Nine-year-old Jessa lives in a tiny, dark hovel situated within a crowded squatter community in metro Manila. Jessa’s home, unlike the typical homes in most squatter communities, is a concrete house.

While this shelter could keep the family safe during typhoons, on other days of the year it is very hot and humid inside their one-room house.

Jessa wakes up at 4 a.m. Monday through Friday. It is still dark at this time of day, but inside the family’s bedroom it is dark at every time of the day. They do not have a window.

During the rainy season, sleeping in their cramped bedroom is cozy, but on most days of the year, it is hot and humid. Jessa, her father, Jesus, her mother, Naty, and sister, Joyce Ann, sleep together on a tattered double-size mattress inside a 6’ x 6’ room.

The family sleeps cross-wise on the mattress with their feet touching the floor.

At 4:30 a.m. Jessa smells the freshly steamed rice “Nanay” (her mother, Naty) is cooking below; not “downstairs” but “below” since they do not have a staircase. The family bedroom is on a sort of mezzanine-type floor.

Jessa gingerly steps down onto the kitchen sink and to a wooden plank before she touches the linoleum- covered concrete floor. She tries not to startle her uncle who is sleeping on a wooden mat in the living room.

Jessa takes a quick breakfast – a plate of steamed white rice and locally canned meatloaf – and a quick morning bath.

It is so humid in the Philippines during both the dry and wet seasons that Filipinos cannot truly start their day without taking a quick shower. Jessa doesn’t have a shower. She scoops water from a pail using a plastic dipper inside their dimly lit bathroom. On cooler days during the winter, Naty heats a kettle of water for her daughters.

The Philippines does not have what many people would consider winter. It never gets that cold. There are only two seasons here – dry, when it can still get really sticky, and wet, when typhoons, cyclones, floods and flood-related diseases arrive.

Jessa’s family doesn’t really have a living room. It is just a dark, tiny living space with her uncle’s wooden bed that doubles as a couch when the family watches TV. Uncle owns the second-hand TV but it does not connect to any of the local channels; they use it only to watch DVD movies. Jessa’s uncle sells cheap, pirated DVDs.

At 5:30 a.m. Jessa is ready to walk to school. The Bayanihan Elementary School is only a few meters away. Jessa’s favorite subject is math, but she doesn’t enjoy science. Today she is competing in a journalism contest in which she already won the first round.

But Jessa doesn’t want to be a journalist or mathematician when she grows up; she hopes to be a nurse. She tells us,

“I want to be a nurse someday so that I can help other people.”

School goes until noon, then Jessa returns home for lunch. The house is better lit at this time of day, but the living room is still mostly in shadows. Jessa’s uncle has left to sell more of his DVDs.

Jessa helps herself to lunch. Her mother and little sister, Joyce Ann, join her. They are having leftover cold rice and canned meatloaf. Jessa’s father, Jesus, is working as a tricycle-taxi driver, riding through the crowded back alleys of Baler community where they live.

The tricycle-taxi, the most common form of transport in back alleys and minor Philippine roads, is a 100-cc motorcycle with a lavishly designed metal sidecar. It normally rides three passengers but can carry six when necessary. Basic fare is P8.00 (US $.19). Jessa’s father earns an average of P150 (US $3.57) a day.

After finishing her school assignments, Jessa spends the rest of the afternoon playing outside. Naty allows her to watch local TV at their neighbors’ house for an hour.

Jessa and her little sister come home at 6:30 p.m. — just before its gets dark outside (and darker inside their home) and before their neighbors start drinking bottles and bottles of beer and getting boisterous and violent.

Nearly all male adults in this crowded community spend their evenings hanging out and getting drunk; Jessa’s father is one of the few exceptions.

Almost all female adults hang out all day gossiping and gambling, except for Jessa’s mother and a few others.

For dinner, the entire family eats cold rice and canned meatloaf – more leftovers. By 9 p.m. the entire family is back in their tiny mezzanine bedroom.

This is Jessa’s typical day. But her routine changes dramatically on Saturdays, when she goes to her nearby Compassion-assisted child development center to play with friends, sing and dance, listen to Bible stories, memorize verses, learn, and eat nutritious meals and snacks.

“I really enjoy going to the student center because I learn many things; I also get school tutorials, and I also enjoy memorizing verses.”

Jessa’s mother shares,

“Jessa loves to study. She is intelligent, respectful, kind and diligent. She does her homework on her own.”

Naty hopes and prays that Jessa will go to college someday and achieve her dreams in life – something Naty and her husband dreamed of as they grew up but never had the chance to fulfill.

Naty grew up in the same community. She saw, felt, smelled, tasted and experienced all that her daughter is going through right now, but there is a big difference — Jessa is a sponsored child through Compassion International.

Jessa receives regular medical and dental checkups, school tutorials, spiritual discipleship, and one-on-one attention and care, as do all of the 160 children registered at the CCWI (Church of Christ Worldwide Inc.) Student Center.

Jessa’s family is also comforted to know that local Compassion staff will help take care of them if their house ever gets struck down by a strong flood or other calamity or if Jessa becomes seriously ill — tragedies that are not uncommon in Philippine squatter communities.

As her mother says,

“Jessa’s sponsorship is a big help to us. We have very little in life. She is learning many things at the student center and church. Our family is very grateful.”

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Forty-year-old Jesula was a homeless woman who slept each night at a church in Delmas, Haiti. She became pregnant by a man who abandoned her before her son’s birth, and she could not even afford to visit a doctor because she had no money.

Jesula felt desperate about her situation, but she could not find a way out. During the day, she wandered the streets of Delmas or visited old friends in the hope of getting something to eat. Usually she was disappointed in her search. In the evenings, she would head for the New Jerusalem Church where she slept using a pew as a bed and rags for blankets.

Having no one to turn to, Jesula grew more concerned for herself and her soon-to-be-born child. In her situation of hardship, she felt she was going to lose her mind.

While staying at New Jerusalem Church one night, Jesula heard about the Child Survival Program.

Some mothers came to the church to pray that night, and they began sharing powerful testimonies about the program and how it was helpful beyond their expectations.

The next morning, Jesula rushed to the Child Survival Program office. She was now in her seventh month of pregnancy.

Jusula’s story of struggle captured the staff members’ attention. Within a few days she was registered into the program, because the staff believed it was the only way to save her and the baby.

Jesula was not a Christian yet, but she was convinced that God heard her cry and in His grace, He made a way for her. Jesula felt she was at the beginning of a wonderful journey.

“I wanted a father that would care for me and for the baby in my womb. The Child Survival Program staff has played such a role perfectly.”

The Survival Program staff found a place to shelter Jesula. She received home visits and regular medical checkups. She also had the privilege of visiting a doctor on a regular basis prior to childbirth. Thanks to this assistance, Jesula had a successful childbirth.

Through the Child Survival Program, Jesula learned how to read and write. She attends a cooking class and hopes to use this skill in the future to earn money.

Jesula feels that her mind and spirit are uplifted through the Bible stories she learns, as well as the songs they sing during meetings with the mothers, learning about good manners and other cultural and social activities the program holds every year both for the children and their caregivers.

Through the teachings of the Bible, Jesula accepted Jesus in her life as her personal Savior and commits herself to attending church services and living a Christ-like life. She realizes that the Child Survival Program gave her the most precious treasure in life, eternal security and happiness in Jesus Christ.

A few months after his birth, Jesula’s son Slenth suffered from malnutrition. Again to Jesula’s astonishment, she was asked to bring him every morning to the Child Survival Program center for appropriate nutrition. Jesula also received dry food to take home, including rice, oil, milk, spaghetti and sugar.

Slenth is now two years old and is in good health. Jesula hopes to be able to send him to school next year.

“Really, I don’t know what I would do without the assistance of such a program. My life would have been a mess and my child being sick would not have made it.”

Today, Child Survival Program coordinator Elsie feels satisfied about the physical progress that Slenth has made. Elsie also is impressed by Jesula’s discipline and brilliant mind to learn new skills that help her to be a very good mother for her child. Elsie shares,

“Like Jesula and Slenth’s story, there are many other uplifting testimonies of mothers out there about the survival of their children through the Child Survival Program, and I think this is what gives a real sense of purpose to the work we are doing and also encourages us to keep going.”

After the January 2010 earthquake, Jesula had to go back to sleep at the church, because the home she lived in was severely damaged.

Since she was in the program, she received a wood frame, corrugated iron sheets and nails to build a temporary shelter where she now lives with her child.

Jesula gives high priority to activities with the Child Survival Program.

She tells everyone that through the program she receives all she needs for her child despite the absence of his father.

A Child Survival Program staff member says of Jesula:

“If there is one mother you can expect to see in the Child Survival Program meetings, it is Jesula.

She attends every activity, even the class we have for the little children. She loves to draw with her son when he needs help.”

Jesula believes the Child Survival Program is making a difference in this big neighborhood of about 10,000 inhabitants, where children are mostly vulnerable to diseases like diarrhea, fever and malnutrition and where mothers lack education of all kinds.

“I will never have enough words to express my gratitude to the church here, the Child Survival Program staff and the donor of the program. I consider myself a rags-to-riches lady just because of their love put in action. God has used the Child Survival Program to save my child and my life and to give us hope for the future.”

Ever since the Child Survival Program arrived in the area, there have not been any death reports of young children because mothers receive a solid education and know how to raise their children.

Many mothers now testify to the benefits of the Child Survival Program in their lives, the lives of their children, and their families. With the new skills they have acquired, they exert a positive influence on other mothers in the area who cannot be part of the Child Survival Program.

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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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Look at this cool Wordle. It’s a word cloud associated with the posts currently on our homepage.

Compassion Juli told us about Wordle. And after having fun with Wordles this morning, it seems that there is an important message that must be communicated to the world.

Click on the image and you can grab some code to spread the Wordle.

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I read Gerald McBoing Boing (my personal favorite), Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?, and, of course, the ever-popular, Green Eggs and Ham. 

I don’t know what it is, but it seems that when I open up a Dr. Seuss book, I immediately become a child myself…and the children I’m reading to are transported to a magical world where non-sensical rhymes suddenly make sense…and imaginary characters come to life.

As I was reading to the kids, I wondered what it would have been like if Dr. Seuss had written some stories about children in poverty. What a great opportunity to teach kids today about the conditions that their counterparts in other parts of the world live in!

What would that look like? Perhaps:

I do not like that the Sneetch children cry
with empty star bellies that growl all night
I do not like that they can’t drink
of water as clean as I have in my sink.

I don’t like famine, disease and war
I wish they didn’t exist anymore.
I don’t like the heartache, come to think of it,
I do not like poverty,
not one little bit.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Dr. Seuss book if it just focused on the sad. No, indeed the Cat in the Hat turned dreary, rainy days into wonderful, happy, if not misguided, adventures. Maybe something like this:

Then all the Sneetch children would wipe away frowns
To laugh with each other on Flozzle playgrounds
They’d swing and they’d sing and they’d dance in a ring
‘Tis the end of poverty–what a wonderful thing!<

Unfortunately, we don’t have such a book. Perhaps it’s because poverty is far too real and dark to capture in whimsical rhyme. 

But maybe, just maybe, we can all be a Dr. Seuss by rewriting the stories of real children in poverty. It’s not that hard actually.

Sponsoring a child gives you the opportunity to break the cycle of poverty for a child. It gives them the chance to believe in a world where poverty comes to an end. And that is a wondrous thing indeed. 

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