“Compassion is an unstable emotion. It needs to be translated into action, or it withers.” – Susan Sontag
How Do You Stay in Your Child’s World?
As a Compassion sponsor I don’t want to only connect with my child when I get a reminder from Compassion. I want to be a sponsor who consistently prays for her children.
Who Cares About the Poor?
If I cared, I’d be more like Bono or Mother Teresa or even Wess Stafford — someone with influence and name recognition, someone with a story. If I cared, I’d do more, right? If I cared, I’d dedicate my life to serving the poor — as their champion, as their savior.
I’m a cynic. And I’m a contrarian. When the pop-culture collective is doing something, I usually don’t want any part of it. By staying aloof, I nourish my emotionally wounded soul on a diet rich in the fat of condescension. That’s how I feed my deflated sense of self. That’s how I roll.
Although I’m…
The poverty in my life is emotional and spiritual. The poverty in the lives of the kids you sponsor and the kids we’re meeting here in Kenya is that and more.
It’s Personal
Social media is my job. I manage this blog. I send out the tweets for @compassion. I create the photo sets in Flickr, upload videos to YouTube, update our Facebook status, etc.
I have a good job. I like it a lot. I don’t want to do anything else. My fellow webbies are great peeps.…
In the Void of Poverty
The running water in my comfy apartment cannot help the hurt in my heart today. The grande nonfat latte I picked up from my favorite coffee shop didn’t help, either.
American luxuries I once looked forward to now feel empty, as nothing fills the void that Africa left.
Someone once said, “Once you get…
Do You Love Your Sponsored Child?
Do you love your sponsored child? Really love your child?
We already know I’m an emotionally disconnected person, so help me out here.
Explain to me how you know that what you feel for your sponsored child is actually love.
Come on y’all. I want to know what love is. Sing it.
Gratitude
Remember the Tanzanian children’s choir I wrote about in my last post? Well, it turns out that their matinee performance that day was only a taste of what was to come — an actual full-fledged concert at Friday’s chapel.
And what I thought was powerful and moving at lunch barely compared to what I experienced…
Why Am I Here?
As you may have read recently, the Global Leadership Forum has been in progress all week and all the “big-wigs” are in town talking about . . . stuff. I don’t actually know what they are talking about because I wasn’t invited. But I’m pretty sure that my lunch on Tuesday was better than…
The Poverty of ME
Last week, I was in Mexico. On a sponsor tour. And I saw the deepest, darkest poverty of my life.
But I didn’t have to travel to ME, the abbreviation we use when referring to Mexico, to see it. I only had to look at me.
I was in Mexico for the wrong reason. I didn’t go…
Getting 10,000 Children Sponsored in 10 Days
Have you noticed the “international” component of who we are? Compassion International.
Part of that internationality is that we work in 24 countries throughout the developing world … uh, 25 countries (you know about Togo, right?)
And the other part of that internationality is that there are 11 countries that form Compassion’s Global Partner Alliance. These…
Two Weeks Down, Four to Go
To all of you who responded with your encouragement, comments, and ideas, thank you. I cannot begin to tell you just how much I appreciated hearing from all of you. The time and thought you took to read and respond truly blessed me.
Another week has begun and my feeling of being overwhelmed…
The Opposite of Poverty
“The opposite of poverty is enough.”
Have you heard us say this before?
Answer first, before reading on.
The Awful Reality of Poverty
In an effort to keep you from becoming emotionally disconnected …
This video, featured on Washingtonpost.com, is the most effective video I have seen yet on the global food crisis, in terms of showing the awful reality of poverty.
As I learn more about this crisis, I am increasingly convinced that THIS – the global food crisis…
Comfortably Numb
Have you ever repeated a word over and over in your head so many times that it eventually loses its meaning and starts to sound like nonsense? It happened to me the other day with the word “lemon.”
I said lemon so many times that it started to sound like a word I made up.…
Global Food Crisis in Haiti
In response to the global food crisis, Compassion International has begun interventions for the countries we serve.
Last week we received this photo from Haiti, where they have begun distributing food kits for temporary relief to the families who have been hardest hit. These parents are waiting in line to receive their food kit vouchers…
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