It’s a simple act. A simple gesture. But it makes a huge difference.

There is a sweet, elderly man who attends my church. Though he is getting on in years, he has a handshake and grip that puts many young men to shame. He reminds me so much of my late father-in-law, a man who also grew up in the era where a handshake meant something.

I can’t help but find this man at church during the greeting time, just to say “hello,” shake his hand, and chat with him a little bit. I have shared with him and his wife that he reminds me so much of my father-in-law, and being able to talk a little bit with him each Sunday blesses me because it makes me remember the kind, gentle man who accepted me as his daughter 26 years ago.

So I was taken aback a little bit this past Sunday when I shook his hand and he wouldn’t let go. He stood there holding my hand as we talked and then looked me straight in the eyes and said,

“Thank you for noticing me.”

This simple little phrase has rung in my head and heart since he spoke it, and even found its way into my Bible, just to always remind me about that simple act of noticing people, of shaking their hand, of giving them a smile, and letting them know that they have value and worth.

And as I continue to think about it, I can’t help but think of all of the children in the world. And really, aren’t we all “children”? Children living in poverty.

Children who are living the nightmare of human trafficking. Children who are forced to be child soldiers. Children living in broken homes. Children who are crying out to be noticed.

Noticing someone who is deliberately and inappropriately trying to be noticed is not what I am talking about. Though I do admit that some of those deliberate attempts at being noticed are simply cries for help and shouldn’t necessarily be ignored.

All people have the need to feel valued and cared for. If we are willing to open our hearts to those cries, our world could be changed — one person at a time.

Through my correspondence with our Compassion children, I have often read these words penned by the children, “Thank you for choosing me.” In a sense, they are saying, “Thank you for noticing me.”

I take those words as a firm handshake and an intent look in the eyes, and I am humbled.

A simple act. A simple gesture. But it makes a huge difference.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Teri Gerdes and her family sponsored their first Compassion child in 2004. After returning from a sponsor tour in Ecuador, her family sponsored three children and are correspondent sponsors to four additional children.

If you’re interested in writing a guest blog post, we are happy to consider publishing it. Read our guest blog post guidelines.

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“So. Let me tell you about living in poverty in the Philippines.”

We’re publishing pictures of poverty on a daily basis at picturesofpoverty.com. All the photos on pictureofpoverty.com are meant to show the dignity and hope which live within the poor despite the oppression poverty inflicts upon them.

The presence of dignity doesn’t mean poverty is absent.

You are free to copy and distribute the images on picturesofpoverty.com in accordance with the Creative Commons license (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported).

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Yep! A magnet. Can we get get a “Woot! Woot!” for Judy?

Now, without further ado, here is your answer key.

Answer: Six. More than 9 million children under age 5 die every year, and malnutrition accounts for more than one-third of these deaths. Most of these children live in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

(Source: www.unicef.org, November 2008)

2. Question: True or False – One-third of the children in developing countries live in poverty.

Answer: True. Of the 1.8 billion children in developing countries, 600 million of them live on less than U.S. $1 a day.

(Source: www.unicef.org/mdg/poverty.html, November 2008)

3. Question: True or False – In reducing the rate of sickness and death from diarrhea, the supply of adequate quantities of water is more important than improving its quality.

Answer: True. The organisms that cause diarrhea can be spread through many routes besides drinking water; increased quantities of water can improve household and personal hygiene, which prevents the spread of disease.

Each year about 1.7 million deaths related to dehydration caused by diarrhea occur in children under age 5.

(Sources: www.cdc.gov; http://rehydrate.org/, November 2008)

4. Question: Which one of the following is NOT one of the U.N. Millennium Development Goals?

• Achieve universal primary education
• Ensure environmental stability
• Provide worldwide access to safe water
• Develop a global partnership for development

Answer: Provide worldwide access to safe water

The Millennium Development Goals were created to develop a concrete action plan for the world to reverse poverty, hunger and disease affecting billions of people. The other five goals are:

• Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
• Promote gender equality and empower women
• Reduce child mortality
• Improve maternal health
• Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

Learn more about the U.N. Millennium Development Goals.

5. Question: True or False – Life expectancy in the world’s poorest countries is about one-third lower than that in the high-income world.

Answer: True. Life expectancy in the least developed countries averages 55 years, as compared with 79 years in industrialized countries.

In fact, in most of Africa, average life expectancy is only 50 years.

At any given time, close to half of all people in developing countries suffer from a health problem caused by water and sanitation deficits.

For people in the the developing world, illness, job loss, drought or even pregnancy can mean the difference between life and death.

(Sources: www.unicef.org; www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats, November 2008)

6. Question: What is the definition of extreme poverty?

Answer: Living on less than $1 a day. One in six people around the world lives in extreme poverty.

(Sources: www.unicef.org/mdg/poverty.html)

7. Question: Which of the following statements about children in the developing world are true?

• 1 in 3 children does not have adequate
  shelter.
• 1 in 5 children does not have access to
  safe water.
• 1 in 7 children does not have access to
  health care.
• All of the above.

Answer: All of the above. Along with malnutrition, these mostly preventable causes are leading contributors to the millions of child deaths each year.

(Source: www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats, November 2008)

8. Question: True or False – The majority of the world’s chronically undernourished people live in Africa.

Answer: False. Approximately 790 million people in the developing world are still chronically undernourished, almost two-thirds of whom reside in Asia and the Pacific.

Despite the food production rate being better than the population growth rate, there is still desperate hunger in many parts of the world.

(Sources: World Resources Institute, “Pilot Analysis of Global Ecosystems” (February 2001); www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-andstats, November 2008)

9. Question: What percentage of the world’s population growth occurs in developing countries?

Answer: 95 percent.

Currently, the world’s population totals more than 6.7 billion and grows at an average rate of around 80 million persons per year.

Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, three regions of the world made up of mostly developing countries, account for most of the world’s increasing population.

(Sources: www.worldfactbook.org; www.census.gov, November 2008)

10. Question: What is the United Nations’ deadline for meeting the Millennium Development Goals?

Answer: 2015. The Millennium Project is working with individual countries to help identify and address specific needs, such as access to health clinics, immunizations, teachers, roads and water pumps.

Developed countries have committed to provide increased funding to help reach the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

(Source: www.undp.org/mdg)

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

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