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My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

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My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

If you can please take your seats! Class is now in session.

This Thursday, April 25 is World Malaria Day and in recognition of this, we’re serving up a creative writing assignment.

Half of the world’s population, 3.3 billion people, is at risk of malaria. And this misnamed “bad air,” mal’ aria in Italian, kills approximately 655,000 children per year; many of who are under the age of 5 and most of who live in sub-Saharan Africa.

And it’s all because of mosquitoes.

So our creative writing assignment is for you to write a World Malaria Day blog post from the perspective of a mosquito, then share what you wrote via the link up below.

To help you get started we’ve written three different paragraphs for you to build upon. You can choose to finish one of them or write something completely from scratch. Either way, be sure to:

1. Link to our Malaria Intervention Initiative page.
2. Write something. Anything.

WRITING PROMPTS

Prompt 1:

Poverty is hopeless and depressing. And I’m an agent of poverty—in the preventable disease division. I’m effective too.

Every 30 seconds a child dies from malaria, and I get the assist. It’s enough to make a caring, God-fearing soul see red.

But who cares? Red is just a color, like the color of a blood cocktail with 50 thousand plasmodia swimming in a drop the size of the period at the end of this sentence.

Fifty thousand is overkill when it only takes one determined to do what needs to be done.

Prompt 2:

Buon giorno! (That’s hello in Italian.) My name is Massimo the Mosquito and yes, I am a member of the much-feared Malaria Mafia. I am sure you have heard of us.

Just a few years ago the World Health Organization said we were responsible for the deaths of 655,000 people. Although I cannot confirm or deny that, I do have a confession to make.

Lean closer. I don’t want the other mosquitoes to hear this…

Prompt 3:

Three years sober and going strong. I’ve been on the patch, that is, the flower patch.

It was lonely in those fields and don’t think I didn’t have my run-ins with the queen bee.

But others are joining me thanks to a movie named Twilight and a toothy vampire who fell in love with a human. Blood sucking just ain’t cool anymore.

Well I made the commitment long before that movie. It was in 2007 when I witnessed with my own bug eyes what my bite did to a child in poverty. You see, there I was…

Before you hurry off to get your creative writing on, remember this is a link-up. Make sure to come back here after you write your post and link-up with us. We’ll tweet out links to some of the posts throughout the week.

Now, get writing.*

*This is an official assignment for the Compassion Bloggers Network. Interested in joining the team? Learn more about how you can use your blogging influence to speak-up on behalf of children in poverty.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

My body ached. It felt like I was rolling around in a pit of broken glass. I came home from Ghana with severe chills, headache and a fever. I’d been in Africa two weeks, and these symptoms alarmed me. I recalled seeing the pesky little mosquitoes in my hotel room.

Could I be infected with malaria?

I thought I knew about malaria, but when you think you have it, you really research. For instance, did you know that it’s only the female mosquito that transmits malaria? Not only that, but she bites mostly between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m., which is why we stress the importance of sleeping under mosquito nets.

Two of my American colleagues contracted malaria during trips to Africa.

Carol Ward, Child Survival Program communications supervisor, and Terry Laura, health technical advisor, experienced firsthand that malaria is an equal-opportunity biter. It does not differentiate based on skin color, age or social status.

Their stories remind us, though, that malaria is not an equal-opportunity killer.

Carol recalls her bout with malaria:

“I had the most intense headache and the highest fever I’d ever had. It felt like a horrible case of the flu and kept me in bed for a week.”

Even though the pain was overwhelming, Carol describes what first went through her mind:

“I knew I’d survive, but I kept thinking about our beneficiaries and their families. I could go to the doctor and receive medical care and rest. But they have to endure so much. Many of our beneficiaries do not have ready access to medical care.”

Terry contracted malaria while living in Suna, Kenya – a rural area near Lake Victoria.

“Ironically, Suna means ‘mosquito’ in the local dialect. That should have been my first clue! Foreigners are more susceptible to contracting malaria because our bodies aren’t used to it. Many who live there build up a certain amount of immunity, but it still can be very deadly.”

Malaria, though a much less “glamorous” disease than AIDS, is even more destructive to Africa’s health and welfare. On average, malaria kills a child every 40 seconds; this is more than twice as many lives as claimed by AIDS. Of these deaths, 90 percent are in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Malaria also is the number-one cause of morbidity among beneficiaries in Compassion Africa. Last fiscal year, malaria accounted for 80 percent of beneficiary morbidity in Ghana and 65 percent in Togo. And of all the cases of illness reported in the East Africa region, 39 percent were malaria related.

However, we are doing all we can to fight malaria on behalf of our beneficiaries. Recently, we conducted a study of the effectiveness of our Complementary Interventions in Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Burkina Faso. We found that in these four countries, 99 percent of Compassion beneficiaries sleep under insecticide-treated mosquito nets (ITNs).

In Uganda, UNICEF reports, 47 percent of households have at least one ITN. Thanks to our ministry, we’re doubling that likelihood for our beneficiaries and their families!

Thankfully, my condition improved after only a few days, most likely simply a case of the flu. Nevertheless, the whole brief experience opened my eyes even wider to malaria.

I praise God that malaria has been eradicated in America and continue to pray that we can play a role in the eradication of malaria across the continent of Africa.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

Click on the infographic to view a larger image

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

Water is essential to life but can also be very dangerous. It is something we need for survival but can be the cause of so many problems.

Tomorrow is World Water Day. When you go to drink a glass of water, will you remember the children and families in developing countries who need safe drinking water? And, will tell someone about how to make a difference in the lives of children around the globe?

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

I bought Jesus a cup of coffee.

He didn’t look like the others who hurried in for their morning coffee. His dreads were matted against his face. He was dirty and desperately in need of a shave. Layers of dingy clothing clung to his thin frame.

He unnerved me. He stood much closer to me in line than is socially acceptable. I inched forward as he continued talking to himself.

I ordered my medium black coffee. Then it was his turn. He asked the man behind the counter how much a coffee costs. “A dollar sixty-eight.” “I’ll take that,” he said, his mind somewhere else.

“I’ve got his,” I offered.

I turned to him, “It’s on me.”

I paid for the coffee and the man barely noticed. His ingratitude perturbed me, and forced a heart-check as I drove to work. Who was I buying the coffee for anyway?

I bought that coffee for Jesus. The Lord reminded me,

“’Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” –Matthew 25:40, NIV

Jesus invites me to look at all of life’s opportunities through this lens. So as I plop my cup of coffee on my desk, I open our website and read about Compassion’s crucial work to provide clean water.

Then I turn from the website to continue reading the reports that come across my desk in regard to clean water saving lives of our African beneficiaries.

We know that dirty water leads to diseases like cholera, typhoid, dysentery, and diarrhea.

During the 2012 calendar year, we funded 45 unique, water-related projects that provided clean, safe water to 71,387 children, babies and pregnant woman, and 121,086 adults in Africa alone.

I imagine the opportunities clean water offers our beneficiaries and their families.

Not only will their health improve, but they now have more time.

Instead of walking up to six or seven miles both ways to get water, the village women may now spend their time and energy in small business opportunities or other household chores.

Instead of consuming expensive firewood to boil water, they can drink the safe water straight out of the filter.

For such a small amount of money, we get to be Jesus to those around us. We get to offer a warm cup of coffee on a cold day. We get to offer a clean cup of water and lifesaving interventions that make a world of difference to our beneficiaries.

No matter if we are giving on His behalf for someone in our own neighborhood or across the world: He chooses us to demonstrate His love to those around us!

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

Poverty does not just bring hunger or ill-health. Poverty robs children of their joy and takes away their opportunities and hopes for the future.

That is why Compassion Sunday is so important. For those of you who do not know, Compassion Sunday is an annual event that draws the attention of the Church to the needs of the world’s poorest children.

Children like Ginsely, who lives in the Dominican Republic. This is her story:

Ginsely’s life, and future, was transformed through the love and care of a sponsor. Compassion Sunday connects children like this young dentist to that same love and care.

Compassion Sunday is coming up on April 21, 2013. Will you host an event at your church or participate online? The future Ginselys of the world will be eternally grateful!

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

I recently read an article about women living in the developing world that said,

When a woman is given an option to change her life, she invests 90% back into her family. As a result, she and her family prosper, breaking out of the cycle of poverty. She then looks outward to her community, growing as a leader, lifting the quality of life for her neighbors and inspiring others to join her movement to do the same.

90%! What does giving 90% mean for a woman in the developing world?

It means, walking hours every day to bring safe drinking water home to her family.

And often it means skipping meals so her children can eat.

Pondering life of a 90% woman, I am reminded of Proverbs 14:1,

The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.

Today, on International Women’s Day, look into the faces of women who give 90% to those they love. Women who choose wisdom, who are building their houses up and leaving poverty behind.

And as you do, please take a moment to pray for the countless faceless women around the world who need to know that poverty does not have to be forever.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

Compassion Sunday presenters are men and women just like you who share the story of Compassion with their church on behalf of children living in poverty.

How do these Compassion Sunday presenters describe themselves? Scared. Nervous.

How do we describe Compassion Sunday presenters? Passionate. Obedient.

Will you become a presenter this Compassion Sunday and change the story for children living in poverty?

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates