Poverty >> Compassion International » Advocacy

Bizzy’s Burden

Web Team — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 09:23:25 +0000

Elisabeth “Bizzy” Mellado chose her sponsored child because they had the same name. Bizzy quickly realized that Elisabeth was a very real part of her life. This is their story …

Elisabeth “Bizzy” Mellado’s first encounter with Compassion started with what she calls one of her dad’s “crazy ideas.”

Her father, Jim Mellado, president of the Willow Creek Association, had an unusual childhood. He lived in seven different countries, often surrounded by poverty. His father was an engineer who worked in communities with little infrastructure, helping to build roads and other construction projects.

Through his work at Willow Creek, Jim had learned of Compassion’s one-to-one sponsorship approach. He believed that this could be what his children needed to build a relationship with a child living in poverty.

So one night Jim sat his three children down at the computer to find a sponsored child, and after they narrowed their search to Guatemala, 14-year-old Bizzy and her siblings each looked for a child who shared their first name.

“At first, I really didn’t think a lot of it,” says Bizzy. “My parents took care of the actual sponsorship of Elisabeth, and I just wrote the letters. But when I started getting letters back from her, I began to realize that there was a real person on the other end.”

In August of 2010, that “person on the other end” became even more real to Bizzy and her family when they traveled to Guatemala to meet their sponsored children.

Bizzy recalls that when they visited Elisabeth’s home, they were shocked by what they found.

You can also view the Compassion Sunday 2012 – Bizzy’s Burden video on YouTube.

Read the entire story at compassion.com.

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Compassion Sunday 2012: Change the Story
My Best Day in Ministry: Fruits of Our Labor
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World Water Day 2012 – For the Love of Water

Jacquie Parella — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 09:46:21 +0000

I love water.

It’s fun to play in.

It’s beautiful.

It tastes good and quenches my thirst.

But more importantly, especially today — World Water Day — it’s necessary to remember that water is life.

Sadly, however, most of the world is dying of thirst.

The U.N. estimates that by 2025 two-thirds of the world’s population will live in water-stressed conditions. It doesn’t have to be this way.

Celebrate today. Celebrate World Water Day by giving over 1 million gallons of clean water to children living in extreme poverty.

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The Luxury of Water and Hair Washing

Katy Causey — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 09:03:46 +0000

For six weeks in Kigali, Rwanda, I showered with a bucket. And a small jug of clean water.

I joked with friends back home that for six weeks, it looked like I never washed my hair. Trying to juggle the red bucket and the jug meant I never could save enough water to properly wash my thick brown hair and the rest of my body. Hair washing became a luxury.

I used the water so sparingly yet it so quickly vanished!

Life’s essentials took on new meaning for me in this little group of Rwandan homes for orphans and abandoned children. I soon realized that water was a costly commodity.

Back home in America, I had never really thought about my easy access to water. Or the fact that 783 million people — 11 percent of the global population — do not have access to safe drinking water, let alone bathing water.

Recently on Water.org’s Facebook page, I read this incomprehensible fact:

“A five-minute shower uses more water than one person in a slum will get in a whole day.”

Five minutes. Five minutes in the shower, and I’ve already consumed more water than a person in a slum will use all day for drinking, bathing, cleanings pots or dishes, and washing hands.

Since returning to America after that six-week trip, I have not forgotten my red bucket and jug of water. Sadly though, I still abuse this costly luxury of water.

I still sometimes forget to turn off the water while brushing my teeth, or one of the hundreds of other ways I can conserve such a valuable resource. I too often forget to thank Jesus each morning when the water runs freely out of the shower head, or in the evening when the faucet gushes hot water into the bathtub.

This year, as we celebrate World Water Day , may we remember and give thanks for one of God’s most precious gifts and indulge by washing your hair!

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A New Generation of Sponsors in Colombia

Amber Van Schooneveld — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:44:28 +0000

One of the most encouraging things to me is when I hear about our field staff sponsoring children. It’s quite a testament that those who know the work best, who see it firsthand, believe enough in the efficacy of the program to sponsor children themselves.

Staff and formerly sponsored children around the world have taken this step. And now we have our very own ministry Advocate in Colombia, María Ximena Marín!

An Advocate is someone who volunteers to help bring more sponsors into our ministry family — volunteering at events, speaking at churches or sharing the ministry with friends. These people are passionate and enthusiastic. (Confession: These people are so amazing that I’m highly intimidated by them!)

I first met María when she became the communications specialist for our Colombia office after she graduated with a degree in journalism. Living in Colombia, she knew about poverty from volunteering for the United Nations and from mission trips on which she had met people living in poverty.

Working as the communications specialist, she met and interviewed moms, teachers, pastors and sponsored children. She saw how people were overcoming their circumstances and actively building better families and communities.

“I learned how, brick by brick, you can construct big differences.”

María also hosted sponsor and donor trips and observed the integrity with which the programs were run. Having seen this, she and her husband decided to sponsor a little boy, Andrés, in the city of Cucuta near the Venezuelan border.

María and her husband feel that they not only are helping Andrés, but they also are learning more themselves through letters and pictures from him. They are reminded of areas in which they need to reprioritize their lives and remember that it is all about Jesus after all.

Last year, María left her job with the ministry to work for a Canadian oil company working in Colombia. Upon parting, one of her ministry co-workers encouraged her to listen to God’s voice and be open to helping the ministry in the future.

One of the first sponsor tours María had organized was from Canada; she also had hosted the president of Compassion Canada and his wife on a trip. María decided that she indeed wanted to keep working for Compassion — but this time as a volunteer getting other Colombians to join in as sponsors to help release children from poverty in Jesus’ name.

So María became the first international Advocate for Compassion Canada!

“Through my work in Compassion, I was witness to the transparency and excellent results Compassion makes in children’s lives. But now I not only have the opportunity of working for this great organization, I also have the opportunity to share with others the incredible things God is doing and invite them to be part of this plan.”

María’s vision is big: She wants to be part of the difference God is making, part of a new generation of Latin Americans who are rising above their own difficulties to help others meet the eternal solution to poverty: Jesus.

María has already begun sharing her vision with friends and pastors and, together, they are coming up with plans to get more people involved.

“I discovered [that] people in Colombia are open and motivated to help since, in their daily lives, they see poverty and [that] the idea of contributing to the development of a new generation in our country and around the world is a great opportunity.”

Colombia has the fourth-biggest economy in Latin America, but there is a huge gap between the haves and the have-nots.

“This is why I believe God wants to build a new generation who are aware of the reality that surrounds them and who want to take an active role in the solution — Colombian people helping kids around the world construct a better future full of hope and opportunities like the ones Compassion gives.”

Find out more about being an Advocate for the U.S., Canada, Australia or United Kingdom.

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Compassion Sunday 2012: Change the Story

Web Team — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 07:14:24 +0000

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Poverty Changed My Life

Web Team — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 07:22:50 +0000

Heather and I had been sponsoring in a relatively disconnected way since around 2000. I use the word “disconnected” because although we understood the work of Compassion and believed in its concepts, we had never actually connected with the children in any meaningful way. A trip to see the work of Compassion in 2007 changed all this.

Prior to this trip, I was in a highly pressurized work environment, which was engulfing every hour of my day and much of my nights. Early mornings were sometimes spent trying not to throw up while shaving.

Many of you guys will have been there: big income, big demands, no room to back off, always up to take on the next contract. If I got in an hour earlier each day, I thought I could cope.

We were fortunate to visit Kenya on an Advocate’s trip for ten days … ten days that changed our lives.

Read the rest of this post by Compassion UK Advocate Martyn Legg on the Compassion UK blog.

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Will You Come to the Rescue of Children in Poverty?

Web Team — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 07:13:56 +0000

Picture something with me. In your mind’s eye, in front of you is a house on fire and a person shouting from the top floor of the house that he’s trapped and can’t get out.

Scary and intense, yes? Stay with me.

Now to your right you see a firefighter with all of his gear, ready to run into the inferno. He has extensive training, and this is the moment he was made for. The person in danger knows the firefighter can see him and hear him, and he continues to shout for help.

Then the firefighter does something unexpected. He stands outside the door of the house and yells.

“Come on out here where there is no fire! I can see you. Just try your best! I’m not sure I want to go in there. It looks dangerous, and I don’t know how it will turn out in the end. What if you don’t appreciate it? What if I get hurt?”

Despite all his knowledge, training and skills, the firefighter has questions that need answers before he will consider helping the person in danger. Stunning!

I have never known a firefighter who would not run into the building. They are willing to risk all they have to save the lives of people in danger who can’t save themselves.

Does that sound like the Father God we know?

As a singer/songwriter/worship leader who has had the honor of serving as an artist with Compassion for the past 14 years, my attitude and desire to help children in need has become more passionate than I ever thought it would be.

When I began writing for my CD RESCUE, I became challenged and moved by the word itself.

Rescue by definition means “to free or deliver from confinement, violence, danger or evil.”

The obvious part for a believer is that’s what God did for us in Jesus Christ. He knew He couldn’t just say, “Come on over here where there is no sin. Try your best!” He knew the answer was to send His son Jesus into our world, our burning building, and rescue us from the “danger, violence and evil” of our sin.

Praise be to our Abba Father God for this!

Sponsoring a child in Jesus’ name is more than just a good deed and nice thing. These children are in burning buildings called poverty.

They truly cannot get themselves out of the danger. They are children. Yes, just children who are crying out for rescue to anyone who can hear, because they can’t do it alone.

I wrote the song “Come To The Rescue” with my friends Bob Stromberg and Paul Marino. I honestly found myself with a heart pain that was saying “enough is enough” when I brought the idea to Bob and Paul. Helping a child in poverty, who may be hurting, orphaned, or even abused isn’t merely a thing to be considered or thought about.

Poverty is the fire and we are the firefighters.

God has given us the Kingdom, and when we run into the burning house, we bring a hope and love like no other, because of Jesus Christ in us, through us and with us. We need not be afraid because the Holy Spirit is not afraid.

Please come to the rescue, my friends. Help others see the “firefighter” God has called each of us to be!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Peder Eide is a traveling singer/songwriter, worship leader, speaker, husband, and daddy to five. He’s partnered with Compassion for 15 years.

Proceeds from any sale of Peder’s new CD RESCUE made from his website are being donated to our Highly Vulnerable Children Fund. Purchase a copy of RESCUE now.

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World AIDS Day 2011: Small Things vs. Big Things

Tim Glenn — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 07:36:25 +0000

World AIDS Day 2011 is about zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths.

Depending on how you look at it, and taken individually, those could be small things to accomplish, or they could be pretty big things, beyond our ability to achieve.

When talking with friends, I’ve come across a few things that are just too big for me to comprehend. I don’t understand the vastness of the universe. I don’t get how it’s supposedly constantly expanding.

How is that possible if there is no edge?

I don’t grasp the concept of time going on for eternity in each direction. These things boggle my simple mind.

And then, there are some things that are so SMALL they are beyond my comprehension. I don’t understand how something so tiny that it can only be seen through a microscope can cause irreversible damage to the human body.

Yet, to date, over 33 million people — spread out on every continent — are struggling with a tiny little terrorist in their blood streams, attacking healthy cells, breaking down the person’s immunity … and no one knows how to stop it.

I’m talking, of course, about HIV/AIDS.

This past summer, a few reports came out that scientists have discovered a new, breakthrough treatment for HIV/AIDS. I’m so glad there are people out there who can comprehend the small things beyond my grasp.

I’m glad there are those who spend their careers constantly peering through microscopes to take on the dangers the rest of us cannot see.

Regardless of my limitations, there is one thing I do understand: There are over 16 million children who have been orphaned because of this terrible disease.*

16,600,000.

I want you to see the whole number. That’s how many little boys and girls have lost mommy or daddy to the invisible invader.

If HIV/AIDS was a masked intruder, we’d do whatever it takes to put him behind bars. If it was a government, we’d demand invasion until the leaders were toppled and the children freed. If HIV/AIDS were anything our minds could grasp, we wouldn’t sleep until they were gone for good.

Tomorrow is World AIDS Day 2011. Please join me in praying for the 5,000 people who will die today, tomorrow, and every day after, because of HIV/AIDS.

I ask that you say a prayer for the millions of children who will lose a parent and the millions of others who will lose a son, daughter, friend or relative.

And please pray for those who comprehend the small things. Pray for those who are fighting to stop this awful pandemic. Pray they receive wisdom, insight and opportunity.

Sometimes the small things … are very big things indeed.

*Source: USAID

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Evil Schemes and Generous Plans

Dave Kirby — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 08:11:28 +0000

The evil one, the wicked schemer, devises wicked plans against the poor, and he has been highly successful. Over half the world’s population is a slave of his plan.

“…the schemes of the schemer are evil; he devises wicked plans to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaks justice.” — Isaiah 32:7, NKJV

I can’t think of a more accurate description of poverty.

This wicked scheme called poverty has stolen hope, killed dreams and destroyed lives.

The enemy has spoken lying words to those caught in his scheme. He has told them they don’t matter. He has made them believe they are all alone in their suffering. He has deceived them into thinking their situation will never change. They no longer dream or aspire to anything better, because they have believed his lies.

Imagine, billions of souls caught in the greatest destructive plot in history! Who will help them? Who will save them?

Look at the next verse,

“But a generous man devises generous things, and by generosity he shall stand.” — Isaiah 32:8, NKJV

The answer is us. Me, and you, and all who call themselves by the name of the Lord. The answer is generous people, devising generous plans. Those generous plans are the antidote to the schemes of the enemy.

Compassion is a generous plan. It exists to speak the truth into the lives of children who are enslaved by the enemy and his lies. It exists to bring light to their darkness, and hope to the hopelessness of his wicked scheme.

I’m also thinking about generous people who plan and pray and devise ways to help the poor.

The family who fasts a meal a week so they can sponsor a child. The student who bypasses a few lattes so she can feed the hungry. The church groups who pool their resources so they can make a difference. Those are generous plans.

It’s not an easy fight, and it takes sacrifice and humility and persistence. But just think what might happen if enough generous people decided to use their intelligence, skills and resources to devise enough generous plans! Maybe we could defeat the wicked scheme called poverty once and for all.

So what is your generous plan?

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What Is the Opposite of Poverty?

Tim Glenn — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 13:04:56 +0000

Our ministry often refers to the “opposite of poverty.” And you might think that we are referring to wealth. The opposite of poor is obviously rich, right?

Actually, in order to answer the question, we first must be able to understand what poverty really is.

There is spiritual poverty … having no access to the gospel or never hearing about our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Sadly, millions of people around the world do not know that Jesus loves them. So the opposite of spiritual poverty is obviously having access to the gospel. It means knowing who Jesus is and how much He wants a relationship with everyone.

There is educational poverty. For hundreds of millions around the world, education is a luxury they cannot afford.

Think about that statement, “education is a luxury.” And imagine what that means for those who are trying to keep up in a changing world.

Lack of education creates a lack of options, difficulty in finding employment. So the opposite of educational poverty is the opportunity for advancement, new learning and practical training.

There is social poverty. In many parts of the world, there are people groups who are simply “undervalued.” Women have few or no rights, children have no voice, no platform … few or no rights.

So the opposite of social poverty is obviously a world where everyone is valued. Where there is community, or at least opportunity for community, and where governments recognize the value of every citizen.

There is health poverty. It may sound foreign to most of you reading this blog, but there are many, many people around the world who don’t even know the importance of brushing their teeth, or making sure the water they drink is clean.

There are men, women and children throughout our planet who believe that debilitating, crippling pain is just part of life — not knowing that it could be cured or treated, if only given the opportunity.

We’ve hear stories of village mothers who deprive their children of water when the children have diarrhea … believing that diarrhea means the child has has too much water. Not understanding that the very thing a child with diarrhea needs is more fluids.

We teach kids how to care for their bodies. Health poverty also includes those millions of people around the world who have no access to health care. So the opposite of health poverty may be the opportunity to get basic medical/health needs taken care of. It means the ability to learn how to take care of your own body.

There is environmental poverty. I have walked in parts of the world where families live in parched land, with dirt floors, where sewage trenches trickle outside their front doors.

Not every person in the world needs a mansion or even a 2,000 square foot, carpeted home. But every person should have safe shelter. Every person should have access to clean air and clean water. That’s the opposite of environmental poverty.

And, of course, there’s economic poverty. Can you believe there are millions of people around the world who do backbreaking work for 8 to 12 hours per day, for less than $2 pay?

Seriously? How can you feed a family on that kind of money? You can’t.

But the opposite of economic poverty isn’t for each of these people to suddenly become wealthy. The opposite of economic poverty is to have enough. Enough income to feed your family. Enough income to provide shelter for your family. That’s hardly too much to ask.

So, as you partner with us or your church or another ministry organization to fight poverty, it’s good to have a better understanding of what that really means.

We’re not called to make the poor become rich, uber-athletes, Ph.Ds or super-theologians. We’re not called to give them the opportunities to live in paradisaical environments. We’re called to make sure they have enough in each of these categories. So the opposite of poverty isn’t wealth. It’s simply … enough.

LINK UP: Today is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (a.k.a. World Poverty Day). Don’t be silent. Take some time to make some noise. Write a post about extreme poverty and then share it with us by linking up below.

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