Tell me if you can relate to this: When I first started sponsoring my Compassion child, I clung so tightly to that one picture I had of him — my one lifeline into his world. OK, so I knew from his bio that he helps his mom wash dishes and loves art, but I would hold that little picture in my hands and examine every detail, trying to glean whatever information I could.

What type of shoes is he wearing? Is that a scrape on his knee? What’s that expression on his face — fear? Indifference?! The thought even crosses my mind…is he even happy I’m sponsoring him? I know there are other sponsors who feel the same way. We cling to those pictures, so excited to be a part of a child’s life, so when we see that these little ones look scared or stiff or even aloof, we can’t help but think “what’s going on here?!”

Photo day is a big day for children being registered at Compassion-assisted child development centers. In the morning, they put on their bestest outfit, hold their mom’s hand as they walk the dusty road to the project, and get ready to face the camera. This is probably the first picture that’s ever been taken of them. Many are shy and scared of the stranger taking their picture. Many aren’t used to so much individual attention being given to them. Many don’t quite know what this sponsorship thing is all about yet.

Phew…So it’s not just me. It’s a new situation for these children, and their little cheeks will soon relax into chubby smiles. Imagine my delight when, after cherishing the first picture of my sponsored child who looked so tentative and unsure, I received this photo of a smiling, confident young man. And maybe, just maybe, he was thinking of me.

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Hey! I have new photos of Amisi. I was so blessed to meet him on my trip to Uganda last month.

He’s such an ambitious child! As soon as I gave him his new coloring book, he was on a serious mission to get every page colored.

I bought him some ice cream, but he wasn’t crazy about it at first. He’d never tasted anything so cold. Once it melted though, he became a fan.

I was told the outfit he’s wearing, along with his shoes and socks, were purchased through the Christmas Gift Program.

Amisi is so full of life and joy. It’s hopeful to know he’s receiving health care, food and educational opportunities. And most important — he’s learning about God’s love. To be just a small part of this is such a blessing. Even though he’s only 5 years old, I pray he remembers my visit through the years and knows that I adore him.

During my visit, I also gave him a banner that says, “With God, all things are possible.” As he grows up, I hope he clings to this message. I can’t wait to see how God works in his life. He may be living in a poverty-stricken African village now, but with God, the possibilities for his life are endless.

Have you visited your child? I’d love to hear about it. Leave a comment and tell me!

And if you have any photos, add them to our Flickr group. Be sure to include brief descriptions and I’ll share some of them here in a few days!

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Story and photos by Vera Mensah-Bediako, Compassion Ghana Field Communications Specialist

Meet Victoria. A 10-year-old girl living on the coast of Ghana. She lives with her aunt, Mercy. Madam Mercy’s name is fitting: Mercy took Vic in when her father abandoned her and her mother wasn’t emotionally able to care for her…she has also taken in two other nieces and nephews, on top of raising her own two children.

“I realized that if I do not do something we could lose Victoria…I have not regretted even though things are not too good economically. I get so satisfied just looking at how beautifully she is growing.”

Mercy sells fish and her husband is a fisherman. Life is not easy. Things would have been much more difficult but for the intervention of Compassion International through the Glory Assemblies of God Child Development Center.

“There was no way I could enroll [the children] into any school but for Compassion. My prayer every day is for the work of Compassion International to flourish in the life of these children; so that they too will be in a position to sponsor some needy children when they grow up. God bless you sponsors; may everything you do be blessed; thank you Compassion.”

Victoria goes to school during the week and spends eight hours at the child development center every Saturday.

Spend a Saturday with Vic.

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Story and photos by Charles Ngowi, Compassion Tanzania Field Communications Specialist

Compassion International Tanzania (CIT) registered* its 50,000 child two months ago on Februray 16. This historic registration ushered in a new era for us. It was a moment to put down our tools, celebrate the Lord’s favor, and thank Him for what he has done and for His faithfulness. It was a milestone for the Tanzanian ministry, an achievement worth celebrating.

Now let’s see how we reached the 50,000 child mark and also learn about how our child registration process works.

The milestone occurred in Tabora, more than 650 kilometers from Arusha, where the head office of CIT is located. But the search actually began months earlier.

Finding Church Partners

Before going into a new area, CIT conducts country mapping to determine the level of poverty in one area as compared to another. Country mapping is necessary so we can determine where the greatest ministry need is.

After country mapping, we conduct a baseline survey to determine if the areas identified with a high degree of poverty have Christian churches whose mission matches ours. This is critical because we work through the local church — it is the local church that actually implements the program and cares for the children. If there is no church, our ministry model won’t work, regardless of the degree of poverty that exists there.

We ask questions, such as:

• Does the church have classrooms to accommodate the children?
• Do they have people who can teach and work with children or who can learn to assist children?
• Are there peopleand children who can help the program continue?

This baseline survey helps us decide which areas and churches are a good fit. Of course, in all the stages we keep praying and asking God to lead us in the right path and to bring people who will be willing to sponsor children and release the resources needed.

After the baseline survey, we gather all the potential church partners for vision casting. In this gathering we share the importance of ministry to children and call on the church to awaken to the call of Jesus Christ to fulfill the Greatest Commandment.

After this, we choose the potential church partners and invite them to a partnership meeting. At this one-day meeting, it is time to pray together and for us to give relevant partnership documents to the new church partners.

If the partners agree on the conditions, they sign a partnership agreement with us. These partnership agreements give room to church partners to start preparing environments to begin the ministry. They start recruiting project workers and create a child ministry committee formed from church members. The church has to find those able and qualified to work in the project as project coordinator, project accountant, project social worker, and project health worker.

Once all the project workers are chosen, they attend the “One-Month Child Ministry Foundation Course” that all project workers go through. In this course, the newly recruited project workers are trained on how to implement the ministry and how to minister to each child individually. They also learn what is expected of them and different ways and procedures of reporting and giving feedback to us. They get to know the organizational structure of CIT, the departments involved, and how each department works.

Screening and Registration

All this leads up to child screening and registration. (more…)

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I sponsor a boy in Haiti named Youvens. In the seven years I’ve sponsored him, I’ve never, ever seen him smile.

Even when I visited Haiti and brought him a soccer ball. No smile. He played soccer with me, ate lunch with me and never let go of the ball. But he never smiled.

It’s understandable. He lives in one of the most poverty-stricken places on earth. I’ve seen the devastation in that country, and I can’t imagine what he’s been through in his short life.

As I’m sure you can see, Youvens is a very sad, serious child.

This past January my friend Mark was going to Haiti and so I asked him to take a birthday present to Youvens.

A couple weeks later I got this photo.

That smile is all the proof I need that my sponsorship makes a difference.

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Yesterday, Mark shared about what child sponsorship is through Compassion and how it has evolved over the past 55 years. Today, Mark answers the question “Why Compassion?”

6. There are a lot organizations who use child sponsorship to fight poverty. What makes Compassion’s Child Sponsorship Program unique?

Compassion is Christ centered, child focused, church based, and committed to integrity. All of our core programs are holistic. We also value the dignity of all people and endeavor to uphold high standards of stewardship and excellence. The Child Sponsorship Program focuses on the long-term spiritual, physical, socio-emotional development of children from age 3 up to 22. It is during those years that children develop their self-image, acquire knowledge and skills that can help them become financially self-sufficient, and develop good health habits. It is also during the childhood and adolescent years that the majority of Christians come to know Christ as their personal Savior and Lord.

7. So, why Compassion? Why should someone choose Compassion instead of another ministry that helps children?

Compassion sponsors often tell me that they chose to partner with Compassion after researching several different organizations. They want to work with an organization that shares their Christian values and convictions.

8. Compassion focuses on development, not relief. Why? What is the difference?

Providing relief to victims of natural and man-made disasters is necessary, and several organizations do that well. However, Compassion’s area of expertise is long-term child development. We believe that children need sustained nurture and instruction to develop into the men and women God desires them to be. Additionally, our Complementary Inventions activities assist children with any special needs they may have along the way including disaster relief.

9. Most sponsorship organizations place less emphasis on the one-to-one connection and more on the physical resources provided through monthly gifts. Why does Compassion focus on that relationship, specifically through letter-writing?

After 55 years, we have begun placing a greater emphasis on the role sponsors can play in encouraging their sponsored child through letters, gifts and visits. Sponsors have a unique opportunity to speak into the lives of the children they sponsor. They have the special opportunity to bring children to Jesus through their words of encouragement and by sharing their testimony of God’s faithfulness in their own lives. They can speak words of life, love and hope into the lives of children.

I have seen firsthand how this relationship can be transformational for children and sponsors.

10. What’s your favorite Child Sponsorship Program success story?

Lillian is a wonderful example of a young person whose life was dramatically changed as a result of being in Compassion’s program. Lillian’s mother died when she was 3 months old, and her father died just two years later. Then, her guardians abused her. But one day Lillian was spotted by Patrick, the director of a Compassion-assisted center near her uncle’s house, and she was registered in the Child Sponsorship Program. This was a critical turning point in Lillian’s young life. She went on to attend college through the Leadership Development Program, and now she is a full-time staff member in the Compassion Uganda office.

As I think about all the twists and turns in Lillian’s life and her amazing story, it is impressed upon me that she is a product of her participation in Compassion’s Child Sponsorship Program. Lillian tells me, “I am a living testimony. I would have never seen my value in life if it were not for Compassion.”

Read all the posts in the 10 Questions series.

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This week we continue our 10 Questions series on Compassion’s holistic child development model with Brandy’s interview with Mark Peters, Compassion’s Vice President of Ministry Intergration & Innovation.

The Child Sponsorship Program (CDSP) is Compassion’s flagship program. For more than 55 years, Compassion has paired children in poverty with loving, supportive sponsors who provide for their physical needs. But in those 55-plus years, the Child Sponsorship Program has evolved into a holistic program — one that releases children from spiritual, economic, social and physical poverty. Mark Peters, who oversees the work of the Child Sponsorship Program, shares how Compassion has evolved — and where it is heading.

1. What is child sponsorship through Compassion?

The goal of child sponsorship is to release children from poverty in Jesus’ name. We do this by linking one child with one sponsor for the purpose of enriching both lives. For children, this involves the opportunity to participate in a program designed to address their spiritual, physical, cognitive and socio-emotional development. For sponsors, this involves the opportunity to be a blessing to a child in need. Sponsors and children also have the opportunity to write letters to each other and learn more about one another.

2. How has God uniquely equipped you to work with Compassion’s Child Sponsorship Program?

Ministry to children has always been a part of my life. Even as a child, I was involved in our church’s bus ministry, inviting children to ride the bus to church every week. This passion for ministry to children continued when I spent time in California, overseeing a Nazarene sponsorship program, as well as throughout my 16 years of service with Compassion.

3. What first attracted you to Compassion?

As a former pastor, I strongly believe that God has established and commissioned the Church to minister to the poor and suffering in our world. Compassion partners with more than 4,500 local churches in 25 developing countries to help children become responsible and fulfilled Christian adults. This partnership with the Church is what drew me to Compassion.

4. Tell me more about this partnership with churches. How does this relationship benefit the church? How does it benefit Compassion?

The churches we partner with have a passion to change their communities for Christ. They understand that children are not only the Church of tomorrow but they are also the Church of today. Compassion plays an important role in providing local churches in developing countries with a significant share of the resources (financial and training) they need to realize the vision God has given them. Our church partners also play an important role in providing the information Compassion needs to acquire and engage sponsors in their ministry to sponsored children.

5. What new things is the Child Sponsorship Program doing that we weren’t doing 55 years ago?

Compassion’s program models have changed over the years. We have transitioned from “family helper” type projects to church school projects to child development centers that are focused on children. We are very intentional about the program being holistic. Wess often says, “An empty stomach has no ears.” We work with our church partners to address the needs of the whole child — physical, social, spiritual and economic.

We are working to challenge and equip sponsors to be advocates not only for their sponsored children but for children in general.

We have also implemented new technologies, such as digital cameras and a system to capture child information in field offices, in order to increase efficiency and minimize administrative costs.

Come back tomorrow for the rest of Brandy’s interview with Mark.

Read all the posts in the 10 Questions series.

Brandy Campbell is a feature writer at Compassion International. When she’s not chatting with Compassion execs, Brandy writes newsletter and web stories about Compassion’s ministry to children in poverty.

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I spend a fair amount of time educating people about Compassion and what we do and how we are different. I love the process, and I love helping tie all the loose-ended questions together for people. It’s pretty simple to explain what we are all all about and proceed from there…

We do child development in developing countries facilitated by the local church. We don’t use missionaries and every child is guaranteed to be taught the gospel. Whether they accept the Gospel is up to them. We work with the poorest of the poor to change the community inside out…starting with the kids and moving into the family….

That last part is where the puzzle starts to make sense for people. At Compassion, we build communities inside out…start with the kids and the work moves and extends into the family. Change a child’s life, change a family’s life, change the community.

Because we work with the local church, the church now has an equipping tool to reach families in ways they never could before by directly helping these little children. You know…they get medical attention, meals, school clothes if needed, education and the Gospel. They are also taught vocational skills along with a little micro-industry from time to time. It’s all pretty powerful when you see it in action. Not to mention the amazing impact writing letters has on these children and for you as a sponsor.

Then comes this question: Well, then how does it help the family? Oh, well…I’m glad you asked! These are just two examples.

1. If the Compassion project is teaching the kids the importance of drinking clean water, then sometimes you will see Compassion staff pass this education on to the family: “We are giving your child clean drinking water and we want to make sure this continues at home. Here’s how to do this….”
2. Another way is while these children are learning to read and write, chances are mom, dad, and other brothers or sisters don’t know how to read and write either. I’ve met several families over the years where their children have come home and taught the rest of the family how to read and write.

At the very end of the discussion with people, I can usually pinpoint when the big picture comes together. They start talking about how they understand how helping one child helps the whole family by providing so much for their children and how cool it is to see the church literally grow in that community because so many are now accepting Christ into their lives, and then I follow up with this statement…You know, it lifts the burden of the family by one child.

At this point they get it. The light goes off and it all comes together. It’s something I came up with as my own little way of processing through the big picture. And then one day I was on a trip to El Salvador….

I walked into the home of one of our sponsored children in El Salvador with some of our artists in tow. We sat down with the family in this small 10 x 10 room where a family of five lived, slept, and ate. Some of our group started asking questions. A little ways into the conversation, I asked the mother of the household, “how has your child being in the Compassion program helped your family?” You know what she said? I have never heard this on a trip before. She said, “It lifts the burden of our family by one child.”

Here’s my question for you. What does this mean to you? What would this look like in your own life if someone else had lifted the burden of your family by one child?

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Meet Jeffry. He lives in Nicaragua . . . uh, wait a minute. We’ve explained that already.

From left to right: Mark Hanlon, Compassion’s senior vice president of sponsor and donor development, Jeffry and Jeffry’s grandparents

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Meet Jeffry. He lives in Nicaragua. He is our one millionth registered child.

A registered child is different than a sponsored child in that the registered child doesn’t have a sponsor . . . yet. Once the registered child gets a sponsor, that child is a sponsored child. Makes sense, right?

The registered children are the ones whose pictures you see on the sponsor a child page at compassion.com and in the child packets at concerts and other events, such as Compassion Sunday.

The registered children are the children who are waiting to be chosen by a sponsor and who the Unsponsored Children’s Fund assists until that sponsor comes along. The Unsponsored Children’s Fund bridges the gap between registration and sponsorship. It allows the registered child to have all the same benefits as the sponsored child.

We don’t have one million children waiting for sponsors. Jeffry is the one millionth child concurrently registered. More than 850,000 of those children already have sponsors. And since Compassion began in 1952, nearly two million children have been part of our programs.

That’s a little context for this post that Mark Hanlon, Compassion’s senior vice president of sponsor and donor development, submitted from Nicaragua yesterday.

It was like so many other Compassion child home visits I’d done before (and in my 28 years at Compassion, I’ve done a few!), but this one seemed to hold a bit of extra anticipation and excitement for me.

I happened to be in Nicaragua two weeks after we had registered our millionth child for the very first time. It turns out that this millionth child is a little 3-year-old boy in Nicaragua. The office staff there was so excited, and they set up a home visit for me to meet little Jeffry.

It was kind of strange because Jeffry had no idea what a historic milestone he is in the history of Compassion. In fact, when I got there with several of the Compassion Nicaragua staff and some of the center staff, he was totally overwhelmed. Too much attention by too many grown-ups all at once - and he did what many normal little 3-year olds do - he covered up his eyes with his hands (a la “see no evil”) and pretended we weren’t there! When his grandmother (who is his caregiver since his mother now lives in the U.S. and couldn’t take him with her) tried to get him to take his hands away from his face, he ran away crying.

That was OK. We shifted our focus to the grandmother and asked her questions about the impact of having Jeffry registered in the program at the church. She talked about the hope and a future she had for Jeffry to get through high-school and maybe even go to university. She expressed concern over his health and the health of her husband who has diabetes. She talked about the challenges of supporting a household of 17 adults and children in her dirt floor, cinder block structure in the heart of economically challenged Managua. Her husband (the diabetic) and her three sons work hard as day laborers - when there is work - and they have terrible difficulty in making ends meet. She wanted better for her little grandson, Jeffry.

Then it struck me that this visit indeed was like most other visits I’d done. Parents (and grandparents) worldwide want the same thing for their children - a better future than what they have. It didn’t matter one bit to Jeffry or his grandmother that he is Compassion’s millionth child. What did matter is that they now have some hope. And now, I really was excited to be there! Not because I got to meet the millionth child in his home, but because I got to see something that Compassion gets to be a part of with the local church every day. Releasing a motherless child, living in extreme poverty, living with 16 other people, from poverty in Jesus’ name. Now that’s something to get excited about!

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