I stumbled across this video, and I think it’s worth every second of the 13 minutes it will take you to watch it.

OK, did you watch it?

This video resonates with me because as a marketing writer for Compassion, my whole job is to tell the successes of the ministry. And it’s great; I love it.

There are so many amazing stories out there to tell, that each week I have to cull through handfuls of stories and choose just one or two.

But what about the not-so-happy stories? What do we do with those?

In telling just the happy ones, do we unintentionally insinuate to you that your experience is going to be all roses and puppy dogs? I know from past posts that many of you have experienced what have felt like “fails,” such as when a child left the program and you never found out why.

I don’t think any sponsorship is ever a failure. Regardless of what happens five years down the line, the love a child experiences through sponsorship (whether from you or from the child development workers) and the opportunity to hear the gospel is never in vain.

But what about the times when the tangible “outcome” of sponsorship isn’t quite what we had hoped for?

One of my weekly tasks is to write the prayer requests that we send to our prayer partners in Canada. It breaks my heart every week to see the immense challenges facing the children.

Sometimes, we get prayer requests like this: “Pray for 15-year-old Jessica who is pregnant” or “Pray for Ian who is taking drugs” or “Pray for Daisy who was having suicidal thoughts and ran away.”

Sometimes we can paint a picture (intentionally or not) that if you sponsor a child, he or she is going to become a doctor or a pastor and live in a nice house and have 2.5 children and live happily ever after. But the truth is that these are humans, not automatons where we put a sponsorship coin in the slot and they come out shiny, happy people.

Just as we in the developed world can’t guarantee how our children are going to “come out,” we can’t control how a child in the developing world will “come out” (and who would want to, anyway?).

We need to be free to admit “failure,” because as the video says, that’s how we learn.

Maybe a 14-year-old boy left our program and got involved in drugs because he made bad choices, but maybe he also left the program because it simply wasn’t meeting his needs. (Or as they might say, “It was boring.”)

We need to be open to admit such a failing so we can fix the problem.

In this case, it might be that we really need some updated curriculum to engage adolescents in a way that’s fun, helpful and relevant.

(And guess what — our field offices are actually in the process of writing and implementing new curriculum for adolescents for this very purpose!)

But it also takes education — we need to educate you as the sponsor as to what the real needs are. And that takes honesty.

Many times the solutions to these issues aren’t “sexy,” as David in the video says. We might need a spreadsheet “sponsored,” or in this case, curriculum development paid for.

Just as it’s easier to get a well built than to get a spreadsheet sponsored, it may be easier to get a cute smiling child sponsored than it is to get a curriculum funded or a teacher trained.

This isn’t an ask to get you to start funding spreadsheets or curricula (though if you want to read about some of our Canadian office’s educational efforts, you can.) But it is to say: we need to be honest and open.

At Compassion, we fail. Things don’t always go the way we wanted them to or planned. We have to be discreet and discerning in what we share, but we also don’t want to paint the picture that we’re perfect. Because we’re not, and that perception only sets us up for even larger failures.

God has blessed us with amazing supporters who support us through thick and thin, and God continues to work through our ministry despite our failings, to our great honor. We humbly ask that you continue to walk alongside us as we strive, fail, and learn from our mistakes.

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

As early as 5 a.m., Martin Antwi is already working on his vegetable farm. He works until the harsh mid-day sun does not allow him to work any longer.

Later in the afternoon, Martin returns to his land to weed, plow and water all the plants until dusk. He works hard on his farm and is rewarded with a good harvest.

But despite his hard work and a good harvest, Martin had been unable to provide adequately for his family. With nearly every harvest he would lose all of his profit to the market money lenders from whom he buys his seeds and equipment.

Because vegetables such as cabbage, carrots, and lettuce mature within approximately two months, poor farmers make arrangements with market women who buy and sell the crops. The farmers prepare their land and, at planting time, they go to the market to look for prospective buyers to lend them money to buy seeds and other necessities.

Once the crops are harvested, they are taken to the market woman who lended money to the farmer. She determines how much to pay for it. She retrieves her loan plus interest from the amount she offers to pay the farmer. After all this is done, the farmer is left with virtually no money to take home.

“We work so hard but at the end of the day it is someone who loans you the money who gets everything and we go back home with nothing.”

That has been the cycle of life for this 45-year-old father of four. Martin and his family live in Pokuase, about an hour’s drive south of Accra off the main road.

The 12,000 people who live here are mostly vegetable farmers and keepers of free-range livestock, which accounts for the numerous domestic animals such as goats, chickens and dogs that roam the streets.

The residents are also petty traders who sell in stalls located throughout the community. It is possible to find almost anything one might need in these stalls. Some of the people have recently taken to cracking stones to earn a living.

Martin could not provide properly for his family. Three of his children were not in school. Even the oldest child who was enrolled in school was out of class most of the time because Martin was unable to pay the fees.

But two of Martin’s four children, Emmanuel and Sandra, are registered at the Compassion-assisted Church of Pentecost Child Development Center. It is very important for every child in the program to also attend school, so Emmanuel and Sandra were enrolled in school at the same time.

Emmanuel is a very serious 13-year-old who rarely smiles. He and his younger sister, Sandra, are in grade two at school — a situation he does not like.

“Because Sandra is in the same class with me she does not respect me as her older brother. She talks to me as if I am her age mate but I am 4 years older than her. Sometimes I want to hit her but my parents would not like it so I don’t. But I get angry.”

But Emmanuel enjoys and appreciates the child development center, where he and Sandra receive nutritrious supplemental food, medical checkups, tutoring and social nurture, school books and school fees, and Bible teaching. And there, Emmanual was also placed in the Highly Vulnerable Children’s program.

The center’s health social worker tells us,

“When we registered Sandra and Emmanuel, they were very sickly looking. We knew that they needed special care. So when the Highly Vulnerable Children program was introduced they were the first two names on the list.

“But the two of them could not benefit because the number was restricted to only six children. Emmanuel was chosen over Sandra because his condition was worse.”

Compassion’s Highly Vulnerable Children (HVC) program provides services or assistance for children in especially critical situations — conditions which may threaten their lives or prevent them from growing and developing in the way God wants them to.

HVC provided Emmanuel with nutritional supplements and nutritional food items such as beans, eggs and milk. The program also offered income-generation training for Emmanuel’s father, Martin, to help him provide for his family’s other needs. Once Martin received the training, HVC gave him a small-business grant of GHc100.00 (equivalent to about $61) which he invested into his vegetable farming.

Now Martin no longer needs the market women money lenders; he is able to keep his profit and better provide for his family.

Martin shares,

“I am now enjoying my work. Since the ministry gave us that hundred Ghana cedis, which was a far bigger amount than I was getting from the money lenders, I have control over how much I want to sell my farm produce for.”

No longer do Martin’s children need to be pulled from school for lack of fee money. With the help of Compassion’s child development and HVC programs, Martin’s four children are all now attending school.

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

Nooltetan is a Maasai peasant farmer who has been unable to farm because of the severe East African drought.

Mostly, she has depended on raising cattle for her family’s survival. In the past 10 to 20 years the Tanzanian government has encouraged Maasai pastoral communities to engage in alternative work such as farming instead of just relying on cattle.

Nooltetan heeded this call. Along with raising cattle, she began farming her small plot of land when she got married. But the drought has been severe, forcing Nooltetan to cease her attempts at farming. Then she lost all of her cattle and was reduced to poverty.

Nooltetan and her husband had two children before they separated after family quarrels. Now she looks after her children on her own.

With children to feed and responsibilities to fulfill. Nooltetan resorted to collecting firewood for a living. Each day she goes to the nearby bush to collect firewood, which she carries to the nearby town to sell.

One day Nooltetan injured herself with her machete, which has forced her to rely on her 15-year-old son, Alais, to collect firewood and sell it to feed the family. Nooltetan tells us,

“We get about Tshs 2,000 per day (approx. $1.15 USD) for the bundle of firewood we sell and then we use the money to buy food and other home essentials.”

Nooltetan feels it is better to do that than go hungry with no food at all. When the family is not able to earn a living through selling firewood, or when Alais has not been able to secure a day’s pay, the family resorts to asking a neighbor for food.

But if the neighbor family has nothing to spare, Nooltetan’s family goes hungry that day.

After her separation from her husband, Nooltetan decided to go back to her parents where she was born. While there she met a man who fathered four more children with her. This man has not married her and doesn’t take any responsibility for the children.

So Nooltetan now has six children to raise. Before the drought, she had six cows and 10 goats, but now she doesn’t have so much as a chicken to supply eggs and income.

“This year the drought has persisted and because of the loss of our cows and goats, the situation has become even more difficult.

“We depended much on the cattle as our security and means of survival, because we could sell some and buy food. But since cattle are no longer available, we depend on the small business of collecting firewood in exchange for food.”

On a good day, Nooltetan’s family has two simple meals of maize flour and beans, vegetables or porridge. Today they had porridge in the morning and they were going to have another porridge meal in the evening.

The porridge is made of water with maize flour and smallest measure of cooking oil they can buy (at Tshs 200, approximately 15 cents USD) to add flavor.

Food scarcity is not the only the problem in this community; there is also an acute shortage of water. Even though a water pipe is located a few hundred meters from Nooltetan’s home, the pipe is dry most of the time.

The only reliable source of water is a puddle of water-pipe leakage. Here, many people from the community collect their water each day. When the puddle is dry, they have to walk several kilometers to look for water.

One day a relative heard that the local church, in partnership with Compassion International, was going to register children and help support them. Knowing Nooltetan’s struggles to raise six children as a single mother, the uncle asked the child development center workers if he could register her son Emmanuel.

The development center workers came to Nooltetan’s home and confirmed Emmanuel for registration. Nooltetan says she has seen God in these workers, and in Emmanuel.

“Emmanuel being registered has benefited us as [a] family in many ways. Emmanuel would not have gone to school if it was not for Compassion’s intervention. His behavior is very different compared to his other siblings, and more importantly, he has great hope for the future.

“The impact [of] him going to school has even touched his younger siblings, who all go to school as opposed to his elder brothers who did not go to school.”

The family has also received several gifts from Emmanuel’s sponsors, who have even been in their home to visit them.

“These gifts have helped our family to buy food and clothes for other children as well. The benefits have spanned to all other family members.”

Nooltetan cannot hide her joy and her appreciation of Emmanuel’s sponsors.

“I would like to sincerely thank Emmanuel’s sponsors for their support and I thank God who touched them to choose sponsoring my child. I would also tell them if it were not for them, our story, and particularly that of Emmanuel, would be very different.”

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

Our ministry often refers to the “opposite of poverty.” And you might think that we are referring to wealth. The opposite of poor is obviously rich, right?

Actually, in order to answer the question, we first must be able to understand what poverty really is.

There is spiritual poverty … having no access to the gospel or never hearing about our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Sadly, millions of people around the world do not know that Jesus loves them. So the opposite of spiritual poverty is obviously having access to the gospel. It means knowing who Jesus is and how much He wants a relationship with everyone.

There is educational poverty. For hundreds of millions around the world, education is a luxury they cannot afford.

Think about that statement, “education is a luxury.” And imagine what that means for those who are trying to keep up in a changing world.

Lack of education creates a lack of options, difficulty in finding employment. So the opposite of educational poverty is the opportunity for advancement, new learning and practical training.

There is social poverty. In many parts of the world, there are people groups who are simply “undervalued.” Women have few or no rights, children have no voice, no platform … few or no rights.

So the opposite of social poverty is obviously a world where everyone is valued. Where there is community, or at least opportunity for community, and where governments recognize the value of every citizen.

There is health poverty. It may sound foreign to most of you reading this blog, but there are many, many people around the world who don’t even know the importance of brushing their teeth, or making sure the water they drink is clean.

There are men, women and children throughout our planet who believe that debilitating, crippling pain is just part of life — not knowing that it could be cured or treated, if only given the opportunity.

We’ve hear stories of village mothers who deprive their children of water when the children have diarrhea … believing that diarrhea means the child has has too much water. Not understanding that the very thing a child with diarrhea needs is more fluids.

We teach kids how to care for their bodies. Health poverty also includes those millions of people around the world who have no access to health care. So the opposite of health poverty may be the opportunity to get basic medical/health needs taken care of. It means the ability to learn how to take care of your own body.

There is environmental poverty. I have walked in parts of the world where families live in parched land, with dirt floors, where sewage trenches trickle outside their front doors.

Not every person in the world needs a mansion or even a 2,000 square foot, carpeted home. But every person should have safe shelter. Every person should have access to clean air and clean water. That’s the opposite of environmental poverty.

And, of course, there’s economic poverty. Can you believe there are millions of people around the world who do backbreaking work for 8 to 12 hours per day, for less than $2 pay?

Seriously? How can you feed a family on that kind of money? You can’t.

But the opposite of economic poverty isn’t for each of these people to suddenly become wealthy. The opposite of economic poverty is to have enough. Enough income to feed your family. Enough income to provide shelter for your family. That’s hardly too much to ask.

So, as you partner with us or your church or another ministry organization to fight poverty, it’s good to have a better understanding of what that really means.

We’re not called to make the poor become rich, uber-athletes, Ph.Ds or super-theologians. We’re not called to give them the opportunities to live in paradisaical environments. We’re called to make sure they have enough in each of these categories. So the opposite of poverty isn’t wealth. It’s simply … enough.

LINK UP: Today is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (a.k.a. World Poverty Day). Don’t be silent. Take some time to make some noise. Write a post about extreme poverty and then share it with us by linking up below.

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

Children living in poverty face daily challenges. However, through sponsorship you are providing children hope, love, the chance to succeed and the chance to know Christ.

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

These are statements we hear from moms in our Child Survival Program:

“I didn’t know the importance of cleaning with soap.”

“I didn’t know that I was not feeding my child correctly.”

“I didn’t know that it was important to play with my child.”

Mothers in our Child Survival Program range in age from the young teens to the early 40s. Knowledge that we consider common sense is not always common for them. These moms typically lack the opportunity to learn basic home economics skills. And sometimes, the lack of one of these basic skills means life or death for an infant.

So what do we do?

Our Child Survival Program builds trust between a mother and a church staff member who visits on a regular basis. These visits provide opportunities to teach home economics skills in a safe and trusting environment.

We provide church partners with a list of necessary home economics skills; the staff then adapt the list so that the skills fit the context of their communities.

Our resource curriculum provides “mini lesson plans” enabling Survival Specialists to teach these skills to mothers in the program.

Samples of these skills include:

• Ensuring a source of fuel for cooking, like firewood or gas, and safely handling the fuel source.
• Understanding a balanced diet and providing it to the infant. This helps the mother avoid giving her child “empty calories” such as those found in tea or colas or carbohydrate-rich diets that lack essential protein, vitamins and minerals.
• Purifying water to make it safe for drinking.
• Identifying the early symptoms of illness so mothers can seek medical assistance for her children as quickly as possible.
• Using soap and water to wash hands before handling food and after using the toilet or latrine. And, teaching the same to their children.
• Understanding a baby’s temperament so that mothers can better and more quickly address the baby’s needs.
• Making and using laundry detergent to clean the family’s clothing.
• Making safe and fun toys for the children from recyclable materials.
• Removing or being vigilant about hazards that can harm children in the home.

Because many moms in the Child Survival Program are also illiterate, our resource curriculum also contains mini lesson plans to teach them functional literacy and basic math skills. Basic skills mothers should have in order to properly care for their children, especially in emergencies, include:

• Reading a medicine label and instructions so medicine can be properly administered when necessary.
• Reading a map or a bus route to go to the hospital when necessary.
• Understanding a bill.
• Managing a simple budget.
• Understanding a proper business transaction (such as giving cash and counting change).
• Understanding simple arithmetic such as addition and subtraction and some multiplication and division.

Moms in our Child Survival Program also have opportunities to learn income-generating skills so they may eventually help provide for their families financially.

Examples of these income-generating skills include:

• Sewing and tailoring.
• Baking and cooking.
• Confectionery, such as making chocolates and candies.
• Beauty services, such as manicures and pedicures.
• Simple agriculture and animal-husbandry skills, such as growing their own vegetables and raising their own chickens and goats.
• Cleaning services.

So, next time you slip on your dishwashing gloves, or pick up a bar of soap to wash your hands, or take out food to prepare a meal, remember how valuable your knowledge of home economics is. It helps keep you healthy.

Similarly, next time you read a medicine label, get directions from a Global Positioning System, or receive change from a vendor, thank God that you are not dependent on other people to explain these things to you. You are less likely to be taken advantage of.

And next time you set about to do your work, even if it is drudgery, thank God that you have an income. Many people don’t even have the skills or opportunity to work. Thank God that He gives us common-sense knowledge to share with others!

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

The 2010 earthquake in Haiti caused the death of 62 sponsored children, injured 961 sponsored children, significantly damaged 69 partner churches and damaged or destroyed nearly 20,000 homes of our program beneficiaries.

After this earthquake, one of our biggest challenges was to design a short-term strategy to address the urgent needs for children to resume school activities in a country where only slightly more than half of all school-aged children attend primary school.

In Port-au-Prince, 80 percent of schools were destroyed or partially damaged – a hopeless situation for a country with an already-poor educational infrastructure.

Among Haiti’s child development centers, approximately 60 schools were severely damaged or completely destroyed. Emmanuel, director of the Dufort Child Development Center in Leogane, where the epicenter of the earthquake was located, shares,

“There was no hope when we saw everything collapsed in the earthquake, especially the school building. The Haitian government was overwhelmed by the extent of the damage and could not even provide for itself. We did not know what to do with the children whose education is the only hope.”

School education is one of the top priorities among Haitian parents and children. Parents will do all they can to send their children to school because they believe it is the best way to ensure that their children will have hope and a future.

All 68,000 children registered in Haiti’s child sponsorship program go to school.

About three months following the earthquake, we launched strategies to build temporary shelters for our church partners. As a short-term solution, we provided canopies that could be used as meeting spaces to protect children and staff from bad weather.

We also provided steel containers to house offices and help protect computers, files, supplies, furniture, and other important items.

The most-affected church partners received financial assistance to remove rubble and build temporary shelters. Through a strategy we called “Transitional School Building for Implementing Church Partners,” our partnering churches were provided with basic construction materials such as wood, nails and corrugated-metal sheets in order to erect temporary school shelters enabling more than 15,000 children to return to school.

This transitional building process lasted one month, during which 409 classrooms were built for 60 child development centers. Guilbaud, Compassion’s country director for Haiti, explains,

“It was our goal through this strategy to give, in a short span of time, a sense of normalcy to each child’s life. And the Compassion age-group activities and school education were the best ways to keep the children busy after such a tragedy.”

It was a relief to the church partners to be equipped with such facilities, and the children were excited to see the new construction. Children received school furniture to replace all that they had lost in the earthquake.

Others share their gratitude for the effort to get schools back in operation:

“Today we are back [and] operational and we are so proud to remain as an oasis in the desert for the community in order to continue to carry out child development activities.” – Pastor Menard, Leogane Child Development Center

“We love everything you have done for us after the earthquake, but the most important was to allow us to go back to school. I thank you so much.” — 11-year-old Chinica

“I did not feel well when I could not go to school after the earthquake. When I saw that the school collapsed I felt no hope until you came to provide the church with equipment to build temporary shelters for both the development center and the school. I enjoy my time at school now. And I am learning very well. I especially love the way the school is temporarily built. We know that if ever the ground shakes there is no way to be harmed by collapsed things.” –10-year-old Marie

The Dufort Child Development Center has 344 children registered in the child sponsorship program and 450 pupils attend their primary school. While the center was completely devastated, no one was killed or injured there. One child from the Dufort center, 14-year-old Judelove, was in Port-au-Prince at the time of the earthquake and, sadly, died in the quake.

Pastor Wagnac is senior pastor and founder of the Wesleyan church partnering with the Dufort Child Development Center. He says,  

“We were concerned for the future of the church and the ministry here, but you have [proven] once more that the ministry of Compassion is a partner we can rely on even in the hardest time. You have provided assistance that is helping us to get back up today. All glory be to God!”

Center director Emmanuel adds,

“We are truly indebted to Compassion for this support that allows more than 400 children to go back to school. We realize that, even as a temporary shelter, we definitely have a better school building where children feel comfortable to learn with no fear.”

The Transitional School Building strategy is completed and now our focus is on the long-term school rebuilding effort.

Forty-four earthquake-proof school buildings will be erected throughout the west, southeast and Nippes regions of Haiti, where the earthquake caused the greatest damage. At the one-year commemoration of the earthquake, our team placed the foundation stone in the yard of the Capitol Child Development Center, where a new school building will be erected.

Located in Port-au-Prince, the Capitol Development Center is part of the Wesleyan mission, one of our partners most affected by the earthquake with eight school and church buildings completely destroyed.

The 44 church partners in the earthquake-affected areas of Haiti have worked with a team of engineers to develop custom rebuilding plans that include structures, latrines and clean-water-source solutions. Long-term solutions also include ensuring that a water, sanitation and hygiene strategy is in place at each of the 44 centers that were destroyed or severely damaged by the quake.

“The 44 earthquake-proof school buildings we aim to erect will benefit more than 20,000 children,” said engineer Yves Osias, ministry reconstruction supervisor.

Construction work for the first school began at the Simonette Child Development Center.

“The length of time for the implementation of the overall reconstruction project is three years. Each school that will be equipped with 12 classrooms requires about seven months to be built. Therefore, to meet this deadline, many construction [projects] will be held simultaneously.”

The classrooms will each accommodate approximately 45 children. In addition to the classrooms, each school will include: a cafeteria, a sanitary section, the school administration offices, and the child development center office.

Principal Joseph of the Papette Child Development Center underscores the importance of the reconstruction:

“There is no doubt that the performance of the children will be improved because of such new facilities and better learning environment. It’s an activity that will enhance development in the communities as education is the key of success for children in poor families. And you have offered us this opportunity.”

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

The poor need hope.

My initial question for Samuel, a worker at the Kasih Abadi Student Center in Indonesia, is:

“What is the most relevant thought you have about your work?”

Samuel tries to think of the answer. Silence occurs and it creates a funny, awkward feeling.

I was interviewing the child development center staff for a church impact story, and these interviews sometimes bring an uneasy situation. To get an answer to a question like this may lead to an odd situation. It’s normal though.

“The poor need hope.”

To my surprise Samuel’s few words will become the focal point as he begin to shares his story of ministering to the poor.

Community development and growth is not just about numbers and statistics. Somewhere in the corner of real life, there is always a group of people who are missed.

They are stuck without any options.

For these people, community development becomes a hostile environment. They are silenced by the failure to see a better way out of their current life. Their children will soon believe that their future is already set.

They are not able to speak for themselves, and dream of a better way of living.

That has happened in Ngandong. This remote village has somehow been cut off from the outside world and for one reason – the road structure there is severely damaged.

This has been a problem for years, ever since the village was established.

And not because the government avoids building street access, but because the roads are easily ruined by rainwater and river streams within a few months after they are finished, leaving a huge potholes and big rocks blocking the only access in and out of the village.

This situation is affecting the education level in the village. The people in Ngandong have not enjoyed the privilege of advanced education like the other villages nearby.

Mr. Pandono is one of the few educated members of the village who has survived this hardship. He is a member of the church committee for the Kasih Abadi Student Center in Ngandong.

“In the 70s there was only six elementary students in my class from the whole village. I’m the only one who was lucky enough to continue to study through junior high school.”

Ngandong’s situation is now better than in the 70s, with four elementary schools available in the village. This has given villagers the ability to send their children to elementary school without worrying about walking a long distance.

But after the children finish elementary school, the village doesn’t have a junior high school for them. Only a few of the children dare to go to secondary school, which requires an 18 kilometer walk back and forth to reach the school. We are talking about the 21st century, and yet the people of Ngandong still have no access to a better education.

For most parents, the trip to the school may seem death defying, but those trips usually only consist of a quick drive or a walk to the school gates. But the families of Ngandong village, in central Java, Indonesia, take their lives in their hands every day walking to school. These trips involve navigating a narrow road through the forest for hours just to get to a secondary school.

The nearest junior high school is a local private school, and the public school takes at least two hours for the children to walk one way to reach it.

The nearest senior high school is 30 kilometers away in the town of Kudus, which because of the distance will reduce the number of children who can afford to go that far.

In the past only a few children from wealthier families in Ngandong have had the privilege to further their studies.

Villagers have been trying to rebuild and maintain the road structure, but their limited efforts feel like hitting the air. The road remains severely damaged. The last government intervention that the villagers can remember was seven years ago, and did not make a difference. Seems the government is also tired of dealing with these roads.

As soon as we enter the road leading to Ngandong village, white limestones replace the asphalt surface. Village officials feel helpless about repairing these roads every year. Their efforts to provide a decent road get wiped away as soon as the rain pours.

Big holes will get worse during the monsoon. Villagers try their best to fill in the gaps with smaller rocks and soil, but this fix may only last for a week. Trucks are the only reasonable vehicle that can navigate these harsh road conditions.

Trucks are mostly used by farmers to bring their crops from the village to the market. The richer farmers have their own trucks, while many other farmers have to carry their crops on their shoulders to the market.

Those who have money can rent a truck for the day. Sadly, none of the truck owners are willing to dedicate one of their trucks to be a local public transport.

The road conditions in Ngandong are a concern for the child development center in Ngandong. The center’s staff notice that teens have difficulty maintaining their attendance at the center. This is because they are too tired after the long walk to and from school.

When the center staff noticed that three of the secondary school students got sick after a long walk to and from school, the church in Ngandong stepped in.

The church committee knows that the lack of attention to Ngandong’s roads from local government is far from improving.

“The children cannot wait until the roads are fixed or public transport available. Therefore we want to take measures to prevent these children from ending up hopeless.”

A discussion between the church and Compassion staff concluded that we need to provide a way to fix the transportation problem.

Hiring a truck owner to provide the school transportation seemed to be the best choice. The church staff agreed to negotiate with the truck owner about the fees. We would use the truck not only to transport secondary students, but also other students along the way.

This requires an agreement from the community, as they will have to agree to contribute separately from what the church gives to the truck owner on monthly basis.

With God’s grace, one truck owner is willing to let one of his trucks to be used as school transportation in the morning and after school. The truck owner’s only concern — and why he never made steps to make one of the trucks available for public transportation before – is because there was no guarantee for monthly income and maintenance fees.

Samuel shares,

“We finally agreed to cover the basic expense of transport on monthly basis, while the truck owner also has the benefit to collect money from the other students who want to use the truck along the way.”

The church in Ngandong will pay 3 million rupiah a month (U.S. $300) or 130 thousand rupiah (U.S.$13) a day in fees to rent the truck. This will bring all of the sponsored children in secondary level to their school for free, every day. And the truck owner will earn additional income from other students who want to ride along the way.

The church’s action to subsidize transportation fees for sponsored children is part of a strategy to mitigate the high cost of transportation in the poverty-stricken village of Ngandong.

Samuel tells us,

“This move will benefit all the sponsored children who attend secondary school.”

Offering this transportation is a big ministry to Ngandong. So far, the church has established a good relationship with the villagers, but through this transportation intervention, the church once again has become a source of good will in the community.

The villagers notice the initiatives that come from the church. These initiatives have benefited them, and they no longer worry about how to provide transportation for their children.

This action is not only bringing benefit to the children from the church, but also to the entire community. Samuel shares again,

“The benefit is real. It will boost the motivation of children in Ngandong to further their studies.

“The poor need hope.”

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Although it is May here in Colorado, the weather is still reminiscent of winter. As I write this, it is about 40 degrees, sleeting and overcast.

For a Texas girl, this is quite unusual. I can’t help but long for summer. Those three blissful months of heat and sunshine are all I can think about lately. I can’t wait for long drives with the windows down, cookouts with friends at a local park, and nice refreshing afternoons spent in a pool. But I have to stop and think:

Long drives = car

Cookouts = food

Pool = clean water (enough for me to swim in!)

As I look forward to my favorite summer activities, I am reminded that my life is so different from the majority of the world’s. I don’t feel guilty (at least I try not to), but I do take a moment to stop and think about:

• How thankful I am for my life — my experiences, friendships, opportunities and family.
• How grateful I am for Compassion’s ministry. All over the world, we are developing and empowering children so that they and their families are relieved from worrying about food, water, education, etc. and can stop and enjoy “summer.”

As summer approaches and you anticipate all the fun things you have planned, take a moment to be thankful.

They will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness. — Psalm 145:7 (NIV)

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Two of the most important elements of childhood education are the development of a curriculum that focuses on the four areas inherent in each human being – spiritual, physical, social-emotional and cognitive – and the people who teach the curriculum.

In Colombia, Compassion has interactive workbooks designed especially for students and teachers, which when accompanied by tutor training, help develop comprehensive skills in children according to their age group.

• The spiritual element, the first and most significant, establishes the importance of having a relationship with Jesus Christ based on the importance of knowing Him as Creator, Father and Savior. Every child is taught to memorize verses from the Bible, and analyze and reflect on God’s Word.
• In the physical area, children receive valuable information about their bodies, such as the importance of taking care of themselves, personal hygiene lessons, and other issues basic to tackling the problems they face every day.
• Third is the social-emotional area, through which children learn about relationships with others and with themselves. In many cases, this area strengthens the personality and characteristics of children who have been raised in contexts where they have been regarded with no value. In most cases they have been taught false ideas about who they are and what they can dream or plan for the future.
• Finally, the cognitive element develops and reinforces skills that are essential to the children’s knowledge development as students and future professionals.

Children and families participate in different activities that support development in all four areas, such as discipleship, parents’ workshops, food, medical checkups, school reinforcements and psychological assistance.

This strategy responds to the needs that vulnerable children have, with the objective of helping them to become the men and women society needs.

Our curriculum is not only based on teaching strategies, it is a Christ-centered material so the children learn to live out values and principles of the kingdom of Heaven.

In 2000, Compassion Colombia began the curriculum construction process. The project was developed thanks to the work of various interdisciplinary teams attended by professionals and staff committed to children at risk.

Martha Polo, the country curriculum specialist says,

“The authors of this material are men and women who were released from poverty and for this reason know the contexts in which children live in poverty.”

During the time of preparing the materials, various versions and drafts were developed and sent one by one to various child development centers in different areas of the country in order to be reviewed. Feedback from the centers was essential in creating a curriculum relevant to the day-to-day reality of the children.

The curriculum material is intended to show a God who releases and heals. The main question it needed to answer was how to show a God of love to those children living in an environment of indifference.

With that goal in mind, they took biblical characters that grew up in contexts of indifference and showed them as examples.

The material consists of 49 texts distributed to the following age groups: 3 to 5 years, 6 to 8 years, 9 to 11 years, 12 to 14 years and 15 to 17 years.

This curriculum is implemented in all the child development centers in Colombia, which means that nearly 52,000 lives are affected by each one of the lessons.

Behind that significant figure hides a shy face, a brave woman who gives her life for those in need, who kneels down to hear and embrace those who have become her passion.

A woman who exemplifies perseverance and who has opened her heart for the hundreds of children who attend Esperanza de Vida Child Development Center.

Located in the San Fernando community, this center serves a vulnerable population with limited access to basic water and sanitation. Most of these children live in shared houses with cousins, uncles, brothers, grandparents and other relatives.

This is where Silena has served for years, in the middle of a room adorned with colorful crafts and drawings she has created. She is recognized by her smile and her face displays joy when she plays with the children and makes a special connection with them. Silena has committed her life to the story of each one of the children in her group.

From Monday to Saturday, Silena gets up early, gets ready and leaves her own children at school.

Meanwhile, she goes to the development center where she works as a tutor for the group of children between 6 and 8 years old.

Thanks to her commitment, patience and love, Silena has established close ties to the families, letting her have a deeper knowledge of the context in which they live.

“Many people do not understand why children act in one way or another. They ignore the reality that is behind them and that determines most of their actions.”

 Proximity to her students allows her to be the hands of God, transforming many young lives, in particular María Alejandra – a shy girl who found in her tutor’s lessons the importance of understanding her value as a beloved creation of God.

María Alejandra’s father abandoned her when she was little and her mother left her under her grandmother’s care. María Alejandra and her siblings grew up in a small house surrounded by poverty, subsisting thanks to the charity of neighbors and church members who helped her grandmother who can’t work any longer.

María Alejandra built a close relationship with Silena, and one day after she had spent holiday vacations with her mother and stepfather, María Alejandra reported a worrying abuse situation.

The tools she had acquired, the basis of her values, and the trust that she had built with Silena allowed her to talk about her family problems.

Now María Alejandra is under the special care of her tutor, receiving additional support in the areas she needs and even when her grandmother needs to leave the city for a few days she and her siblings stay under the care of Silena who has become, as María Alejandra expresses, “her aunt.”

María Alejandra is now far away from the risks and has special support so that she can continue living her childhood as she deserves. Now she is able to dream about becoming a missionary.

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