Hello chefs. Today’s stop on the Amazing Compassion Culinary Adventure is Italy … by way of Mexico.

My wife and I prepared Lasagna Azteca, a Mexican lasagna recipe submitted by Angelica Perez Allende, program communications manager with Compassion Mexico, and created by Angelica’s mom.

I chose this recipe because it sounded relatively easy. From an ingredient standpoint, this recipe doesn’t have anything too exotic in it, which gave me hope that I’d be able to pick up the ingredients at our local grocery store, or at least find something similar if I wanted to make any substitutions.

However, I was mistaken. After calling three different stores, I found that neither Whole Foods (two locations) nor Sunflower Market had any squash blossoms, so instead I just added squash — the little yellow one below. (I thought the Guatemala behemoth was just a bit more than I needed.)

Squash doesn’t achieve the same effect as squash blossoms, but I took a chance that it would still be tasty. I was right.

I grilled the squash, along with the poblanos, and the squash actually added a nice texture to the lasagna.

As with the Moqueca de Peixe, the sour cream got booted. I’m not a sour cream guy (too many calories), so Greek yogurt made another appearance. I wouldn’t recommend this substitution to you, though. The consistency of the poblano sauce was off because of it, and the dish suffered as a result.

I opted for skim milk, rather than the chicken consomme, because that’s what I had on hand, and used crimini mushrooms as my fungus of choice.

Next time, I’d go with the consomme or just use a simple chicken broth to add a different flavor to the dish. With the yogurt, ricotta and mozzarella, another dairy ingredient kept the flavor profile rather muted.

Don’t think of not using freshly grated parmigiano. Well, you can think about it, just don’t do it.

Nothing livens up pasta like freshly grated parmigiano, and I’m not talking about the stuff you buy already grated by Di Giorno. That’s Parmesan. It’s a sbagliato — error, wrong, faux pas. Forget that!

Go to Costco, pick up a $20 block of parmigiano reggiano, grate it yourself and enjoy pasta as it’s meant to be enjoyed.

Enough of that. Let’s get to cooking.

With the soffritto, I had no idea what that term meant, so I turned to Google and learned that the term comes from the Italian verb infinitive soffriggere, which means to brown or fry slightly. It sounds so much better in Italian.

Unfortunately, once I had that information I stopped reading and didn’t realize the vegetables are supposed to be finely diced. This is what I was working with.

Once I had the soffritto flavoring the air in mi casa, I turned to the poblano sauce.

After roasting the poblanos, which north of Mexico are often sold, erroneously, under the name of pasilla, and assigning my wife KP duty (peeling peppers), I sliced, but didn’t dice, the heat.

Then I introduced Señor Poblano to his yogurt bath and made him swim.

When it came to assembling my masterpiece, what I thought was waaay too much food didn’t turn out to be enough to make four layers, let alone leave anything to be sprinkled on the top. I have this same problem when making burritos and fajitas.

My wife keeps a cooler head in times of food crisis and with her help, this:

turned into this:

and was a nice vegetarian addition to our lasagna family.

Good eating.

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

The focus of our ministry is to release children from poverty in Jesus’ name. Partnering with the local church allows this to come alive and become tangible — become so much more than a tagline.

As we grow, so does the need for local churches to play a larger role in helping their communities take steps forward out of poverty.

One example of this is the local church in the Valley of Toluca, Mexico.

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

Mexico City is one of the most crowded cities in the world. Over 20 million people try to survive the traffic, the pollution and life every day. Many have struggled to carve out a small spot to live and work in the giant city and its surroundings.

Angelica and her husband Miguel came to the city nearly 20 years ago. Trying to find jobs, they left their hometown in Veracruz. In addition to leaving their families, they also left behind part of their culture in order to build a better life together.

They established themselves in Mexico City near some close relatives who provided temporary support and guidance for survival.

Angelica and Miguel had dreams to study and prosper, but the couple had to start working right away, because their firstborn son was on his way. As their needs increased, there were no more opportunities for personal development or studies. It was necessary to take whatever job was available.

Miguel held different labor jobs until he settled for a job with a car manufacturing company. They offered a low wage but provided the security Miguel needed for his wife and unborn son.

The area where this family lives is located on a hill, right outside of Mexico City. It is crowded with people sharing the same problems — low incomes and high unemployment rates. This area has a very high rate of robbery, drugs and violence.

The homes in this neighborhood consist of small, cement rooms. The houses crowd up the hills, and from the distance they look like cement shoeboxes, piled up with no plan or order.

Angelica’s family now lives in a vecindad, which is a cement-built set of rooms, much like the old-fashioned tenement apartments.

They have only one room for the entire family. The older boys, 18-year-old Alejandro and 14-year-old Miguel,  share the top bunk bed; 12-year-old daughter Angelica uses the bottom bed, and Luis, the youngest at 8, shares the bed with his parents.

The family has a small hall that they use as a kitchen and sitting area.

They share their bathroom, their washing tub, clotheslines and patio with 11 other families living on the ground level and the second floor.

One day the family met a woman from the church who worked as a volunteer there. She served at the children’s club that is now one of our child development centers.

She invited the little ones to come to the program, and Angelica allowed them to come. Afterward, Luis was registered at the Happy Faces Club Child Development Center.

After Luis’ registration, Angelica started to come, volunteering a few afternoons to get to know the program.

After a couple of years, Angelica became a Christian and enjoyed the benefits of the teachings her children received at the center.

“The word of God came to our home through the children.”

Angelica was the first to start reading the Bibles her children received from the children’s club. She said that one of the first sections of the Bible to make an impact on her life was Psalm 51,

“Because it speaks about the sin and the forgiveness of God and how He can create a clean heart in us, and then it teaches us how to live.”

As part of Compassion’s strategy to release children from poverty, children are provided with Bibles. But how can a Bible help children find their way out of poverty?

Children in this part of Mexico are regularly threatened by violence, robbery and gangs, even in their own homes. Children easily become hardened and develop low self-esteem. Receiving a Bible has been a great gift, especially after the church tells them that the Bibles hold precious treasures for them.

Miguel, the teenage son shares,

“Receiving such a gift made me feel important.”

But this is not the only benefit of a Bible. All three children took their Bibles home and shared the love of God with their parents. Luis constantly asked his mother to read his favorite Bible stories for him.

He was too little to read and needed help, so out of curiosity his mother started reading the powerful Word of God.

The daughter, Angelica, had always been close to her father, and she didn’t hesitate to share the Bible verses she learned at the program with her daddy. One day when she, her mother and brothers came home from church, Miguel mocked them and called them “alleluias,” a common name used to make fun of Christians.

This was one of the most stressful times for the children and their mother, but they remained faithful and continued attending church. Instead of fighting their own father, the children prayed and invited him to see with his own eyes what they did at church. After only a few weeks he decided to come to church with them and became a Christian himself.

After Miguel committed his life to the Lord, he changed his old ways. He does not spend any money buying alcohol, and he is committed to his family. He does not use bad words or yell at the children.

Every morning before sunrise, at four in the morning, father Miguel gets up to pray and spend time reading his Bible and praying to the Lord.

Angelica shares about her husband and marriage,

“Miguel used to be very different. He even admitted to wandering off on the streets before coming home, instead of taking the children to church on the week days.

And I used to be very rebellious; I used to fight constantly with my husband about the expenses or just any other reason…. Now when I get mad, I try not to do as I used to do before. I am trying to become a better woman and wife.”

Other than the old TV and homework, reading the Bible has become one of the children’s afternoon activities to help them stay entertained. The children in this cement shoebox are very close to their family and to God.

Now at home the children sometimes start sharing the verses they have memorized. It is almost like a contest: One of them starts with one verse and another one follows. Sometimes two or three start at the same time, and the oldest son, Alejandro, acts as a referee.

They keep a record of the Bible verses, and at the end they acknowledge who said the most. They have developed their own rules: They cannot say the same verse if someone has used it before, and they need to say the verse and the reference, otherwise it is not valid.

Their walls are covered with their favorite verses or with the ones they are memorizing. Their home is full of the words of God.

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

According to the World Health Organization, about 80 percent of all illnesses in the developing world are caused by the lack of potable water and adequate sanitation; lack of safe water is also among the chief causes of sickness and death in children.

In Mexico, it is estimated that as many as 24 million people live in extreme poverty and lack adequate sanitation systems. Many of them are without access to clean and safe water.

Rodrigo, 16, has attended the Enlaces Amigo Child Development Center since he was 8 years old. As a young child he was very ill. His mother recalls those hard times:

“Five of my seven children got sick, all at once. They had fever and diarrhea. I gave them some remedies and most of them got better but Rodrigo was getting worse. He was already very skinny and then he started throwing up.

“I thought he was going to die. But I knew that God existed and I asked Him from the bottom of my heart to heal my son and to let him live.”

After receiving medical attention and medicine for typhoid fever through Compassion’s Child Sponsorship Program, Rodrigo’s health was restored. He has been part of our program ever since.

He is now a tall, handsome young man who attends school and helps his mother support the family in her home-based business.

Rodrigo shares,

“To me, Compassion has been of great help. My father abandoned us and I got sick. I believed in the [Compassion] program because they helped me through my sickness.

“I remember I was isolated from my family and friends because it is a contagious disease. I had fever and diarrhea and I felt very tired or weak all the time. After the treatment they kept taking care of me and then I received medical checkups every six months.”

Rodrigo and his mother are the only Christians in their family, and Rodrigo has witnessed the struggles and sacrifices his mom has made to support them.

Rodrigo attends high school and dreams of becoming an electrical and mechanical engineer.

In the future, Rodrigo would like to work for PEMEX, Mexico’s state-run oil company, designing and maintaining their equipment. He would like to start using machines that would be environmentally friendly.

During the mornings Rodrigo attends school. In the afternoon he helps his mother with their juice and shakes business.

Outside their home they have stools and a counter where they prepare fruit shakes and fruit juices for the people on the street. On most mornings, they are rushed by mothers taking their children to school; these moms buy milkshakes for their children to have something healthy to drink.

The entire family lives off the revenues of the juice stand – about $10 per day. Subtract the amount they spend for water, fruits, milk and ice and the family takes home approximately $5 per day.

For Rodrigo’s family, obtaining clean water has helped them stay healthy.

Before the water purification plant was established, they purchased water from a little cart pulled by a motorcycle and had to boil the water before drinking. The cost of the water and of the gas to boil it was too high for their regular income.

Now that they are able to buy the water in five-gallon containers for only 45 cents, they are able to save money and stay healthy.

Rodrigo is one of the many local beneficiaries of the Child Sponsorship Program and the water purification plant. He has experienced a dramatic change: from being malnourished and sick to being a healthy young man with dreams and expectations for the future.

In response to one of the foremost needs of Rodrigo’s community, the Implementing Church Partner (ICP) taught the community about improving the health of their children. Upon learning that Compassion was partnering with Healing Waters International to provide water projects to communities in need, Rodrigo’s community teamed with the ICP to apply for a purification plant in their neighborhood.

In 2009, the church and child development center inaugurated the water purification plant that now serves the community. Many people benefit from this clean water. In addition, the elementary school and the kindergarten refill their water jugs at the development center at a very low cost and with excellent quality.

Pastor Abelardo of the ICP shares,

“This Complementary Intervention was of great impact to the whole community of Mapastepec, but above all, to the children’s families. They have greatly benefited and the family economy was strengthened by paying for the water at a low cost.

“Now, families have clean, purified water that will help them to decrease gastrointestinal diseases.

“We are now sure that the children drink purified water not only in the child development center, but also in their homes. This gives satisfaction to the project.”

The water purification plant works with the support from the child development center and Healing Waters, and sells more 100 five-gallon-jugs of safe water each day. The community has even hired a member of the ICP to manage the plant full time.

Rodrigo tells us,

“The benefits are for all. [The purified water] is cheap and with good quality. When we buy this water we are benefited.”

Rodrigo is now old enough to understand that his life was once threatened by the circumstances around him. One simple element — like water — became a life-threatening monster empowered by poverty. But Rodrigo is no longer one of the negative statistics; he is healthy and strong and on his way to a bright future.

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

We began our ministry in Mexico in 1980 with the Child Sponsorship Program, and through the years we have moved into highly impoverished areas to help children in need.

But poverty continues to impact Mexico severely. The recent worldwide economic crisis hit the country hard with rising costs and lack of employment.

In the last five years, Compassion Mexico has experienced significant growth, increasing the number of registered children from almost 11,000 to nearly 20,000.

Country Director

Omar Villagran joined the ministry in Mexico as a Program Supervisor in 2003 and was appointed Country Director in 2004. Prior to this, Omar co-founded a nongovernmental organization called AMEXTRA, which combined community development with income-generating activities.

Omar’s father died when he was very young, so Omar was raised by his mother. He believes that his experience living in a single-parent household helps him relate to the vulnerable children he serves. Under Omar’s leadership, the ministry has grown from serving 4,000 children to serving 20,000 children.

Omar believes that strengthening our staff and providing a developmental perspective to our Implementing Church Partners is key to bringing hope to the children and youth in Mexico.

Omar holds a degree as a veterinary physician and zoological technician from the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

Implementing Church Partners

Implementing Church Partners are local churches with whom we work to deliver child development and ministry in the field.

• Spiritual Climate
  According to the 2000 census, 88 percent of the population in Mexico is Roman Catholic and 5.2 percent is evangelical/Protestant. The church in Mexico tends to be traditional and struggles to collaborate well because of denominational diversity. However, the church has grown and become more stable in the last few years.

  In the past, persecution was an issue in certain parts of the country, but the church has established peace and has shown a strong commitment to hard work and holistic child development.



• Unique Challenges
  There are many different ethnic groups in Mexico. Although we do work with some purely indigenous communities, most of the rural and suburban communities are made up of people from many backgrounds, ethnic groups and cultures. Approaching churches and communities in a manner that is appropriate for all of these people groups can be challenging.

  The Mexican government has tried to implement many programs to fight poverty. Unfortunately, most of these programs promote dependence on handouts rather than development. This makes it more difficult to implement a developmental program with the purpose of bringing about long-term results, because it challenges the dependency mindset of families and communities.

  Although education is free and available to everyone, we cannot depend on local schools to provide quality education to all children. Also, school fees, supplies and uniforms are not free and many parents cannot afford them.

  These parents also prefer that their children work to help support the family. This is a common mindset among parents and a difficult one to change.

  There is a strong Catholic presence in Mexico, and some of the local priests influence the community to react negatively to Protestants. Some families with a Catholic background resist the way we teach the gospel at our centers.



• Contributions
  Implementing Church Partners provide the infrastructure for the Compassion program.

  They provide guidance and follow up for the families of the children; groceries and medical attention to family members; community development activities; discipleship and health campaigns; and additional courses and training for staff members to improve their teaching and organizational skills.

• Partner Development Activities
  Compassion develops Implementing Church Partners through training, regular leadership meetings with the pastors and staff, and quarterly meetings with the project directors. We also encourage Implementing Church Partners to support one another within their small groups.

Child Development Through Sponsorship

Your sponsorship of a child in Mexico provides a variety of benefits.

School in Mexico is typically held Monday through Friday, either in the morning or the afternoon, so ICPs plan their activities around the local school schedule. Child development centers in Mexico vary in the hours they are open. Below is a typical schedule, though some centers meet only on Saturdays.

• Meeting Times
  • 3- to 5-year-olds: 2 1/2 hours on two weekdays and 3 hours on Saturdays; or 3 hours one weekday and 5 hours on Saturday
  • 6- to 11-year-olds: 1 1/2 hours on two weekdays and 3 hours on Saturdays; or 2 hours one weekday and 4 hours on Saturday
  • 12- to 18-year-olds: 2 hours on two weekdays and extracurricular activities on the weekend; or 2 hours on one weekday, 2 hours on Saturday, and 2 more hours of extracurricular activities
• Nutritional Support
  When children come to the development center for more than 4 hours, they receive a full meal. When they attend for less than 4 hours or for an extracurricular activity, they receive a snack. A meal consists of a main dish of meat, chicken or soy, and  vegetables, fruit and fresh water.

  If children are served a morning meal, it will generally be ham, eggs and fried beans.

  A snack is usually fruit or a nutritious dessert. We want to give the children something that will provide them with strength and energy for their activities. Our purpose is to provide them with nutritious food that will supplement their regular
  diet, which often is not balanced.



• Vaccinations
  Vaccinations are provided by the government at local clinics. The child development centers keep a copy of each child’s vaccination record and the health coordinator ensures that all children are up to date on their vaccines.

  Parents are encouraged to follow up on their children’s vaccination schedule. However, it is not uncommon for a development center to request the local clinic to come and administer the needed vaccines to the children.

• Extracurricular Activities or Community Service
  Children participate in sports, special celebrations, birthday celebrations and service activities regularly. Camps and field trips are held once or twice a year.
• Vocational Activities
  Vocational activities for adolescents vary from center to center, but some of the vocational training offered includes carpentry, painting, cooking, computer classes, English, hammock making, silk-screening, embroidery, hair styling, and chicken and fish farming.

  Each child development center considers the resources and skills available in their community and within the ICP, then selects their vocational training accordingly. If the appropriate people are available to train the youth, then that activity will be offered.



• Parent Involvement
  Parents are typically involved in activities such as parenting classes, income-generating activities, evangelistic campaigns,
  discipleship activities, health activities for families, and other special events such as parent-children exercise.
• Areas of Expansion for the Child Sponsorship Program
  We are planning to expand in Los Altos de Chiapas and in the northern region of Veracruz. Both are regions where
  indigenous people live, and poverty indicators show these to be some of the more needy areas.

Complementary Interventions

Our core Child Sponsorship Program, while comprehensive, does not address all obstacles to a child’s healthy development. Compassion’s Complementary Interventions Program was created to work with our child development model to provide additional services, such as our AIDS Initiative, Bibles for all children, disaster relief and safe-water projects.

Some of the Complementary Interventions we offer in Mexico include health initiatives such as latrines; de-worming and vitamin campaigns to improve children’s gastrointestinal health and nutrition; curriculum; income-generating activities; and water projects.

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

During the past year, our ministry in Mexico organized the first soccer tournament in which young people between the ages of 12 and 15 played on teams representing their child development centers. Participating church partners organized their teams and started training, and the children were given professional uniforms and soccer shoes.

Across central Mexico, as the tournament progressed, development center staff, pastors, children and youth all talked eagerly about the same subject: soccer. The teams, the uniforms, the shoes, the games, the points, who won the local and divisional matches, who scored — all were easy conversation topics whenever people got together.

Preparation for the tournament helped instill the discipline of training and practicing on a regular basis. Children learned how to keep their bodies in good shape by eating well and exercising. Attendance at the child development centers increased because youth were not allowed to play soccer or participate as cheerleaders if they missed center activities.

The youngsters also learned about teamwork and the discipline of playing by tournament rules. They were continually reminded to play clean and to maintain a good attitude of fellowship among themselves and between teams.

Youth from nearly 40 child development centers in central Mexico participated in the tournament. Church members attended the games and cheered for their teams. Many parents became more involved at their child development centers in order to support their children during their training and their games.

To select division champions, each team first played against neighboring development centers. Division champions then challenged other divisions for their state championship and, once at the state level, the state-champion teams traveled to play against winners from other states. Traveling to represent their child development centers became one of our young people’s most-cherished experiences.

Strong Tower Wins

Strong Tower is a very disciplined team from the community of San Antonio. They trained twice a week on their community field with a very strict coach: the church pastor. Along with their physical training, the pastor taught the boys about teamwork and sportsmanship and encouraged them with scripture. This was evident in their behavior both during the games and off the field.

For many of the registered children on the Strong Tower team, traveling to tournament games was their first time outside their community.

In the last game of the tournament, they represented the state of Toluca against the winning team from the coastal state of Veracruz. The climate and altitude were different from what they were accustomed to, and they were significantly smaller than their opponents. Although they lost the final game, their cumulative scores and their second-game goals gave Strong Tower first place for the tournament.

Each teammate received a gold medal and the team was awarded a beautiful championship trophy.

After the game, the players were able to stand at the ocean and contemplate the expansiveness and sound of the sea. Most of them were overwhelmed. Soon after enjoying their first impression, they started playing in the water.

As a reminder of their fun at the beach, they packed some sand in their backpacks to show their families and to remember the beautiful creation of God. Several teammates reflected,

“It was a dream come true.”

For Pastor Pablo, pastor and coach of the winning team, the soccer tournament was a deeply rewarding experience. He enjoys the sport and was delighted when he first heard about the initiative. Pastor Pablo says,

“It has been a great satisfaction. God helped us because when the tournament started we were going through a very difficult situation in the church. But when we started to get results with the teenagers, the church began taking the children seriously.”

The results of the soccer league varied from program to program, but overall it brought encouragement, nurture and character to the teenagers. It also created a sense of belonging, which at that age is very important to ensure that young people stay close to the church and their child development center.

One of the best outcomes from their months of work was the new level of unity and trust among the youth.

“I know if the teens have a problem, or if they find themselves in a difficult situation, they will come to me and I will point them to the Lord and help them walk through it.”

Winning the championship will always stand out in the memories of these San Antonio children, along with the good memories of training, teammates, games and victories. Each team member has a gold medal and a small bag of sand as a reminder that dreams are worth dreaming.

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

Sugarcane is a farming staple in Mexico, serving as a valuable source of income for many families. Harvesting the sugarcane that grows in these hot, tropical lands is a common job for many men in the region. The work is hard and the pay is not good, but a lack of jobs and skills leaves no other option for survival.

Mariana’s family is one of many that rely on the sugarcane harvest. Her father has worked farming these lands since he was about 14. Last year, Mariana’s 14-year-old brother started to work alongside his father to help the family.

Mariana is part of a big family. Her mother Luisa was only 14 when she married Mariana’s father. They have been together ever since.

There are 10 children total; three of them are married and have families of their own. The remaining seven are still young. Mariana is 6.

With a big family and a small income, it is nearly impossible for the family to meet all of their needs. The entire family, including the three older children and their own families, live in a small wooden shack with no amenities or luxuries. The family barely gets by with enough to eat; the kids can’t attend school. school. They all depend on the sugarcane fields.

Mariana’s father and older brother Mario leave the house while she is still sleeping. With only a cup of coffee in their stomachs, they walk in the dark and start working when daylight breaks. They normally spend 12 to 14 hours working in the fields, with little time to stop or to eat. Their weekly pay is calculated on the number of furrows they cut.

The father normally earns an average of $20 a week. With the help of his son, sometimes he makes as much as $30.

It takes two years for the cane to be ready to harvest. During that time, the father and son weed, spray for bugs, and work on other fields when needed. Once the sugarcane is ready, the cutting season starts and lasts for about six months.

There are different ways to cut the cane. Some farmers allow the cutters to burn the fields and cut faster, which makes the sugarcane lighter and cheaper. Mariana’s father is one of the cutters who cut the cane while still raw. Although it takes longer to clean the canes and separate the leaves, the profit is greater because the leaves can be sold as feed for animals.

The life of a sugarcane farmer is challenging. Thankfully, Mariana’s family benefits from her enrollment in the Campeones DJ Student Center. This program has affected her family not only financially, but spiritually as well.

Mariana’s family heard of the church and the program through church-organized family reunions. The reunions are designed to spread the gospel and share the Bible with families in the church and nearby communities. And the church works not only with the children at the programs, but also hopes to disciple the entire family.

When she was first registered, Mariana had trouble attending the Compassion program because her mother was ill. No one could bring her to center activities, so the teachers and center staff got involved. They decided to visit Mariana’s home to offer their support and help. They found out that the mother, Luisa, had been sick and inappropriately treated by the local clinic. They made all the arrangements to ensure Mariana’s attendance, and assured Luisa was taken to the doctor.

Unfortunately, things were a lot more complex than expected. Luisa was diagnosed with an advanced cancer. After being initially treated only with painkillers, the church intervened in order to get her properly treated.

Although there is not much hope for her recovery, Luisa is well taken care of and comfortable with the medication she is receiving. The only thing she can do is trust the Lord for a miracle.

After only a few months, Mariana is already committed to learning and is excited about going to school next year. Out of all her siblings, she will be the first to attend school. She will have an opportunity to read and write. She wants to become a teacher to her siblings and to other children in the community.

While Luisa is still very ill, her children look after one another. The older siblings work. Mario works in the field with his father.

Elias, at 11, is the oldest at home during the day. He is responsible for all of the children. Axel, who is 9, cooks beans for the family and gathers wild plants to eat. He places coal on the burner and heats a pan to cook the plants with oil and salt. His relatives usually provide a few tortillas, and this is the children’s only meal per day.

Mariana washes the dishes and everyone else has a different way of helping at home. Even younger children go out to the fields to collect fallen fruit from the neighbors who allow it, and they are able to share a bite of the peaches or pears that are still edible.

Under these difficult circumstances, Luisa still keeps her family together. She is the one encouraging her husband and children to keep the faith.

“If God decides to heal me and leave me here to take care of my family, then may the Glory be to Him. But if He decides to take me home with Him, then the Glory will be for Him.”

She gathers all her family around her at night to read a portion of the Bible and to pray together. She knows this is the best inheritance she could leave her children.

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

Sergio lives in the poor community of Carranza, near the Gulf of México, in the state of Veracruz. Children living in communities like Carranza are normally shy, with few aspirations or dreams. The message poverty engraves in the minds and hearts is, “You are not good enough, you don’t matter, and you are not going to make it.”

But Sergio has been part of the Compassion-assisted A Light to My Path Student Center for four years. The tutors at the center believe children have a God-given potential to succeed even against their poverty, lack of resources and opportunities, and all other circumstances around them.

Sergio and nearly 200 other children in his town attend the development center. They enjoy some classes after school to support their learning. They are taught how to keep themselves healthy by practicing sports, eating vegetables, showering, and keeping healthy practices. Children have a place to feel they are valued and loved.

But most important, children here learn about the love and the plans God has for them.

As part of the regular activities, the children are taken to nearby courts to practice basketball, football and other sports. The church organizes games and events to promote their involvement.

Sergio used to be part of the football team; the church pastor was involved, helping to support the children and guide them to learn to win and to lose, managing their emotions, and playing clean.

But two years ago the school PE teacher found that many children in town had running talent, and Sergio stood out with his speed, endurance and commitment, so the teacher began training him on 600-meter and relay races.

Sergio has liked to run since he was a little boy. His mother, Cita, recalls him winning his first race in his kindergarten sports games.

“He was always running up and down. He usually had many bruises because he was never still.”

After a few months of training, the school had a very strong 4-by-75 meter relay team and started winning races against other schools in the area. The team made it to the state races and then qualified for the nationals.

The state of Veracruz supported their talent and hard work, and provided support for them to keep training. Then, suddenly, a situation rose like a wall in their path. The national races required equipment.

The final races in the state had been very difficult, and a professional coach recommended the team use spikes to run. Children and families had never heard such a thing. Special running shoes were not only needed, but costly — $120 a pair.

With a family of five children and the small income of a truck driver, Cita knows “the only opportunity our children have to get new clothes or shoes is when they receive a gift from their sponsor.”

Sergio’s father works 14 hours a day, six days a week to earn a maximum wage of $12 per day to support his family. Getting $120 shoes seemed impossible.

But child development programs like the one Sergio attends keep telling children they are valued and have the potential to become anything they would like to be. They insist there is nothing impossible to God, and the message they hear from their tutors reminds them of the opportunity they have to do better, to dream, and to fulfill those dreams.

Sergio struggled with this idea over and over in his head. Then on a hot afternoon while Cita was walking in the street market, she found a secondhand pair of shoes that were funny looking. Her heart jumped and she ran to the school to show the PE teacher the shoes.

“These are the shoes we need for the children,” he said.

Still amazed, the mother brought Sergio to try on the shoes, and they were just about his size. The mother then talked to the father and they agreed to use some money they had saved for months and paid the price for the shoes, $20.

“What a great day,” Sergio recalls. After all, he was the first in the team to get the spikes needed for the race, and today he is part of the athletics team at school running 600 meters and as the starter of the 4-by-75 relay race team.

Last year Sergio’s team reached the nationals and won fourth place in their discipline. For Sergio and the other children, winning the races meant satisfaction and recognition by their family, school, teachers, friends and others in their community.

When Sergio participates in his races, the church gives him full support and has always taught him to behave as a son of God. Every time he goes off to competitions, his pastor and teachers pray with him and follow his results.

After winning his last race in the state, he was presented at church and the pastor prayed for him and for his family on Sunday morning. Sergio knows that despite where he is from, he is loved by God and is good enough to win a race. He knows that strength, wisdom and speed, in his case, are all gifts from God.

Sergio is confident enough to race, and he knows he is good. He has received many medals and recognition, but he knows how to keep both feet on the ground. He does not boast about himself or walk around the community with pride; even when he is well known by many, he greets all and smiles shyly. He is still humble enough to do the errands for his mother and church.

Sergio trains on a regular basis, attends the Compassion program, keeps good grades at school, and helps his mother at home. When races approach, the athletics team meets every afternoon to train. They have to go to a main town to find a sand court and train. This requires dedication and persistence.

Sergio says he prefers the relay race over the 600 meters because the relay is when he gets to run faster to win for the team. But the longer race requires persistence, he has to endure the race, and then at the end he needs to run faster to finish the race in a good position.

Perhaps persistence is one of the things we most need to succeed, and children in our programs need to endure the long run. Sergio is surely learning this lesson. And as the state and national races approach this year, Sergio is growing stronger and hopefully he will endure long enough not only to make it to the nationals this year, but to succeed in life and shape a brighter future for himself.

After all, nothing is impossible with God.

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.

Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.” — 1 Corinthians 9:24-25 (NIV)

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At the development centers, children receive the gift of being children, away from their lack of money and food, inside a small refuge where sadness and abuse are not present.

Pepe comes from a good family. His mother, Hilda, knows the Lord, but she came to the church when she and her husband were under much stress and struggles. Although the couple tried hard to stick together and to create a safe environment for their children, they used to fight over their lack of money.

Hilda says she and her husband fought because they did not have enough money to eat. She recalls one day when they were yelling at each other and did not realize Pepe was hiding under the bed. They saw Pepe crawl up into the corner of the bed and pray, “God please give me much money so my daddy and mommy will not fight.”

Hilda was heartbroken, and that was the moment she decided not to fight over money anymore. On that day, Pepe brought light into a family that lived caught up in the darkness of their economic situation.

Our church partners often see families changed by their own children in this way; the children support their families in their struggles, pray for them, and in many cases minister to them until they are reached by the hand of God.

Last year, the center received additional help from Compassion. They received a special gift of Bibles to give to the children so the little ones could bring the Word of God into their homes.

A Bible in the hands of children becomes a tool that provides them with countless opportunities to start learning about God, to trust Him, to love Him and get to know Him on a personal basis. Compassion México has given a new Bible to more than 8,500 children in 65 child development centers.

The Bibles have a short information sheet to collect responses from children, including a question to make sure children have heard God’s plan for salvation. This sheet has helped as a follow-up tool to track their commitment to the Lord and to help tutors and center staff understand where the children are spiritually.

For Pepe, the Bible came at a very special moment. Some time before his birthday Pepe started to ask his mother for a Bible. As his birthday present, he wanted this special gift.

“I longed so much for a Bible, I wanted to have a Bible for my own, and I wanted it to be a children’s Bible.”

A week before his birthday, his mother went to look for a Bible for him, but they were very expensive. She was saddened at not being able to provide this gift for her son. She didn’t know God was already planning to take care of this.

On Pepe’s birthday, after the regular activities, the children at the development center were called up front and their teachers gave them a Bible. For Pepe, this Bible was not only just what he wanted, it was a very special birthday gift that meant God is always listening to his cry.

“I wanted to scream with joy to the four ends of the earth, that same day I read two chapters and a half.”

With such a demonstration of the love of God, Hilda says they cannot turn their back on the Lord now.

“As a family we made a commitment to read the Bible. So every Saturday and Sunday when we wake up, we each read a psalm and kneel down to pray.”

Hilda and her two children now attend a church near their home. They are still praying for Pepe’s father to commit his life to the Lord, but they know Who they trust now.

Pepe and his sister like to pick out their favorite Bible verses. They sit together to write them on paper sheets, then they decorate the verses with colors or cutouts and put them up on the walls of their home.

“My favorite Bible character is David because he said many very beautiful prayers to God.”

Pepe knows how to pray to God and his prayers have been heard. The evidence is his own family and the Bible he cherishes and carries back and forth from the center. God’s faithfulness is also evident in the memory of receiving such a special birthday gift.

Hilda now considers her family rich. They still have limited resources, wear secondhand clothes and don’t own a proper place to live, but she says firmly,

“Although we lack many things, we know we are rich because we live without fighting and we have not seen a day when we are unable to eat at least something.”

There are times when that “something” is quite meager. Hilda describes how when money is scarce she prepares one egg with tomato for the entire family and serves it with old, dried tortillas.

But the family’s riches are not counted in money. Rather, they are counted in love for one another, in their love and trust of God, and in occasional surprises from the Lord that they are able to enjoy together – surprises like Pepe’s treasured Bible.

What’s the greatest birthday present you ever received? What’s your greatest childhood birthday memory? Does it involve God?

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Our child development centers are distributed in different types of settings in Mexico; the biggest difference is between urban and suburban areas.

In the context of this blog post, the term “suburban” is defined a bit differently than in the developed world:

Suburban areas are smaller cities or towns, normally located on the outskirts of main cities, with at least 5,000 inhabitants, but with few services.

Suburban settlements are always in constant growth. Houses are dispersed, and many lack basic community services. Roofs are basically made of thin layers of either metal, plastic or even cardboard materials.

Typical homes are made with brick and sometimes local materials such as mud, wood and other things typical to the area. The homes usually have  improvised rooms made3 with construction materials on the relative’s property, or have rented rooms with shared facilities.

Partially paved roads and streets are also common in these areas.

The settlements are normally gray and dusty, on the outskirts of the bigger cities or main towns. Each family has an average of three to five children, and it is very common to see either single or abandoned mothers working to support their children or clustering with their relatives to share the expenses and chid care.

The communities start with a group of squatters who settle in open spaces near the main cities. The people from these places often work in the cities, so they depend economically and commercially on urban regions. The communities struggle to get good services and communications; they have little infrastructure.

Productive activities in these areas include commerce, labor and domestic employment, brick layers, blacksmithing, selling in the small markets or small corner stores, factory workers, and industry laborers .

The families are normally paid by day, and so they live on a very small budget, unable to plan much into the future. Children often receive their clothes from older brothers or cousins; mothers fix and reuse the clothes to make them last for the next generation. New clothes are bought from the market and from relatives as well. Clothes and gifts the children receive from the child development centers are highly valued.

Many children come from Roman Catholic backgrounds since the country’s population is 88 percent Roman Catholic, according to the last census from INEGI (National Institute for Statistics and Geography).

Educational services in these areas are underdeveloped. Many schools are still under construction or have provisional classrooms that parents helped build and remodel with their few resources. The average education level is six years of elementary school.

The diet of families in suburban areas mostly depends on their income. Most families prepare rice and beans, noodle soup, chilaquiles and other tortilla-based dishes.

Examples of child development centers found in areas like this include:

ME-709, 730, 731, 733, 735, 737, 738, 744, 750, 751, 764, 774, 775, 777 – 784, 786, 787, 790, 791, 792, 801, 802, 807, 811, 814, 815, 816, 819, 824, 826, 829, 831, 837, 840, 852, 857 – 862, 870, 881, 882, 885 – 889, 891, 895, 896, 900, 901, 910, 915 – 918, 921, 923, 924, 927, 928, 937, 941, 942, 944, 947 and 948.

Sopa de Pasta Recipe

In Mexico, it is very common to find small bags of pasta in different shapes like tiny stars. Families cook this often to feed the children. Some cook it with chicken to make it a full meal. Many times they add a few chicken bones for flavor.

To prepare a similar dish, break regular noodles into short pieces.

Heat oil in a large pot, and fry noodles until lightly browned.

In a blender, add a few tomatoes, onion and garlic, and puree until smooth.

Pour the tomato mixture into the pot with the noodles and cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add water or chicken stock and cook covered until the noodles are tender, 5 to 10 minutes.

Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper, and stir.

Serve in a bowl while still hot.

Chilaquiles Recipe

You can make either green or red chilaquiles, depending on the tomatoes used. Green tomatoes are very popular in some places, but red tomatoes are good, too. In some restaurants, chilaquiles are also served with chicken breast strips, but in the Compassion communities they are normally served as they come out of the pan.

Place tomatoes in a saucepan and cover with water.

Add one jalapeno, or even half if preferred, and salt, onion and garlic.

Cook for 5 minutes until tomatoes have changed color and are cooked through. Blend until completely done. Add salt to taste and finish cooking.

Deep-fry corn tortillas cut into smaller strips until golden brown. When they are crisp, remove and place them on sheets of paper towels to remove excess oil. Add the fried tortillas to the salsa.

Serve chilaquiles with either sour cream, fresh cheese or onion.

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