Today’s blog post is actually a double – two stories written by Leura Jones, a contributing writer for Compassion who describes herself as “a 30-something mom of four kids who suddenly finds herself unemployed and wondering what’s next.”

I Have Hope Now

Erina, a 32-year-old mother of five, used to ask God to kill her family all at once so that she would not die and leave her children to suffer alone. Three months after her youngest child, Ibrahim, was born, her husband left, taking two of their older children and most everything they owned.

“I would wash other people’s clothes or dig for food,” says the young Ugandan woman. “Sometimes our own clothes were not washed for a week because we had no soap. I couldn’t afford to buy firewood to cook our food. I had to walk 25 kilometers to look for firewood in the forest.”

But Erina has an aunt who encouraged her that God is good and will provide. When Erina looks at her baby boy, born healthy and with rarely even a cold, she believes this is true.

She had even more reason to believe when Ibrahim was chosen to be part of our Child Survival Program (CSP).

Through the program, Erina and her children received food, bedding, toys, and Christmas presents. Erina learned how to keep her home clean and healthy, feed her children nutritious meals, and to read and write. She is also able to earn reliable income by cooking for the church. And in April 2007, Erina gave her life to Christ.

“I have hope now. I am happy. I am alive and healthy. CSP has helped me with education, living with people peacefully, and starting up my own business so I am no longer helpless.”

She has also learned compassion for the suffering people around her.

“CSP fights for us. They check on us even though we are not home—they come back again. They don’t give up on us. This has helped me because now whatever I get, even though it is little, I can be compassionate to [others] who have nothing. I can help others as I have been helped.”

Ibrahim, now three, is thriving as well. Erina describes him as more intelligent and receptive than her other children because of the attention and help he has received.

When asked what he wants to do someday, the boy says he wants to be a doctor. His mother has confidence that because of his involvement with CSP, he will be able to attend school and achieve his goals.

(more…)

Stories and photos By Consodyne Buzabo, Compassion Uganda field communications specialist

An air of anticipation and excitement hung over the Muzahura Child Development Center on the morning of August 26, 2008. While any day at the child development center is always a day the children look forward to each week, this day was going to be extra out of the ordinary.

Special guests were coming to visit. On this day, 13-year-old Mistaff had a mixture of trepidation and expectancy coursing through him. Questions swirled through his mind. “What would they think?” “What do they look like?” “What will I say?”

On this bright and sunny day, Mistaff was waiting to meet his sponsor for the very first time. (more…)

The first thing Heidi Partlow does each morning is check her e-mail. It’s always packed. As Compassion’s complementary interventions manager, she gets all kinds of e-mails each day.

E-mails about how to submit a proposal for a complementary interventions (CIV), e-mails from marketing departments about the particulars of a CIV, e-mails about a disaster that has just occurred.

So her e-mail inbox pretty much dictates her day. After attacking the onslaught of messages each morning, she has a cup of tea at 10 o’clock. 

Then she spends a lot of time running around, especially during a week where there has been a crisis, like with the recent hurricanes, getting approvals for funds to be distributed.

But she slowed down enough to give us a peek into CIV and her world. (more…)

Little Mariam was still sleeping, although the roosters had already crowed several times. Laid on her mat, she was huddled under her covers; it had rained the previous day, and the weather was a bit cold in the first hours of the morning.

Though she was registered in grade two, Mariam was lounging on her mat even after 7 a.m., because she was already on holiday. Moreover, even if she was not on holiday, she could have slept until sunrise because it was Thursday morning and she would not have had a course.

During the rainy season, Mariam, like her brothers and sisters, does not have the privilege to see her father because he moves to a village located a few kilometers away from the city to cultivate there in order to nourish the family.

The mother who stays alone with the five children sells fritters to provide for the needs of the family to the best of her ability.

Abruptly, Mariam who had been sleeping quietly jumps up and rushes outside, as if something important has just occurred. (more…)

Be forewarned. What follows is pure rah-rah. It showed up in employee inboxes … from MARKETING. It’s just a small glimpse into the response Compassion Sunday 2008 has received so far.

We’re at over 9,700 children sponsored. Our goal is 22,000. It’s not too late to host your own event.

“Austin Bluffs Evangelical Free Church had a successful Compassion Sunday response. We had seven sponsorship commitments! That is a huge number for our church, which traditionally has two to three sponsorships on Compassion Sunday …. We had at least one current sponsor/family that wanted to sponsor another child. Others took brochures and information as they consider the opportunity to sponsor a child.”

- Pepe Alicea, Compassion Advocate and Lay Elder at Austin Bluffs Evangelical Free Church

“Richard Douglas of Christ Community Church in South Carolina called and requested 50 more child packets. He had 50, and people were running up to the table to sponsor the kids. He said the packets were gone in three minutes, and he had a list of people waiting for more! Once the extra packets arrived, another 29 children were sponsored”
- Valeen Tschamler,Advocates Network & Marketing Assistant

“Hilltop Assembly of God has 147 members, and I guessed the audience size was about 180-190 including children. They began the worship with the children bringing flags of all the 17 countries where their congregation has sponsored children (they sponsor 60 of them) and setting them in front of the church on displays they had made. Then the children sang their own worship chorus in Spanish

One girl, Emery (11 years old) was brought forward to tell how God had laid it on her heart to make jewelry and sell it at a consignment shop to give to Compassion, and then I was presented with a $20,000 check by the 11 new Advocates in their church to fund a Child Survival Program (CSP) in Ethiopia.

At the end of the service the children came in with balloons that had the names of all the sponsored children on them and the whole congregation went outside and had a “releasing children from poverty” ceremony! (Yes, they were biodegradable balloons).

After the service all of the chairs were moved from the sanctuary and we enjoyed an international buffet!

Oh yeah … another 24 children were sponsored, and they now have 12 advocates! The little church now sponsors over 80 children and a CSP paid in full!

They’re already planning fund-raising events for next year and have over $13,000 raised so far. Did I mention that they began all of this last December 2007? With God all things are possible!”

- Mark Pellingra, Relationships Manager Northeast Region

“Get this — I just got off the phone with brand-new advocate Beth Hathcock in the Dallas area. I guess during her interview she mentioned wanting to do Compassion Sunday at her church (small — about 70 people) and Mark Pellingra said that she would get a box of materials. He intended for her to fill out the materials order form, but she got her initial training kit with the one child packet and thought that is what we sent for a church of 70. So she used her one child packet, showed a couple video clips off the DVD she had gotten, got her one child sponsored and used a sign up sheet for the 10 other people who wanted to sponsor. Not bad for someone brand new, self-proclaimed as “not a public speaker” and no materials.”
- Doug West, Southeast Regional Advocates Manager

“Thanks for sending 10 more packets. I had one lady who kept looking at them for a long time, then scooped up five to sponsor. I was flabbergasted….”
- Mike Jennings, sponsor

One of the most impactful things I observed during our trip to Uganda was the profound difference between the children in a Compassion child sponsorship program compared to other children. Compassion-assisted children are connected with a loving, church-based program that provides:

• educational opportunities
• health care and supplemental nutrition
• opportunities for safe recreation
• opportunities to learn about important life skills
• hope and a sense of confidence
• most important of all, the child has the opportunity to hear about Jesus and be encouraged to develop a lifelong relationship with God

I met this child in the slums of Kampala. He’s not part of our child sponsorship program.

I met these children at Compassion’s program. There’s a significant difference between the two photos. The children in our child development centers still lead difficult lives but they have a sense of hope and purpose.

Everywhere we went, people would tell us things like:

• Compassion is doing great work in our country.
• Do you know my sponsor?  If so, tell her I said thank you.
• I love my sponsor.
• I would not be the person I am today without Compassion.

All of the bloggers on the trip have arrived safely home, but you can still follow along since they’re still processing the experience and writing about it.

Check out the Uganda Blog Trip page and click through to the blogs to read what they’re saying.