Tough Questions: “How Did You End Up Living in Poverty?”

Girl standing in a doorway wearing a dress with a flower print.

The causes of poverty vary widely. Poverty can be purely geographical: Simply where you are born can dictate so much about your life.

But although poverty is often passed down for generations, the plunge to life below the poverty line can also be blind-siding. These families share their experiences of being born into poverty or ending up there because of changing circumstances.

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From Hunger to Hope: A Brave Girl Named Norah

Norah’s mother, a hairdresser, and her father, a soldier in the Rwandan army, worked hard to provide for their daughter. But when war and genocide tore through Rwanda in 1994, it also ripped a hole straight through Norah’s heart.

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What I Want To Be: 10 Kids With Big Dreams

In partnership with local churches, Compassion sponsors allow kids to dream about the future by helping to meet their physical, emotional and spiritual needs.

Hear from 10 special kids as they share their dreams.

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Young girl wearing a green dress and sitting at one of the desks inside one of the newly constructed classrooms. She is holding a pencil in her hand, and there is a notebook on her desk. In the background there are more desks and posters that the children made and hung from the walls.

5 Christian Innovators Helping Solve an Education Crisis

It takes more than a global pandemic to stop these innovators from taking action. Since the start of lockdowns, children in Latin America have lost an average of 158 school days, according to UNICEF. The crisis is serious, but so are the innovators. These heroes from Central and South America are using creative solutions to serve their neighbors in the midst of COVID-19.

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Where I Do My Homework: 8 Pictures of Tenacious Students in Asia

Going to school and doing homework are normal activities for many kids. Sadly, many children in poverty never get to experience the joys and trials of school and homework — or the rewards.

In the following pictures you can see how children and youths in Compassion’s program fight to get an education despite less-than-ideal circumstances.

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A girl and a boy are riding on a donkey. The girl is wearing a school uniform and a backpack. They are smiling

15 Out-of-the-Ordinary Journeys to School

Here’s a look at some of the great lengths children around the world are going to every day to get themselves to the classroom.

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A woman, a girl and a boy sit at a long, narrow desk outdoors. The woman and girl are looking over papers, schoolwork. The boy is concentrating on his papers, homework.

Kids in Poverty Adapt to the Strange New World of School at Home

In early 2020, we documented children all over the world as they returned to school or began kindergarten for the first time. Just months later, the COVID-19 pandemic saw schools close in almost every country in the world.

As International Literacy Day approaches, we’re sharing these before and after photos of how school has changed for children around the world because of the coronavirus.

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Karunia and friends

How Does Sponsorship Help Kids Cognitively?

A child’s development isn’t hinged on one aspect of growth — like physical health or emotional stability. Poverty doesn’t just attack one area of a child’s life. To help a child break free from poverty, we need to address every aspect of a child’s development. Today, let’s look at how our church partners help children develop cognitively.

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A teen boy, the

Compassion-Sponsored Teen Named Top Student in the Philippines

After a yearlong, nationwide search, the Philippines Government awarded a Compassion-sponsored teenager the title of “Most Excellent Child in the Philippines.” Meet Jay Mark, the prizewinner!

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A girl in a red plaid dress over a white collared shirt sits at a table with a pencil in hand, smiling.

Why This Girl No Longer Thinks She Is a Failure

“I am stupid, I am stupid, I am stupid.” For Sharith there was no other explanation. She must be stupid, she thought, because she couldn’t understand anything she was being taught at school. At age 7, Sharith was a first grader for the second time, but her school performance wasn’t getting any better. Her schoolmates made fun of her. Her mother, Yeimi, began to wonder if she should take Sharith out of school …

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A young woman wearing a white chef's hat, white shirt and apron smiles at the camera, standing in a bakery.

This Baker Is Proving That You Can Rise Out of Poverty

Guatemala has one of the highest rates of child malnutrition the world. Many young people like Connie are forced to drop out of school to start helping feed their families. But something as simple as baking can change this story. Read how sponsorship and vocational training are bringing hope and opportunities to a small community in Guatemala!

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Claiming Her Right To Protect The Rights Of The Underrepresented featured photo

Claiming Her Right to Protect the Rights of the Underrepresented

Asha has dreams of becoming a lawyer to help those in her community who need it most. She believes that nothing will stop her, but she’s facing incredible adversity to achieve it. With your help, she will.

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