Several times the man calls out, even louder after some in the crowd tell him to be quiet. “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?”

- Luke 18:40-41 (NIV)

I am that blind man calling out to God.

Encourage me. Strengthen me. Provide for me. Comfort me. Save me. Give me. Help me.

That’s what I want.

What do you think these kids want? What are they crying out for?

Fifty kids in Haiti. All at the same center. All need God’s love. All need God’s mercy.

How about you? What are you calling out to God for?

All the while we cry out, God is calling out to us. Follow me. Be like me. Share my love.

Is it possible that my needs and your needs complement these kids’ needs? That we offer one another an opportunity to give God what He wants?

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Today’s guest blogger is Suellen Wenz, an editor in our creative agency. Suellen checks the accuracy of the content that appears on compassion.com and this blog, and one day when she was really busy, we asked if we could turn a graduate research paper she wrote about cognitive dissonance theory into a blog post.

We’ve tried to “de-academicize” it for you … you know, “friendly” it up a bit … but when talking about cognitive dissonance theory a certain amount of “What?” is still going to slip through. So, here goes.

The issue of the relative wealth of Western Christians contrasted with the desperate poverty among citizens of developing countries is compelling. As an editor at Compassion, I regularly see individual stories of extreme poverty and its effects — stories repeated in the lives of millions of children around the world.

More than 26,000 children under age of 5 die every day, mostly from preventable causes; a staggering 980 million people live on less than $1 a day (UNICEF stats). These statistics are almost too vast to comprehend. So how do we, who live comfortably in wealthy America and other Western nations, confront the extreme poverty of our brothers and sisters in poor countries around the world?

What do we do when faced with this reality, especially as Christians who hold to Christ’s teaching about caring for the poor?

Should it and does it bother us at all?

Why do we have all that we have, and why don’t they have anything? Are we conflicted over this?

Cognitive Dissonance Theory and the Economic Divide

As humans we like consistency. We are uncomfortable holding to contradictory beliefs and actions, and will try to minimize our discomfort, creating a balance between our thoughts and our actions. This is cognitive dissonance theory, an intrapersonal communication theory developed years ago by Leon Festinger.

According to this theory, an event or situation that produces conflict between our attitudes and our behaviors creates a tension that must be resolved — either by altering our beliefs or by altering our behaviors.

Dissonance is nearly unavoidable; we deal with it constantly to some degree or in some form. The more important a belief and/or action is relative to new, conflicting information, the greater the possible dissonance and the greater the need to resolve it.

The issue of magnitude is particularly important when it comes to wealth versus poverty.

Many Christians in America can be considered wealthy in global terms, and we often place high value on our lifestyles. We often feel our wealth is a God-given right or a gift from God, yet we simultaneously profess to hold to the biblical teaching about caring for the poor:

“Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy.” – Psalm 82:3-4, NIV

The wealth and lifestyle issue is highly important to many, and causes a great deal of dissonance among Christians who actually come face-to-face with the reality of world poverty. We must decide how we will respond to poverty in light of our own relative wealth and power. A higher level of attachment to wealth, plus a belief in biblical principles, plus personal exposure to world poverty, can force us into dissonance.
 
The existence of dissonance in everyday life and the need to create consistency once we experience dissonance, represent only half the picture, however.

An individual experiencing cognitive dissonance must determine to act before dissonance can be reduced. Recognizing and experiencing dissonance alone are not enough to reduce the feeling; we must make a decision and act upon it.

This need to act to reduce cognitive dissonance may be the sticking point when it comes to Western Christians encountering true poverty. The issue raises such questions as:

• How much is enough to give? Do I give all?
• What should I do because I can help only so many people?

As Christians we may be frustrated about what we are called to do and experience guilt over our privileged status living in Western culture.

Cognitive Dissonance Theory and Christian Worldview

Festinger’s theory of cognitive dissonance seems to dovetail well with Christian principles. If Christians are people of conscience with tender hearts, then encountering a reality that opposes biblical principles should bring action.

Christians should not be happy living in wealth and doing nothing about those in poverty. Such knowledge should produce dissonance. The extent of the Christian response varies greatly, however. Some Christians do “sell all,” while others take a more moderate approach. Obviously there is no one right way — it’s an individual response to God’s leading.

I’m wondering, though, if postmodernism is the death knell for, or at least a blow to, cognitive dissonance theory. After all, if there is no absolute truth (the cornerstone of postmodernism), then should holding two beliefs that seem to be in conflict be a problem for the postmodernist?

If there is such a thing as a postmodern Christian, will he or she be bothered by the whole issue of wealth relative to extreme poverty?

Maybe those two realities can peacefully coexist in the Christian mind. I hope not.

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Outliers are men and women who do things out of the ordinary. And in the book Gladwell delves into what makes outliers successful.

Conventional wisdom says success comes from drive, skill and talent, which is true, but not by themselves. Drive, skill and talent aren’t worth a dime without opportunity. Success is a team sport.

“When outliers become outliers it is not just because of their own efforts. It’s because of the contributions of lots of different people and lots of different circumstances.” – Malcom Gladwell

Outliers looks at the success of geniuses, business tycoons, rock stars, athletes and software programmers. And the common denominator in all the examples of success Gladwell gives, the foundational bedrock in EVERY SINGLE CASE, is that an opportunity was made available – because of geography, timing, economics, circumstance, etc.

But you shouldn’t have to read Outliers to see that. You can keep reading this blog … because opportunity is an integral part of what Compassion is about.

• Lives Transformed
• Geography Lessons
• It’s About More Than Survival
• Leadership Development in the Dominican Republic
• Anthony Njoroge: a life changed by opportunity

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Since November 2005, we have ministered in specialized ways to the needs of thousands of highly vulnerable children registered in church partner centers. We acknowledge that all children in our programs are vulnerable and face a certain degree of risk, some registered children face much greater risks than others.

Highly vulnerable children in our programs are those registered children who are at greatest risk of physical, psychological or social harm relative to the other registered children in the program.

Our Highly Vulnerable Children (HVC) initiative is therefore a targeted intervention, accessed through Complementary Intervention funds, that seeks to provide enough stability to the most vulnerable children to allow them to participate in the Child Sponsorship Program.

Prior to the HVC program being implemented in East Africa, we conducted a survey in all church partner programs worldwide, which revealed that tens of thousands of registered children have lost either one or both of their parents.

In some countries nearly half of these deaths are due to AIDS. Children are also at risk of abusive home environments, chronic illness, exploitation or extreme poverty. Whatever the cause, we recognize that for these children additional measures are necessary to protect and secure their well-being.

We currently utilize a wide range of approaches to respond to the needs of highly vulnerable children. From provision of nutritional support to children who do not have enough to eat, to reconstituting a family for those who have lost both parents and do not have a place to call home, each need is assessed thoroughly by local church partners and an appropriate response given. So far more than 10,000 children have been supported through the HVC initiative in East Africa alone.

Chantal, a 9-year-old girl from Rwanda, was one of the first recipients of the HVC program.

When she was selected as a beneficiary of the first Compassion cottage in Rwanda in March 2006, she and her elder sister Jackie had just lost both of their parents. They were living at the mercies of kind neighbors and strangers and on a daily basis moved from house to house seeking food and shelter for that night.

The risks and hardships that these two young children and many others in similar circumstances face everyday trying to make a living for themselves is unimaginable. It is for children such as Chantal and others living in such vulnerable conditions that the HVC initiative was designed.

The benefits of this initiative are already being seen and felt far and wide. As for Chantal, she is currently enjoying the warmth and protection of a new home, a new “mother” and new “brothers” and “sisters” in addition to her very own biological sister.

Impossible, one may think, and humanly speaking, a situation such as Chantal’s would have proved insurmountable. But thankfully, we serve a God who specializes in such impossibilities!

Please pray for the HVC program and the many children we assist who desperately need this additional assistance.

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It’s chilly and the teacher starts the lesson. As drum beats fill the air, children fill with excitement — the right mood for a story.

Teacher Mercy starts,

“Once upon a time there were two buckets that hung by the Simenya Well. They kept on being drawn by the residents of Simenya. One late afternoon, tired with the day’s work, they took time to rest and spoke to each other.”

At this point Teacher Mercy coughs and holds two buckets as visual aid while pointing them to the children.

In the background, one hears a symphony of coughs and sneezes from the children because of the weather. Her “classroom” is outside.

She continues,

“One of the buckets was always grumbling. It never looked at life cheerfully. On this particular day, as it rested outside the well it said to the other bucket, ‘I am tired of the life we lead. However full we are when we are drawn up out of the well, we are sent back empty again. This makes me disappointed and dissatisfied.’

The second bucket looked at life differently. It did not grumble because it looked at the positive side of life. It said, ‘That’s true, but I always look at it this way — that however empty we are when we are set down, we are always full when draw up.’”

Teacher Mercy declares the end of the story, looks at the children, sees the cloudy skies, and whispers a prayer to God, “Please Lord, help us build classrooms to house these children.”

For the last three years, trees randomly placed in the Simenya Child Development Center church compound have been serving as “classrooms” for the children. Unfortunately the days can be nightmares for some of the children in the center, especially when they come to the wall-less classrooms, during extreme weather conditions.

According to Mercy,

“The long rainy seasons fall in March to May, while the short rainy seasons are during the months of August to September and sometimes trickle into October.

These are dreaded months by children, teachers and parents alike. One is likely to meet children shivering in the chilly days with hands tightly clasped across their chest, to preserve the little body temperature.

It is during this period, we have seen children affected by periodic fever. These are the times when we see children walk out of class or even stay away from the classes, with parents citing fear of fever attack.”

During the hot season months, we have not been spared either. This area has characteristic dry spells, which leaves the indigenous trees without leaves. Scorching sunbeams through the sketchy branches penetrate the out-door classes. Because of this, Simenya Child Development Center has made numerous efforts to address this immense challenge.

The community is aware that infrastructural development is their responsibility; however, with the ravaging rate of poverty in this community and high cost of living, they are not able to save money for this much-needed infrastructure.

The host church organized a community fundraiser (harambee), and approximately $400 was raised, which was used toward the acquisition of corrugated iron sheets as roofing materials for a semi-permanent make-shift structure built with trees.

In July 2008, God remembered Simenya Child Development Center in the form of a surprise gift for the center. It came from John, Benson’s sponsor, and it came at an opportune time.

According to Mercy,

“The contribution enabled us to come up with with capacity for 70 children. Though a two-roomed class, the construction has been made in a way that the middle partition can be opened up and the building turned to a hall for church or student center events and functions. Even the church partner hosts a few meetings in this new facility, courtesy of John of the UK.”

Benson is proud of his sponsor, who not only touched his life, but those of 70 children. However, some 230 others still learn in a nearby church hall, while others learn in the child development center director’s office. And more are still under the trees in the church compound until classes are built.

Benson is now a very happy boy. He is glad for the program he attends because he has access to his basic necessities, including a new classroom. He says that he cannot attribute any of this to anyone but to God. Despite being an orphan, Benson is looking at the brighter side of life, he hopes to pursue a good education and he confesses,

“God has given me a friend (his sponsor) who will take me to school until I become a teacher which is my dream career. I now believe Jeremiah 29:11. God indeed knows the plans he has for me to give me peace and an expected end. Even when society thought I was nothing, God and my sponsor saw me as someone.”

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So, how will we respond?

We will not shrink back in the face of adversity. God has called us to be an advocate for children in poverty, and the children need our voice to ring strong and clear when speaking out on their behalf.
We know that when the rich of the world catch a cold, the poor get pneumonia. When the well-off suffer, the poor die. The world needs light now more than ever.

Nonetheless, economics are a reality.

You, our sponsors and donors around the world, are feeling the financial strain already and will likely feel this for months, if not years, to come. So, what do we expect the impact on Compassion to be?

Truthfully, only God knows. But we know that in the end God will prevail.

We know that He will be faithful to His word and to His promises and so, with God’s help, we will prevail. Things may not go exactly according to our plans, but I am confident that God will continue to allow us to help more and more children in a deeper and more profound way, despite the economic and food crises.

In our Executive Group devotions the other day, my co-worker Laurie shared from Isaiah 42 and I think it was Scripture meant for all of us.

Since we are to be Christ in this world, read the passage below knowing that Compassion is God’s servant:

“Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations. …He will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. …I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles. …I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.” (VS. 1, 4, 6, 16, NIV).

So, be encouraged. We are all in the palm of God’s hand, and as we pray for the children one million children around the world are praying for us.

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E-mails about how to submit a proposal for a complementary interventions (CIV), e-mails from marketing departments about the particulars of a CIV, e-mails about a disaster that has just occurred.

So her e-mail inbox pretty much dictates her day. After attacking the onslaught of messages each morning, she has a cup of tea at 10 o’clock. 

Then she spends a lot of time running around, especially during a week where there has been a crisis, like with the recent hurricanes, getting approvals for funds to be distributed.

But she slowed down enough to give us a peek into CIV and her world.

So what is CIV?

Complementary interventions completes our three core programs of child survival program, child sponsorship program, and the leadership development program.

CIVs include things like all our partner development training (training the church partner staff), implementing our curriculum, the AIDS initiative, vocational skills training, malaria intervention, disaster response, and health activities like vaccinations and health awareness campaigns. 

Tell us about the life and times of a CIV. Where does it start?

Generally, the need for a CIV is identified by the church partners, and our partnership facilitators collect those needs from them. The country office then combines them to find what the like needs are. 

That way, they can design a strategy within their country to decide what CIVs and needs they can address this year, and what needs are priorities within that country.

Then they write a proposal for the CIV, which goes through an approval process in their area office. When the approved CIV is submitted to us here, it goes into our database of proposals so the global partners can find donors to fund them. 

What happens if a CIV doesn’t get funded?

Each area has some funds of their own that they can decide how to be used for the things that are vitally important to get done. 

People like to build solid things, like a playground, because they’re something they can see, but it’s harder to see the value in a partner development activity, so these are harder to get funded. 

If you ask field staff, they say that is the most important activity they do. They need the activities like child advocacy training, because developing the church partners is vitally important. 

If you could share one thing with the sponsors and donors, what would it be?

We have highly qualified and very intelligent field staff who have created country strategies that really help address the country’s need. 

Through CIV, donors have a unique opportunity to come alongside that and provide for the needs that go beyond sponsorship. 

The field staff is awesome. They work so hard, and they give so much, both professionally and personally. 

They’re very invested in the work they do, and they do a lot of work. So have patience with them. They will bend over backwards to help people, but things take time in order to do them well.  

What’s the best part of your job?

I like that what I do impacts a lot of people. Like when I help an office get funding for a proposal, as in the Haiti hurricane crises. I don’t work directly with the children, but I can use the gifts I’ve been given to impact children administratively .

What’s the hardest part of your job?

Recently, the hardest part is seeing a need that can’t be addressed because of lack of funding. In the Haiti disaster, there’s a large need, but we have raised only a small part of it, and there are children out there that don’t have a home anymore. 

I remember when we got our proposals for the global food crisis, and I read through all of them. Honestly, I went home depressed — the need of our countries was overwhelming.

Not too long after that, we had our prayer and fasting day, and the fasting really meant so much more to me. I’d read the proposals the day before, and I realized how blessed I am.

What’s a story that’s impacted you the most about a CIV? 

There was a little girl in Kenya who from birth had a growth on her face. It got bigger as she grew, a large mass right beside her nose, and it eventually pushed her eye out of shape.

The kids in her area shunned her because they thought there must be something wrong with the girl, like she was possessed. So she didn’t go to school but worked all day instead.

The Kenya staff worked to get her medical treatment through a medical CIV. They arranged surgery to have it removed, and then she had reconstructive surgery.

It’s really encouraging to see that connection. This was a proposal I read, and now I just got the update that she’s back in school and is getting back into the community. Those kinds of things make you realize, wow, this is huge.

If you had a bunch of money you were going to donate, what CIV would you give to?

That’s tough! I appreciate how diverse they are. It’s too hard to decide: They’re all good! When you’re in the field and see the need, you want to fund everything. I just wish I had a million dollars so I could!

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“The opposite of poverty is enough.”

Have you heard us say this before?

Answer first, before reading on.

Wess talks about it in his book, mentions it in The Lie of Poverty video and alluded to it in a blog post.

It can be seen on the poverty wheel, is threaded throughout many other blog posts and can even enhance your body.

But despite all that, my mind still leaps toward wealth when I get the prompt:

The opposite of poverty is …

It’s like speaking another language. I think in wealth — in Western abundance — and translate into poverty.

Is that emotional disconnection or just cultural inculcation? Is it a symptom of something else? A life in transition, perhaps.

Those questions are mostly rhetorical, feel free to address them if you want, but I’m really interested in whether the phrase has any emotional punch for you.

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I said lemon so many times that it started to sound like a word I made up. Or like a word from a foreign language. After a while, the word “lemon” was meaningless — it no longer represented a tangy, yellow fruit. It was just a funny sounding nonsense word running through my head.

I think Satan likes to use a similar technique to get us to stop caring about the hurting people of the world.

Whenever we make an emotional connection to someone in need, we are motivated to act. So by getting us to feel disconnected from a certain group of hurting people, he gets us to stop acting on behalf of those who need help. One of the ways he does this is through what’s been called “compassion burnout” or “compassion fatigue.”

When a major crisis happens, the news media often reports it so quickly and intensely that for a time, it’s pretty much impossible to get away from it.

Remember watching TV the week after September 11, 2001? No matter where I looked, I couldn’t escape the horrific images. Those first few days, I couldn’t watch the news without crying. But after a while, I had heard the same stories reported so many times that they no longer affected me the way they did at first. I got used to the horror. I got numb.

Were any of you in this same boat with me? Maybe for you it was the coverage from Hurricane Katrina. Or the Asian tsumani. Or the earthquake in China. Or the Global Food Crisis. The list seems endless, doesn’t it?

This article, recently posted on urbana.org, addesses the idea of compassion burnout.

What do you do when you’ve heard something so many times that you get fatigued … you’re tired of helping, tired of giving, tired of caring?

How do you keep from getting overwhelmed with the desperate needs of the poor or numb to their pleas for help? How do you not get discouraged by the never-ending necessity for compassion?

The article includes several good suggestions for preventing burnout.

But what I’d love to know is how you deal with this on a personal level. Are there things we can do in bringing the needs of the poor to your attention that will help create the emotional connection and keep our stories from getting stale?

UPDATE: Aug. 25, 2011 – The article is no longer available on urbana.org.

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Most of us are feeling the pinch of rising prices in our own lives, but to the poor even the slightest increase can be devastating. In times like this, those of us with enough have the option of reducing what we purchase. But for the needy, who are often already trying to survive on only one meal a day, they have no option but to go hungry.

Compassion has already determined that we will be able to send additional funds to each country this month. We will put an extra $1 million in the child support pool. However, we realize that this will be offset by the growing needs for unsponsored children and the loss in purchasing power of the U.S. dollar. We will release additional funds in order to respond immediately to urgent proposals for food aid.

Please join us in this cause and consider a donation to our Global Food Crisis fund, with the hope that we can provide an even greater response to the specific needs of children in poverty in the months to come.

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