View a larger image of the Human Trafficking Awarenss infographic.

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

The dusty air held a chill the night we drove through the red-light district in a Southeast Asian border town.

Teenage girls stood outside darkened store fronts wearing bold-colored casual miniskirts and tank tops.

Bright TVs flashed inside the stores, momentarily illuminating nervous men who kept one eye on the tube and one eye on the girls outside.

I was glad to be was tucked away safely in the cab; my husband sat in the truck bed. As we drove past, the girls brazenly shouted provocative invitations.

Most of them didn’t look older than 18. They probably weren’t.

Our missionary friend told us that many of the girls had been trafficked here. Tricked by distant relatives — lured by the promise of education and a better life and unaware of the fate awaiting them — or sold to provide for their family, they were stuck.

They were slaves. And this is not an isolated case. Their stories are all too common around the globe today, and it starts with trafficking.

Human trafficking is the gateway to modern-day slavery. If you think that slavery is a shameful thing of the past, think again. Slavery is real, and it’s much more prevalent than we want to think.

Currently more than 30 million people live in slavery — more than any other point in history. It is today’s disgrace.

The gut-wrenching truth is this: 1.2 million children a year are trafficked into some form of forced labor (UNICEF). Worldwide, 2 million children are trapped in the commercial sex trade.

Sadly, this market for human trade is growing. The total market value of illicit human trafficking is estimated to be in excess of $32 billion (U.N.).

I can’t wrap my head around it, the whole vile business of exploiting another human being to gain a profit. It’s so wrong, so backwards.

At the very core it’s an insult to God Almighty, in whose image we are made. Beyond that, it’s an affront to humanity’s most basic Golden Rule — treat others the same way you want them to treat you (Luke 6:31).

How can we react when we see the problem so big, so impossible? First of all, we should trust God’s promises and His character. God is a God of justice and mercy (Isaiah 30:18b), and He is not unaware.

He sees the suffering of the trafficked across the earth, and He does care. The wicked will be punished, although we might not see their judgment come in this lifetime. We can be sure it will come.

Secondly, we can realize that we have been commanded to “Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another” (Zechariah 7:9).

Let the pain of trafficking around the world seep into your heart. Don’t block it out; don’t allow yourself to become callous to the suffering around you. Be compassionate. Then channel your outrage at injustice – pray and act.

Pray for the children stuck in the international sex trade. Pray for the girls waving along that pitted dirt road in Asia. Pray for the children who are — at this very moment — being trafficked away from their families and who are headed for a life of slavery.

January 11 is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. If you made it to the end of this post, you are now aware.

Let’s not stop here, though. Learn more about trafficking and modern-day slavery through the International Justice Mission (IJM). Get involved.

If you can afford it, send a donation to IJM to give them a jump start on the battle against trafficking in 2013.

Most of all, keep your eyes open and your hearts aware of the suffering of others — then show compassion to them.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Evelyn Rennich is a Compassion sponsor who loves being mom to two young boys. You can read more from Evelyn at Smallish.

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

I wasn’t looking for another child to sponsor. But then I saw two things next to her picture on the website: a red heart and a red ribbon.

Josiane, from Rwanda, had been waiting for a sponsor for over six months.

The red ribbon showed that Josiane lived in an AIDS-affected area.

Online, as I added Josiane’s sponsorship to my account, I took the opportunity to pay an additional $8 per month to give to the HIV/AIDS Initiative Fund.

According to UNICEF, 2.3 million children in Africa live with HIV and 14.9 million are orphaned by AIDS.

For the cost of a couple of fancy lattes a month, I’ve chosen to give to the HIV/AIDS Initiative Fund which does the following for Josiane and our other 470,000 + African beneficiaries, and their families:

• Provide complimentary testing for all of our beneficiaries, their siblings, and caregivers. Testing is not a requirement, and if they decline, we respect that decision. However, it is available to all.
• We bring awareness to all of our beneficiaries about HIV/AIDS. According to AVERT.org, only 24 percent of young women and 36 percent of young men in low income countries are knowledgeable about HIV transmission and prevention. Last year alone, we trained more than 2,600 HIV/AIDS peer educators who focus on increasing knowledge about the disease to bring about behavioral change.
• Sadly, some of our beneficiaries and their caregivers are HIV-positive. For these, we provide the following services:
  • Nutritional supplements if needed.
  • We link them with the local government to acquire antiretroviral drugs (ARTs). If their local government does not provide complementary ARTs, we buy them.
  • We provide peer-to-peer counseling for those suffering from the effects of HIV.
  • We have special income-generating training for those caregivers who are HIV-positive.
  • Any additional needs for hospital care. This can include everything down to the bus fare needed to get to the hospital.

During the last fiscal year, in Compassion’s East African countries a total of 11,193 children and siblings and 42,806 caregiver beneficiaries were supported with antiretroviral drugs, house rent, house renovation, home based care, transport coverage and medical care including nutritional support.

Sidney Muisyo, our Africa Regional Vice President had this to say about the HIV/AIDS Initiative:

“Tremendous work is being done through the AIDS Initiative. We’ve found beneficiaries are staying in the program longer and their overall livelihood is improved. Beneficiaries and their caregivers have less opportunistic infection, are more productive, and have an overall better quality of life.”

I love the additional impact I can make in Josiane’s community for about $10 a month. If she or her caregiver contracted HIV, I will be able to help support and come alongside. This World AIDS Day, would you consider doing the same?

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

Universal Children’s Day is a day we can celebrate the very ones we serve — children! Take a minute, or a minute and 46 seconds to be exact, to celebrate these children and let their joyful faces and beautiful voices carry you through the day.

When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. –Mark 10:14, NIV

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

Children wearing thin T-shirts fiercely guarded the sprawling stone entrance to the Forbidden City. Some no higher than my waist, but well trained in the art of begging, they could spot a tourist a mile away.

They gathered in droves, glazed brown eyes darting from me to other possible dollar carriers. Their small, dirty hands patted my arm and hungrily opened and closed in front of me like they were grasping for a better future.

I hated myself for not wanting to make eye contact. But even more, I hated the thing that reduced these precious little ones to professional beggars — poverty.

Child begging in Nicaragua

Life gave them no chance. They had most likely been born into poverty and, unable to gain an education, were trapped in a ruthless spiral to do whatever it took to fill their tiny tummies.

The injustice breaks my heart. Why them? Why a child, who should be protected, safely playing and learning, instead of sniffing glue to escape the hunger and hopelessness?

Sometimes the problem of poverty seems impossible to stop, as if parts of the world are being consumed — poverty eating it up like a monster on the loose.

Yet hope remains. I am encouraged by Lamentations 3:22-23:

“Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.”

The monster of poverty will not consume all. God’s mercies shield; His compassion protects. And it is compassion that drives us — drives me — to act.

Tomorrow is Universal Children’s Day, a day observed by many nations to honor children, and to promote the basic welfare of children across the globe. Basic objectives are to protect children from exploitation, to ensure they have access to education, and to reduce the spread of diseases among them.

It was established in 1954 to outline children’s rights throughout the world. The intention of the observation is noble, and I am encouraged that many countries are committed to protecting children.

For Compassion International however, every day is Children’s Day.

Each new morning Compassion fights to release children from poverty by offering an ongoing holistic care approach.

Giving money to the kids who pleaded with me and crowded me in China would not have greatly improved their situation, but I am grateful I have the opportunity to provide another child the education and basic care that could prevent him or her from slipping to such a station.

By sponsoring a child I am taking a whack at the poverty monster and giving one precious little soul the chance to climb out of its grip.

Tomorrow, on Universal Children’s Day, please join me in praying for children all over the world who desperately need to know that there is a God Who shows unfailing mercy and compassion.

And if you don’t already sponsor a child, it would be a great opportunity to take that step. Join me tomorrow in celebrating God’s compassion for children.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Evelyn Rennich is a Compassion sponsor who loves being mom to two young boys. You can read more from Evelyn at Smallish.

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

Today is World Poverty Day. Do the statistics in this infographic surprise or shock you?

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

I was 15 years old when I hauled hay for the first time. Growing up in south Texas, hauling hay was a summer tradition, perhaps even a rite of passage into manhood.

Here’s how it would work: a group of us able-bodied teenage boys would walk the field alongside a pickup truck pulling a flatbed trailer. The truck was typically driven by the rancher.

Two or three of us boys would toss the 40-pound bundles up onto the flatbed while another would stack the square bales as tightly and high as possible. When the trailer was full, we’d make a trip to the barn and unload.

Farmers hard at work moving hay bales

Then, we’d return and repeat the process until every bale was rescued from the hot, dusty field. We were each paid a nickel per bale.

Hard work. Awful pay.

I remember that first summer I joined three of my friends to haul hay. We worked for hours in the blistering Texas heat, clearing the field of every single bale. We tied down the last load, climbed into the rickety truck and drove all the way to the barn, where we unloaded them for safe storage.

Mr. Freeman would pull the hay from his barn during the winter to feed his cattle. When the flatbed was unloaded and the hay was stacked, all of us dust-covered, worn-out boys collapsed into the crunchy straw mass. Exhausted, but with a sense of accomplishment.

Or so we thought.

Just as we were exhaling and basking in our success, we could hear Mr. Freeman’s worn cowboy boots shuffling through the stray straw on the barn floor. In his gruff, Texas accent, he bellowed,

“Now let’s go do the other field.”

What!?

“There’s more hay to haul, boys. And it’s not gonna haul itself.”

Fast forward some 30 years later. My career centers on rescuing children from poverty. Each day, the organization I work for is in the fields (or in this case, 26 different countries) changing the lives of children who otherwise have very little opportunity in the world.

Through partnership with local churches in these countries, we feed, clothe, educate over one million kids…and teach them about the love of their Creator.

We are, in a sense, hauling hay…rescuing these kids from the barren fields, bringing them to a safe environment so they aren’t spoiled by the hard, harsh winters of life.

And we’ve made progress.

Last month, UNICEF announced that the number of children dying from preventable diseases around the world has dropped dramatically.

Just ten years ago, we used to say over 30,000 kids die everyday from things like malaria, diarrhea and pneumonia. Then it dropped to 21,000. Now, we’re told the number is around 19,000. Remarkable progress.

But there’s more hay to haul.

And if we spend too long basking in this success, stretching out in the barn, we will miss the other fields. I am proud of what Compassion International — and other organizations — who join us in this fight has accomplished.

But we must keep up the good work. Our sponsors must commit to driving the truck. Our workers and staff must commit to working the field. Our church partners must continue to provide safe havens.

Mr. Freeman was right. There is more hay to haul.

Wednesday is World Poverty Day. And, if we each play our role, then maybe next year, on World Poverty Day, we will have even better numbers…more progress to report.

Until every bale is rescued.

Farmer photo used courtesy of Becky McCray, Small Biz Survival.

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

It is true that African children face a myriad of challenges as they grow up. But what is also true about African children is: they love, play, learn, hope, dream, pray — they live!

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

My favorite part of the day: walking in the door at the end of a workday and having both of my boys run at me full blast, bounding into my arms with full confidence that I’ll catch them.

“Daddy’s home!”

Little arms around my neck, sweet kisses. Eager to tell me about their day. Seriously, does it get any better than that?

I am a blessed man.

While that may seem a bit Norman Rockwell to some of you, for me, it’s not only reality but it reveals a deeper, important truth in the lives of my sons. They don’t come running to me because they’re surprised I’m home.

They’re running to me because their expectations and their confidence that Daddy will be there have just been met. They can count on it. And I love giving them that assurance.

Father and son in Nicaragua

I wish every child could live with that same confidence that Daddy is coming home at the end of the day. But the truth is, throughout much of the developing world, little boys and girls never get to run into Daddy’s arms.

I’ve traveled to well over a dozen developing countries in the past eight years and one thing that seems to be common in almost all of them is that so many fathers are missing from the picture. Gone.

And one of the most common reasons men abandon their families in the developing world: shame.

Poverty strips away dignity. It eats away a man’s self-worth. In cultures where the man is expected to be the provider, the shame of not being able to put food on the table can be overwhelming. So they leave.

Church, we need to lift these men up. We need ministries that teach men that their worth is much more than how much is in their paycheck.

At Compassion, we work with young men to teach them the value of family. We help them learn skills so they are employable when they get older. We teach them that being a dad is about much more than being a father. We teach them scripture-based principles.

Father and daughter in the Philippines

But we also need the Church to work with adult men throughout the developing world. Restoring dignity. Building that confidence in little ones that Daddy will be there at the end of the day.

This Father’s Day, please pray for the millions of men who work hard all day for pocket change. Pray for the men who come home sweaty, dirty and stinky from a long day of toiling just to put a little bit of food on the table.

And pray for the men who are missing hugs, kisses and the joy of catching their son or daughter in their arms at the end of the day because shame has driven them away from home.

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

I recently gave my first presentation as an Advocate for Compassion International. The church I was visiting had the sermon based upon Compassion’s ministry and allowed me a 20-minute presentation. I was so excited for this opportunity that I could hardly sleep the night before.

The morning of my presentation, I woke to overflowing toilets. I decided this would not slow me down, so I hopped into the shower. Just as I lathered shampoo into my hair, sewage started bubbling up from the drain. I had to get out mid-bath, covered in soap. I made the best of it, styling my soapy hair.

My husband stayed home from church to wait for the plumber, meanwhile using the Shop-Vac to keep the sewage from flooding the floors.

I had bought a special dress for the event. I knew I had the right size because the size was clearly labeled on the hanger. I put on my dress to realize the hanger was for my size but the dress was three sizes too large. I gathered up the fabric, pulled it together, and gave it an “emergency hem” with safety pins.

As I exited my car at the church, I realize that I had selected two different shoes. Both were black sandals but one heel was higher than the other.

I marched into the church with blow-dried suds in my hair, bi-level shoes, and a pinned-up dress — pretending to have my act together.

I was not letting a few inconveniences get in the way of children being sponsored.

After all, my toilet may have been temporarily out of order, but most of these children don’t even have a toilet. I may have had sudsy hair, but at least I have shampoo and safe water to clean it. I may have worn a huge dress, but I can go buy one in the right size. And I have the luxury of having so many shoes that I can’t even tell them apart.

God was with me through the presentation. The words flowed freely from my lips as if I’d never been afraid of speaking publicly. I was confident throughout the presentation.

And after all of that, no one sponsored a  child that day – but a seed was planted for God to grow.

I dealt with plenty of inconveniences that morning, but I’m confident that God used them for His purpose.

I learned an important lesson on Compassion Sunday. That this day wasn’t about my hair, my dress, my shoes, my plumbing, or about me at all.

It was all about Jesus.

It was about children who need Jesus. I realize that I live with so many luxuries and so much comfort that these children will probably never experience. I realized that a lot of my “needs” are actually luxuries.

God used this day to show me that I am so blessed to have temporary inconveniences. It’s time to re-evaluate my life and my expenses to see how I can do more.

I will be an advocate for these children wherever I am invited, whether many children get sponsored or none do, because it really is all about Jesus.

This is how I will serve God, and how I will make Compassion available to others who want to serve Him through this ministry.

I am delighted to know that what I am doing for these children through Compassion I am also doing for Jesus.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Beverly Yearwood became a sponsor in 2011 and an Advocate in 2012. She sponsors two children and is a correspondent sponsor for three more. She lives with her family in Vicksburg, Miss.

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