Recently, I’ve had the opportunity in my job to read a lot about development. After all, development is what Compassion is about. We don’t want to give a handout; we want to do the things that will truly help a child become a self-sustaining, responsible adult.

And although you might not think that theories of international development have much to do with you, they certainly do.

We are compassionate and generous people, and when we hear about a need, we want to help! We want to do something! But our first reactions of how to help may not necessarily be the best ways in which we can help. So understanding how development happens is vital as we seek to do good in this world.

Here are a few things I’ve learned … (more…)

Some people ask why we focus on individual child development rather than focusing on community development.

Here’s the answer – straight from the mouth of Tony Neeves, our vice president of international development.

We arrived at the airport in Entebbe Uganda at approximately 11:00 p.m. Uganda time yesterday. We are thankful for the following:

• a safe journey
• all of our flights were generally on schedule and no flights were missed
• all of our luggage arrived at its intended destination
• good Christian travel companions
• a friendly and helpful Compassion Uganda staff to meet us at the airport
• good health for everyone on the trip

We are currently experiencing some problems getting access to the Internet in the hotel. It’s slow and intermittent access. Please pray that the Internet access will improve and we will be able to blog aggressively about Compassion’s work in this beautiful country.

Everyone is in the process of eating breakfast at the hotel. We will be leaving shortly to see some of Compassion’s Christian child development projects. Stay tuned for more updates!