UPDATED: Sept. 28, 2012 – The winners of the contest have all been notified and the names are included in a comment to this post.

Dearly Beloved,

We are gathered here today to learn about a new opportunity to bless your sponsored child.

Electric word, bless, it means to confer divine favor upon, and that’s a mighty good thing.

And I’m here to tell ya. This is how it’ll work.

1. Create a Pinterest board titled “My Sponsored Child.”
2. On the board you create,


Pin this image to your “My Sponsored Child” board

• pin the image in this post and associate the following link with the pin:
  compassion.com/my-sponsored-child.
• pin any one of the following and tag this second pin with #mysponsoredchild.
• A photo of you and your sponsored child together.
• A photo of you with a letter from your sponsored child.
• A photo of you holding a photo of your sponsored child.
• pin anything else you want that is relevant to your sponsored child or Compassion.

Once you have created your board, share the URL with us, along with your contact information, using the form at the end of this blog post.

You will receive one contest entry for every repin your “Pin It for My Sponsored Child” pin receives.

You can also enter the contest by sponsoring a child via compassion.com/my-sponsored-child during the contest period. You will receive 30 contest entries for each child you sponsor.

All winners will be chosen randomly.

Ten separate sponsors will win a $25 gift for their sponsored child.
Five separate sponsors will win a $100 gift for their sponsored child’s family.

The contest runs from Sept. 17 to 23, 2012.

Now, go forth and pin!

The first person that leaves a comment below with the name of the song I paraphrased at the beginning of this post will receive a free Compassion Bible.

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

UPDATED Oct. 3, 2012: You did it! You helped us meet and pass the goal. The final number of children sponsored was 3,159. We’ll announce the prize winners in a blog post on Oct. 8. Stay tuned!

September is Blog Month at Compassion. And what that means is prizes, giveaways, blogging assignments and more children sponsored via the Internet than any previous September in our history.

• The goal is 3,108 children sponsored between Sept. 1 and Sept. 30.

Who Can Participate?

Anyone can participate but if you want to be eligible for the prizes and giveaways you must be a Compassion Blogger. Join now.

What is a Compassion Blogger?

Simply put, a Compassion Blogger is someone using his or her blog to change the world for children in poverty. Compassion Bloggers receive monthly emails with suggested topics to write about in support of our ministry and programs.

You can learn more at compassionbloggers.com.

Do I Need a Blog to Participate?

Yes. And no.

You need a blog to in order to complete the writing assignments we send out in Sept. Each assignment you complete will qualify you for a giveaway.

If you don’t have a blog, you can still “participate” by telling others about blog month, sharing blog posts via email, your social networks, etc.

You’re also welcome to create a blog just for the month of September. We don’t mind at all.

How Will Blog Month Actually Work?

We will send an email to the Compassion Bloggers network each Monday in September with the latest blogging “assignment.” The first week will be an exception. The assignment will be sent on Tuesday, the day after Labor Day.

The assignments will include the topic for the week and provide a host of resources for you to use. You can write about whatever you like, but to be eligible for the assignment giveaways you’ll need to write about the suggested topic.

You can write about the assignments anytime in September, but you’ll quickly realize that for some of the prizes writing sooner rather than later may be advantageous.

After the email has been sent to the Compassion Bloggers, we will share details about the assignment in our social networks, so you can participate by helping generate buzz around the campaign.

What are the Prizes and Giveaways, and How Can I Win?

Let’s start with the giveaways. All you have to do to get some of this swag is write.

• Complete one blogging assignment and you will receive a free electronic copy of You Are a Writer by Jeff Goins.

This is an eBook about what it takes to be a writer in the 21st Century.

In it, you will learn everything from how to get started with a writing career to ultimately getting your work published — and all the wonderful work in between.

Mostly, you will learn the importance of believing in your calling and showing up every day to do what you were made to do: write. – Jeff Goins

• Complete two blogging assignments and you’ll receive You Are a Writer PLUS Jeff’s newest book, Wrecked. This will also be an ebook.

Wrecked is a book about the life we’re afraid to live—one full of radical sacrifice and selfless service. It’s a look at how we discover fulfillment in the least likely of places.
This is a guide to growing up and learning to live in the tension between the next adventure and our daily commitments – Jeff Goins

• Complete three assignments and you will receive You Are a Writer, Wrecked AND a copy of Just a Minute (hardback).

  For good or for ill, individual moments in a young person’s life can make all the difference in their future. It may be something said or done by an adult who hardly thinks about it: a hug, a compliment, an intriguing question, a sincere applause. But in that moment, the child discovers who they are, what is important to them, why they matter, and sometimes even what their destiny will be.

  

• Complete all four blogging assignments and you will receive the first three books PLUS a copy of Michael Hyatt’s new book Platform. (hardback).

A platform is your tribe. People who share your passion and want to hear from like-minded people.

If only you had a platform to reach them. Well, now you can . . .

Platform consists of five sections and sixty, short chapters full of practical steps, real-world examples, and helpful resources. It is not armchair theory. It is not idle speculation. It is full of “news you can use” to help you build your own platform. – Michael Hyatt

See. It’s simple. Just write and you get stuff. But there’s MORE.

Each assignment will have prizes associated with them, and the details of how to win will be in each email we send out.

The prizes include:

• gift certificates to the Compassion online store ($25, $50 and $100).
• family and child gifts for your sponsored child ($25, $50 and $100).
• copies of Ann Voskamp’s book One Thousand Gifts.

AND

• a spot (FREE) on one of our blog trips in 2013.

REMEMBER: To be eligible for the prizes and giveaways you must be part of the Compassion Blogger Network.

We hope you’re as excited about blog month as we are and will join us in September as we set out to change the lives of 3,108 children (and then some) in 30 days.

• Download our blog month contest rules (PDF).

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

The van’s tires spun in vain on a mud covered hill in southwest Uganda. I was leading a team, representing our ministry, with the hope of understanding more fully the impact that malaria has in this region of the world.

As the sun set and local villagers offered to help push our van up the mountain, I wondered if I would make it back to our hotel and have some time to reflect on what I had learned during the day.

Earlier, with the sun high in the sky, my team and I visited a local church and medical clinic in a small village several miles off the paved road. In this village we met many of the children sponsored through our program.

We enjoyed visiting these children and rejoiced that they were being given hope and opportunities for a healthy and successful life. The primary reason we were there, though, was to learn about the impact malaria was having in this village as well as other villages that dot the Ugandan countryside.

We learned that the Ugandan Ministry of Health had declared malaria as the leading cause of death of Ugandans and one larger hospital we visited informed us that 80 percent of its patients were being treated for malaria. Sadly we witnessed this sobering fact for ourselves.

As we toured the village, we came upon a grave on a hillside of a man – a father, a husband, a friend, a son – prematurely taken from his family because of malaria. Malaria, a disease preventable with as little as a mosquito net and an elementary health education.

As we spoke with his family, we could see the lack of hope and joy on their faces.

As the day passed we also learned that not only does malaria disrupt families, it also deprives children of an education. As children battle malaria, they often miss school due to fever and other malarial symptoms.

As my team and I grappled with the harsh realities of this illness, we realized that all is not hopeless! We can and must do something to eradicate this disease once and for all.

One way to do this is through a program called Bite Back.

Funds generated through the Bite Back initiative go to our Malaria Intervention Fund — which provides not only mosquito nets to sponsored children and their families, but also education on how to use the nets, how to reduce mosquito habitats in their communities and around their homes, and finally, how to recognize malarial symptoms so that medical care can be quickly sought.

Through a Malaria Prevention Workshop parents of sponsored children were not only provided education about malaria, they also received two nets per sponsored child.

These parents were ecstatic to report that their children were no longer getting sick from malaria, and we were ecstatic to see that the Bite Back campaign works!

As the glowing sunset turned into a dark night, we finally made it up that muddy Ugandan hill and back to our hotel. As I drifted to sleep that night, I was keenly aware of the net that so generously protected me.

Today is World Malaria Day. Will you consider hosting an event to raise awareness about malaria? Malaria starts with a simple mosquito bite – it’s time to bite back!

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

UPDATE: April 10 at 4:00 p.m. MT – Fatao returned to Burkina Faso and is doing very well. His homecoming was celebrated by both family and friends. Thank you for your prayers and support!

Abdoul Fatao Kone is a 6-year-old boy living with his father, mother and five siblings in Bobo Dioulasso (southwest Burkina Faso).

Fatao’s father is a part-time security guard who struggles to make ends meet for his family. And Fatao’s mother sells fritters (steamed bean cakes) at the local market to help support the family.

When Fatao turned 1, his parents learned that he has a heart problem: a ventricular septal defect (VSD)—a hole in his heart.

Although his parents have known about Fatao’s condition for years, they’ve never been able to afford the necessary medical care. Instead, they tried traditional medicines and methods. Traditional methods include scarring the skin with small holes and placing herbs in the holes then washing the body with a mixture of boiled leaves. When these didn’t work, they had no other options until Fatao was registered in our sponsorship program in December 2010.

At his first medical checkup the following April, the doctor, Tamboura Hassane, prescribed numerous medications for Fatao: Furosemide, Captopril, aspirin and Corvasal—and placed him on a salt-free diet. He also recommended that Fatao see a cardiologist.

“In Fatao’s case, his heart has to work double or triple than [what] it would work normally, so if Fatao is growing up and the heart is working faster, it will have to stop someday because it won’t be able to respond to this.”

The cardiologist confirmed the diagnosis of ventricular septal defect in August and recommended surgery. For the surgery to take place, Fatao needs to travel to India. Dr. Hassane explains,

“We have to stop the heart working during the surgery and find means to get blood and oxygen to other parts of the body, but we don’t have the equipment to do that here.”

The total cost of Fatao’s surgery, including passport, visa, travel, the surgery itself and follow-up care, is $23,000.

When it comes to additional medical assistance like this, for things beyond normal preventative care (e.g., heart surgery, cancer, prosthetic limbs, traumatic injury, vision and hearing issues, etc.), our church partners have immediate access to $5,000 via our Medical Assistance Fund.

However, when the expenses associated with these special medical needs cost more than $5,000 the child development center pays for the additional expense by borrowing money from other areas of its budget and submits a proposal requesting more money be made available to them—money which at some point needs to be raised.

As our Child Sponsorship Program grows, we are serving more and more children and families who struggle to survive in extreme poverty; many of them have special medical needs. As a result, more of our partner churches are relying on the Medical Assistance Fund. In the past few years, requests for medical assistance have tripled.

As we did a few years ago with Alexander, we’re asking you for help. Please make a donation to help pay for Fatao’s heart surgery.

And if you prefer not to, please spread the word about Fatao’s situation. Pull out all the stops. And please keep Fatao in your prayers.

Thank you for loving this child.

Any money raised in addition to the $23,000 for Fatao’s surgery will be used to pay for similar surgeries for other children in our sponsorship program. Children like Alexander, Rossy and Victoria.

UPDATES AND VIDEO/PHOTO RESOURCES:

• Fatao’s parents will not be traveling to India with him. They are trusting God that everything will turn out well.
  

  I am not worried . . . All for me is about having hope and prayer. I pray for him to recover and come back to us. This is a matter of distance. If he were here, I would be there, but it’s too far. I will keep praying here so that he comes back to us. – Kone Lassina, Fatao’s father

  I know that I cannot be there, so I am just praying that my son returns home well, and I am praying that we are all well, too. – Sanaou Pauline, Fatao’s mother

• Fatao’s journey begins

• While waiting for his heart surgery, Fatao plays with toy cars and dreams about using his new running shoes after heart surgery. He says that one day he is going to be the fastest athlete in Burkina Faso.

• Get acquainted with Chennai, India, where Fatao is having his surgery, and meet the doctor performing the surgery.

• This 5 minute video explains how Fatao’s heart was repaired.

• And this 7 minute video is an interview with Fatao’s doctor, Dr. Robert Coelho.

• Here’s a glimpse at how Fatao was doing immediately after his surgery.
  Donate now to help other children like Fatao

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

According to the United Nations, human trafficking is:

“the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.”

When I was in Thailand working with an organization that rescues girls purchased from their families and sold into prostitution, I was unaware of this definition of human trafficking.

When I spoke with the girls, my heart broke at the hopelessness filling their hearts. They were owned. And their captivity was the only thing providing food for their impoverished families living hundreds of miles away.

I don’t like thinking about it because the hopelessness creeps back into my heart. It was one of the darkest places I have ever entered.

Each night, after immersing myself in the lives of these trafficked girls, talking to them, not having an idea about what to say, I went home and sobbed. I have never experienced anything so evil.

I could not, and cannot, possibly understand how one human being can exploit another like this.

How can I (and so many people I know) be so overwhelmed and so outraged about human trafficking and have it still exist in our world today?

Part of the answer is knowing God.

That sounds simple, but I think it’s why this verse in Genesis came to my mind when I heard that today is Human Trafficking Awareness Day (in the U.S.).

“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in His own image.” — Genesis 9:6, ESV

The people in my life who know me best, know God … really well.

My husband is becoming an expert in all things Brianne. It probably helps that we live together ☺ but I think it is deeper than that. I know he talks to God about me. Which makes sense, because God made me.

I believe the same about my best friends. They talk to God about me too. And He tells them about me. He made me.

And the people who know Him and love Him look at me and see Him.

He made me in His image.

I think this verse came to mind not so much as a reminder of a law that God laid down several thousand years ago. I think this verse came to mind as a reminder that we are to deal lovingly with all human beings because “God made man is His own image.”

We can honor the children and human beings who are victims of human trafficking by committing to see every individual, every single human being, as a person made in God’s image. To truly treat other human beings with respect and to show love and mercy.

But how do we do that?

It’s just a matter of doing something.

Sponsor a child. Get involved with International Justice Mission, our partner in the 58: Alliance, or simply join us tonight at 7 p.m. MT for a Twitter chat with Zach Hunter, the teenage abolitionist and founder of Loose Change to Loosen Chains. (Follow the hashtag #cichats)

[1.12.12: If you missed out chat with Zach, here's a summary of how it played out.]

I believe human trafficking exists because someone looks at a child, a woman, a man and doesn’t see God’s image. And the consequences of that are grave and heartbreaking.

The second part of today’s One in Spirit devotional verse is quite fitting for today. Don’t you agree?

“We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” –- 2 Corinthians 4:10, NIV

As Zach says, “You are the someone. Today is the day.”

Especially today.

“Our world is a messed up place. People are hurting. Suffering is everywhere . . . . Where is the help?

. . . This morning when you woke up, there were people around the world and in your own community who were hoping that today might be the day. The day someone stepped in between slaves and their oppressors. The day relief from suffering begins. The day they could feed, clothe and educate their kids. The day someone showed kindness to them, or let them know they had value . . . .

Don’t wait for someone else. Don’t wait for someday. Because, YOU are the someone and TODAY is the day.”

– Zach Hunter

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

This week’s limited edition t-shirt from Sevenly supports our Child Survival Program. Sevenly will donate $7 from each t-shirt sold this week. Once the week is over, the t-shirt is gone forever.

Purchase a t-shirt this week and you’ll be able to wear it on October 16, World Food Day, October 17, World Poverty Day, October 18, Tuesday, October 19, Wednesday, and any day you want to. We give you permission to wear it out.

Purchase a t-shirt now.

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

We’re in the midst of a campaign to takeover the Water.org Twitter account.

Water.org’s 432,000 Twitter followers represent a whole new audience for us. An audience that may not know what we do, why we do it or who we do it for.

We’ve asked you to vote and to encourage others to vote.

And we need you to keep doing that so we can tell nearly half a million people that:

1. Our Water of Life system is a simple, cost effective and proven solution for providing clean water to families in need.

   The system effectively eliminates parasites and bacterial contaminants that cause cholera, typhoid, E. coli, amoebic dysentery and many other devastating diseases.

   

   And it will provide at least one million gallons of clean drinking water — more than enough for the lifetime of a child.

2. What makes us distinct from other organizations is we’re about Jesus and always will be. We are Christ centered. We “release children from poverty in Jesus’ name.”
3. Unlike other organizations which fight poverty in the developing world, we’re child focused. We develop children, who in turn develop their communities. We give children in poverty opportunities to succeed. Each child we serve is ministered to personally, spiritually, economically, socially and physically.
4. We do all of our work through the local church. The Church is the great hope for the world and is God’s instrument to advance His kingdom. We mobilize and connect the global Body of Christ to fulfill her mandate to care for the poor.
5. We are 100 percent donor supported. We do not take any funds from any government.
6. We are more than a child sponsorship organization. We are a child development organization. And we’re not just working for the children in our programs, we’re working for all children in poverty.

   Our programs are personal, individualized and relational. They’re tailored to age, gender, health, culture and family situation.

   Our commitment is long term because children have long term needs.

   And our commitment is to eradicate extreme poverty from the face of the earth by 2035.

That’s what we’re fighting for. Thanks for your help in this.

Here are some ready-made tweets for you to share.

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

From the prayers, to writing letters, to a personal visit, being touched by God’s grace through a sponsored child is a tremendous gift.

Sponsors, you and I come to help, but end up receiving unexpected and wonderful blessings ourselves. If you are like me, you often pray that you could sponsor more children. Perhaps all of the rest of them.

Which is why Compassion is part of 58:. We want to end extreme poverty in our lifetime. 58: is about all of the other children that I can’t sponsor, but want to.

Starting today, at the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit, 58: will be introduced to 80,000 church pastors and leaders.

For the duration of the summit, a free promotional kit for the 58: film is available.

The 58: Film is a feature length movie that will be released in October to communities worldwide. It’s the inspiring true story of the global Church in action.

Please pray about the call of Isaiah 58 regarding the poor and what it means for you and I. Pray that we would all boldly rise up to take action in some way.

It is time extreme poverty came to an end!

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

Water.org is a four-star charity working to draw attention to the problem of unsafe drinking water and inadequate water supplies in the developing world.

They also have more than 432,000 Twitter followers and are running a contest to turn the keys over to their Twitter account. We want those keys. And we need you to get them for us.

Please vote for us to takeover the Water.org Twitter account.

The person or organization that receives the most votes by August 31 will be able to tweet about anything and everything for an entire week in September.

We are currently in second place, up against some stiff competition with a broad social reach. (Updated: Aug. 13)

By voting you are opening the door for us to share our Water of Life initiative with Water.org’s followers, as well as allowing us to speak to a whole new audience about what we do, why we do it and who we do it for.

Since you can only vote once, it’s important that you encourage your friends to vote for us as well.

Here are some ready-made tweets for you to share.

Thanks for your time and support with this. We greatly appreciate it.

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

For almost four years we’ve been talking to you about our ministry and children in poverty. During that time, one of the most common questions we’ve gotten is, “How can I get more involved?”

We’re constantly looking for opportunities you can connect with, that allow you to respond to the desire the Lord has placed on your hearts to get involved on behalf of children in poverty.

Here is one option we hope you find compelling: writing a guest blog post.

Consider this an open invitation, one you can take advantage of as often as you like.

It’s time for you to take the stage. Your perspective is valuable. We want to learn from you. And we want to be challenged by you.

If you’re interested in writing a guest blog post, we are happy to consider publishing it. We’re looking specifically for posts that do at least one of the following:

1. Provide a unique insight into the lives of children in poverty.
2. Detail specific experiences with our programs and ministry.
3. Call people to take action on behalf of children in poverty.
4. Teach others about Christ’s heart for children and/or the poor.
5. Encourage others into a deeper relationship with Christ through service to children and/or the poor.
6. Promote understanding of cultural differences between the developing world and developed countries, and how these differences play out in the fight against extreme poverty.
7. Explore different examples of spiritual, physical, social and economic poverty in our lives and/or the lives of children in poverty.
8. Redefine what is possible in the fight against poverty when we follow Christ.
9. Examine God’s leading in your life in relation to children in poverty.
10. Challenge people to engage deeply in their sponsorship.

Beyond this and a few other simple guidelines, you have a great deal of flexibility in writing guest blog posts.

Let us know what questions you have. We look forward to reviewing your posts.

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