I, Irene, grew up in a sheltered, middle-class family. Whilst I didn’t make it to India at the age of 14, I ventured to Kyrgyzstan at the age of 24 with a team of medical professionals and helpers. It was a completely humbling and mind-blowing experience.

I met church pastors who have been blessed with so much more materially than I, yet they have chosen to live in abandonment for the expansion of God’s kingdom.

I met Muslims in remote villages who suffered advanced stages of cancer, but had no means to receive medical treatment. All that my team could give them were vitamin supplements.

I met orphans who were stunted from malnutrition and sometimes from past substance abuse, but have found the love of their heavenly Father.

I can’t quite imagine how I would’ve coped on the same journey at the tender age of 14.

If you read the Reflections of a Compassion Traveller series, you may have gained some guts –- I mean, a new level of desire to meet our friends living in poverty.

It definitely takes guts to travel to less developed nations. It’s inevitably a confronting experience.

The thing is, I have always walked away deeply moved by the compassion that God has for His people and with a fresh reminder of how much I need to give. Plus, it’s quite simple to become a “Compassion traveller.”

Remember that 14-year-old I mentioned? She’s a high school student who joined our India and Bangladesh trip in February. Her name is Stephanie Harrison, the daughter of our Executive Director of Child Development, David Harrison.

Steph would make any father or mother proud. David has admitted to finding the slums of India the most challenging ones he’s visited. So imagine what Steph’s first taste of extreme poverty was like!

I recently read a blog post (A Cup of Rice) by SquiggleMum –- an Australian mum and Compassion child sponsor (her real name is Cath by the way). As a mother of two, SquiggleMum plans to introduce her precious children to their sponsored child and to develop a heart to reach out to the poor. And here’s why:

“Maybe if we show our kids what’s wrong with the world, they’ll do a better job than we have of making things right.”

I wholeheartedly respect SquiggleMum’s parenting approach and, I daresay, David’s decision to take Steph on that trip. If you’re a parent, you may have concerns about unveiling the ugly things of the world to your child(ren). But what’s really stopping you?

If you’ve been thinking about visiting your sponsored child with your child(ren), why not start planning now? The power of being there is beyond words!

I’ll share snippets of Steph’s Compassion Traveller experience with you in tomorrow’s post. But in the meanwhile, you can get started on organising your own sponsor child visits:

If you live in Australia, contact our travel team.

If you live in the USA, visit compassion.com to get more information about trips and visits.

Then you’ll be able to tell us firsthand whether children and poverty are meant to mix.

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