children at the center. He believed that the children in his center had the talent and willingness to learn music.

After receiving a positive response from the church, Adri immediately checked the price of a jofa and ordered some made from a substitute material.

“We changed the material to plastic pipe. We call it jofa. Jofa is the basic instrument that has same tone as the original clarinet.”

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I Was a Christian Sponge in a Tub of Living Water

I’m a cynic. And I’m a contrarian. When the pop-culture collective is doing something, I usually don’t want any part of it. By staying aloof, I nourish my emotionally wounded soul on a diet rich in the fat of condescension. That’s how I feed my deflated sense of self. That’s how I roll.

Although I’m not always a cynical contrarian, it is often my default viewpoint, and this can be a stumbling block for a social media marketer — cynical contrarians don’t tend to mesh well with marketing objectives. Maybe this is a good thing for you.

In my opinion, most marketing is about numbers. Getting more of something. And by that narrow, cynical definition the One Act video is pure marketing.

But, in my opinion the One Act video transcends the castor oil taste manipulative marketing often leaves me with. And I think that’s because the “one act” this video refers to happened to change my life. I am not a sponsored child, never was, but the act of sponsoring a child took me down a path I never would’ve imagined.

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Take a Step: Change Doesn’t Happen When You Stand Still

I’m still not quite sure how I made it to Phoolwari Child Development Center in Delhi’s Suraj Park slum, but perhaps one never understands the directions and way to the places that exist beneath the radar.

I remember looking out the window of the van and noticing the markets, the vibrant colors of the fruits, the beautiful sarees and then the almost instantaneous transition to a land devastated by waste and trash. A desperate look in the eyes of all the children, women and men crowded together in the hollows of the dirt pathways lined with small dirt and cardboard-built homes.

Suraj Park is one of Delhi’s largest slums, with more than 400,000 people living there. I traveled small dirt pathways littered with trash and waste. Children and older women stopped and stared as my group passed (literally squeezed) by them. I wondered if they too were trying to understand how I had made it to the slum.

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One Act To Overwhelm Hopelessness

When the darkness of abject poverty engulfs a place, the devil takes over. But in the middle of desperation, you can intervene.

One act, one decision in Jesus’ name, is all it takes to allow hope to overwhelm the darkness.

See for yourself.

Watch One Act and subscribe to Compassion YouTube for more stories.

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I Command You to be Openhanded Towards the Poor

Last month, Wess visited Australia and we grabbed him for a chat about why he is sold on child sponsorship as a way to help children, and what the Bible tells us about poverty.

There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land. — Deuteronomy 15:11 (NIV)

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The Children’s Mite

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.

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There Is Power in Sponsor Letters … in Your Letters

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.

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How Can Christian Child Sponsorship Influence a Country’s Politics?

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.

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little girl dressed in pink sitting on a step

Why Children Leave Compassion International’s Child Sponsorship Program

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

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A group of smiling children in teal shirts

Serving the Santal Tribe of Bangladesh

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.

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