At some point, everyone feels like God has left them. Yunita, one of the youngest translators for Compassion Indonesia, felt as though she had been abandoned by God until she read the words of a sponsor.

Yunita had grown up filled with passion for God. She entered the university in 2001, became involved in a campus ministry, and was entrusted to become the leader of the organization in 2006.

Yunita has a heart for children, and with six of her friends she established a group to help children from a landfill in Sumampow, Manado — children who don’t have the opportunity to go to school. She and her friends go to the landfill every Friday and Saturday to teach the children.

God’s love for her kept flowing. She had taken English literacy as her major, which gave her the opportunity to translate child letters for Compassion East Indonesia. Even though she was a student and didn’t have much time every day, she volunteered to translate 100 letters a week, which she’s been doing since 2006.

God had entrusted Yunita with many things and she felt alive. Though she came from a broken home, she began to believe that she could do anything. But all the success caused her to become arrogant. She thought that she would be able to do anything by her own effort.

(more…)

Garbage is everywhere. Two children and their mothers used to trudge over the piles, holding a hook to dig in garbage. They were here at the dump at 5 or 6 in the morning every day.

Nearly 150 children used to work at this dump in León, Nicaragua, looking for food and other necessities, helping their families’ financial situations by collecting recyclable material like plastic, glass and metal that could be sold later.

Juan Carlos and Fatima are two children from two different families who were part of that number.

Almost every day Juan Carlos’ and Fatima’s mothers collected cans, copper and plastic bottles to sell at the end of each week. On a good week they’d get $5 to $10. The children went with them when there were no classes or activities at their child development center.

At the dump they were exposed to the hot Central American sun and an unsafe and unhealthy environment, punctuated with bad smells, flies, dirt and rotten food.

“I ask the Lord to take care of me because anything can happen at the dump. This year someone was killed in a fight for trash,” says Yolanda, Fatima’s mom. (more…)

We must ignite passion for children in poverty, to the glory of God. Nobody is garbage.

You can also view the Comfort the Afflicted and Afflict the Comfortable video on YouTube.