Do you sometimes feel so overwhelmed by the issue of poverty that it stifles your ability to act?

I sure relate, but action is the very thing Jesus calls us to do. To share the love of Christ not only in our speech, but through our actions.

He wants us to DO something.

I’m continuously encouraged and inspired by the stories of what sponsors are doing to change the lives of children … and the transformation that has taken place in their own lives because of it.

“But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.” — 1 John 3:17,18 NASB

When I was involved with the creation and implementation of the Christmas 2011 Gifts of Compassion gift catalog, I heard about two young sponsors who put their faith into action by rallying others and meeting tangible needs through the catalog.

Here are their stories.

A Christmas Gift Catalog Party
by Bethany Fristad, third-year student at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa

In my small town of Sartell, Minn., I hosted a fundraiser to promote the Gifts of Compassion catalog and raise money for safe drinking water and other items in the catalog. I also gave 100 percent of the admission proceeds to Compassion.

There were 29 participating small business vendors at the fundraiser, including Scentsy, Mary Kay and Pampered Chef. I also set up Christmas trees with images of the gift items from the catalog as ornaments.

More than $2,000 was raised, providing 32 families in developing countries with safe water for life as well as soccer balls, goats, garden seeds, Bibles, mosquito nets, school supplies and baby formula.

At the event, a young mother holding her baby was moved to tears as she purchased a $20 item on the tree to provide another baby across the world with formula. The thought of her own child in those devastating circumstances and without food urged her to make her purchase.

Two-year-old Caden loved the Compassion Water of Life safe water systems! He was so fascinated with how they worked. Not only did he show enthusiasm for the filtration system, but he grabbed a stack of pamphlets and showed no fear as he walked up to strangers and said, “Water.”

I love how God has brought Compassion into my life, but to be successful in this fight against poverty we must all do our part to make sure children do not go hungry, that they have the opportunity to be educated, to dream, and to just be kids.

God is working and He wants us to be involved. He wants our hearts to break for what breaks His so that we can do HIS work with OUR hands.

We can do the small things to show God’s great love at work. Simple things done with great love will change the world.

Your service power is not based on who you are, but on who Jesus is through you. When we offer ourselves to others, we offer ourselves to Christ.

Not Your Everyday Birthday Party
by Noah Gerdes

When my mom and I were planning my 12th birthday party, mom asked me if I would like to have my friends bring gifts for me or if I’d rather have them donate money to buy soccer balls through the Gifts of Compassion catalog.

I currently sponsor a 6-year-old boy, Ismael, in Ecuador.

It wasn’t hard at all to decide to have a party that wasn’t all about me. I have too much of my own stuff, and I wanted to help others who don’t have as much.

At the party, my mom and I made a soccer ball out of newspaper and twine to show my friends what children in some developing countries might have to use when they play soccer.

After my mom talked with my friends about the homemade ball, we played a game of soccer with it. Our game lasted only a couple of minutes because the ball quickly came apart!

My friends thought the helping children in need was a fun idea. I hope it helped them realize that everything is not about us.

One of my friends wondered how often children in other countries must have to stop their games in order to fix their homemade soccer balls.

My parents and I plan to visit Ismael and my family’s other sponsored child, Kassandra, on a sponsor tour in February. I’m bringing a new soccer ball to Ismael.

It’s going to be fun to see how he will react when I give him his own soccer ball!

My friends and I raised enough money to purchase 15 soccer balls through Compassion’s Christmas gift catalog.

I probably would have had this kind of birthday party even if I wasn’t Ismael’s sponsor, but because I do sponsor him, it helped me make my decision more easily because I know what his situation is like.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Bethany Fristad is from Sartell, Minn., majoring in communication arts at Wartburg College in Iowa. After she graduates, she plans to work in the nonprofit field and continue being a strong advocate for Compassion!

Noah Gerdes is in the 6th grade in Wisconsin Rapids, Wis., where he enjoys reading and playing football, basketball, soccer and the saxophone. He also keeps very close track of the statistics for all 32 NFL teams!

Kaley works in constituent marketing for Compassion U.S.

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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.

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Children living in poverty face daily challenges. However, through sponsorship you are providing children hope, love, the chance to succeed and the chance to know Christ.

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We’re in the midst of a campaign to takeover the Water.org Twitter account.

Water.org’s 432,000 Twitter followers represent a whole new audience for us. An audience that may not know what we do, why we do it or who we do it for.

We’ve asked you to vote and to encourage others to vote.

And we need you to keep doing that so we can tell nearly half a million people that:

1. Our Water of Life system is a simple, cost effective and proven solution for providing clean water to families in need.

   The system effectively eliminates parasites and bacterial contaminants that cause cholera, typhoid, E. coli, amoebic dysentery and many other devastating diseases.

   

   And it will provide at least one million gallons of clean drinking water — more than enough for the lifetime of a child.

2. What makes us distinct from other organizations is we’re about Jesus and always will be. We are Christ centered. We “release children from poverty in Jesus’ name.”
3. Unlike other organizations which fight poverty in the developing world, we’re child focused. We develop children, who in turn develop their communities. We give children in poverty opportunities to succeed. Each child we serve is ministered to personally, spiritually, economically, socially and physically.
4. We do all of our work through the local church. The Church is the great hope for the world and is God’s instrument to advance His kingdom. We mobilize and connect the global Body of Christ to fulfill her mandate to care for the poor.
5. We are 100 percent donor supported. We do not take any funds from any government.
6. We are more than a child sponsorship organization. We are a child development organization. And we’re not just working for the children in our programs, we’re working for all children in poverty.

   Our programs are personal, individualized and relational. They’re tailored to age, gender, health, culture and family situation.

   Our commitment is long term because children have long term needs.

   And our commitment is to eradicate extreme poverty from the face of the earth by 2035.

That’s what we’re fighting for. Thanks for your help in this.

Here are some ready-made tweets for you to share.

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Water.org is a four-star charity working to draw attention to the problem of unsafe drinking water and inadequate water supplies in the developing world.

They also have more than 432,000 Twitter followers and are running a contest to turn the keys over to their Twitter account. We want those keys. And we need you to get them for us.

Please vote for us to takeover the Water.org Twitter account.

The person or organization that receives the most votes by August 31 will be able to tweet about anything and everything for an entire week in September.

We are currently in second place, up against some stiff competition with a broad social reach. (Updated: Aug. 13)

By voting you are opening the door for us to share our Water of Life initiative with Water.org’s followers, as well as allowing us to speak to a whole new audience about what we do, why we do it and who we do it for.

Since you can only vote once, it’s important that you encourage your friends to vote for us as well.

Here are some ready-made tweets for you to share.

Thanks for your time and support with this. We greatly appreciate it.

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I live in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, a suburb of Tulsa. Last month I received an automated call from the city saying that two water samples had tested positive for E. coli but that no other tests had duplicated these results. According to the city, our water is tested 90 times each month to ensure that it is safe to drink.

In my average-size home I can turn on the tap at one of seven sources (not including the dishwasher, clothes washer or toilets) and water flows — both hot and cold.

Water is a non-issue for me. It is abundant, clean, and available without my even giving it thought. But that’s not the case for our sponsored children.

In October 2009, I traveled to El Salvador to meet one of my sponsored children, Bernardo.

As part of the trip I spent two days in Santa Maria Ostuma, El Salvador, home of the Compassion-assisted Columna y Baluarte de la Verdad child development center.

A group of us visited the home of Isabel, a woman in the community who has two children registered at the center.

We joined Isabel and her youngest child, Jasmine, as they walked down to the river to collect water. Little did we know what we were getting into!

The walk from Isabel’s home to the river took about 30 minutes. The view of the river was stunning, and most of the walk was down a very steep slope.

Upon reaching the river, I found a wash house where people gather to bathe. This is also where a pavilion is set up to wash clothes.

We learned that this water, like most water in the developing world, is contaminated and a cause of illness to the families who rely on it.

We filled our five-gallon water jugs from the river and, with each jug now weighing about 40 pounds, began trudging back up the hill to Isabel’s home.

Isabel placed her jug on her head and slowly but steadily walked up the steep path. The men in our sponsor group slung their jugs to their shoulders, while the women worked in pairs to lug the heavy jugs up the hill (which, with each step, seemed more like a mountain).

Finally, one of the women in our group tried carrying her water jug on her head. As I struggled up the hill, it seemed insane to place such a heavy jug on my head – especially without a pad like the local women use. But after my friend found this method easier, I decided to follow her example. Indeed, the jug was hard and heavy, but this was definitely easier than anything else I had tried.

I was able to slowly, steadily, step-by-step, make it the rest of the way to the top of the hill. When we finally reached Isabel’s house I had a real feeling of accomplishment, having contributed to the effort of bringing water to this family’s home. We all had a new understanding of walking in the footsteps of the poor, and a new appreciation of their daily task of fetching water.

So much time and energy is spent each day by Isabel and her children just doing what they must to survive. Gathering water and obtaining food is the main task of each day. There is little time or energy, let alone financial resources, to spend on school work or economic tasks such as developing a business.

If, instead of spending hours each day gathering water, these families were able to get water in only a fraction of that time, and if that water were clean rather than a cause of illness, just think of the difference it would make in their lives!

How much different would our lives be if we had to spend two to four hours each day just getting water to cook and do dishes?

Now, when I turn on my tap and reach for a cup of clean and safe water, I think of how fortunate I am. And I long for every Compassion-supported family to have this same blessing.

In the past I have contributed money toward “water projects” to help make this happen, but now I have a new understanding of just how important safe water is. Perhaps, in your next letter to your sponsored child, you can ask about his or her family’s water supply.

Do they have water in their home? If they go and fetch water, how far must they go? And is the water clean and safe, or contaminated?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Win Noren and her husband have been Compassion sponsors for 17 years. They sponsor seven children. Win is also a member of our Advocates Network.

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We cannot live without water. It cleanses and nourishes our bodies. Every living creature needs water to survive.

In Matthew 10:42 (NIV) Jesus recognizes how precious and life-giving water is:

“And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.”

Today, thousands of little ones around the world are severely ill and many will die due to the lack of safe drinking water. But that doesn’t have to continue.

Our Water of Life filtration system will provide at least one million gallons of clean drinking water – more than enough to last the lifetime of a child. This new filtration system is simple for anyone to use and can be set up in under five minutes.

How Does the Water of Life Filter Provide Safe Drinking Water?

A Water of Life filter is based on the same technology developed for kidney dialysis.

Each filter is made up of tiny microtubes with pores hundreds of times smaller than the diameter of a human hair. These pores remove deadly bacteria and allow only clean water to pass through for drinking. The Water of Life system effectively eliminates parasites and bacterial contaminants that cause cholera, typhoid, E. coli, amoebic dysentery and many other devastating diseases.

Dirty water from sources such as lakes, rivers, ponds or puddles is poured into the system’s bucket. As the water flows through the filter, it comes out completely safe to drink.

When the flow rate begins to slow after multiple uses, the user simply disconnects the primary filter unit and rinses it with clear water. Depending on the level of contaminants in the dirty water, some systems may require more-frequent rinsing. Unlike typical water filters, the Water of Life filter will remain highly effective over time while purifying at least one million gallons.

One of the greatest gifts you can give to a child is safe, healthy drinking water. Will you give a child a “cup of cold water”?

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Ask any group of college students what their summer-break plans are, and here’s what you might hear: Road trip. Eat a lot. See the world. Work on a tan. Hang out with friends.

Jason Hardrath and Travis and Alissa Hilley plan to do all that and more. They will road trip for a grand total of 45 days.

They will eat a lot – nearly 5,000 calories by each sunset. They will see the world – or at least 12 states, stretching from Ocean Shores, Wash., to Liberty Island, N.Y. They will work on their tans; spending 70 to 90 miles a day on a bike should take care of that.

They will hang out with friends, camp under the stars in tents and keep in touch with buddies through email and blogs.

And by the end of their 3,000-mile bike ride, the Hilleys and Hardrath will have changed a small corner of Guatemala, providing lifesaving safe water systems for impoverished children and their families.

Going the Distance

As college students at Corban University in Salem, Ore., Jason and Travis often hop on their road bikes to take a break from studying.

Along with Alissa, Travis’ wife of nearly 10 months, the trio has long loved biking long distances.

Jason, a track and field athlete at Corban, competed in his first off-road triathlon in 2008, while Travis and Alissa biked together from Portland to Seattle while dating.

So it seemed natural to say yes to Jason’s wild idea of biking across the U.S. to raise money to fight poverty.

The impulse came to Jason during a game of Ultimate Frisbee. Why not raise funds for a great cause while burning a serious amount of calories?

Bike America Mission was born, with Jason as its president.

Alissa shares,

“We want to be in God’s plan, to see new places, challenge ourselves, meet new people and encourage them to do something about poverty.”

The recipient of the money raised on their bike ride was an easy choice. Within weeks of their wedding, Alissa and Travis, a junior majoring in biblical studies, began sponsoring Antoineta, a 5-year-old girl in Guatemala, through Compassion.

They quickly fell in love with the whole sponsorship experience, and so when Antoineta moved away from her child development center, they chose another little girl, this time a 6-year-old named Ester.

Together with Jason, they decided to raise funds for Ester’s development center. The first $2,000 raised along the route will bless the center as a gift. Anything beyond that will be used to fund safe water systems through Compassion’s Water of Life  program. Water of Life systems are portable, efficient and long-lasting.

Jason, who will graduate with his physical education degree just a few weeks before their departure, tells me that,

“Water is absolutely necessary [to Travis, Alissa and me] as we cycle 70 to 90 miles each day in the hot summer sun — as well as to families who have no accessible source of potable water.”

Water for All

The safe water systems make a small-but-invaluable dent in a worldwide problem: access to clean water. More than 4,900 children die each day from waterborne illnesses and poor sanitation – that’s one child every 18 seconds.

Children in impoverished areas suffer mightily because of this lack, sometimes carrying up to 1,000 parasitic worms in their bodies at one time.

Compassion’s Water of Life system uses filtration technology based on that of kidney dialysis machines. Weighing less than two pounds, the portable filters remove 99.99 percent of all bacteria from water, making it safe for drinking. At a cost of just $55, the system comes pre-assembled and can be set up for use in a child’s home in under five minutes. Education and sanitation training are also provided to each family as  part of the Water of Life program.

A system will provide a family with more than 1 million gallons of safe drinking water.

Geoff Peters, a Compassion product development manager, knows the value of these filters.

“As we looked to identify and serve the needs of our program beneficiaries, it became clear that while access to water was a problem in some areas, access to safe water was a problem almost everywhere.

“Water of Life, our safe water system, enables each child and his or her family to quickly and easily remove illness-causing bacteria from water regardless of its source – making the water safe to drink. The parents we have talked with give thanks for their health and that of their children and speak of renewed hope for the future.”

Coast-to-Coast Crusading

Jason, Travis and Alissa will have a support team back home as they travel from church to church and town to town. They have already raised more than $1,000 of their $25,000 goal.

Each member of the team will have plenty of time to think about the children and families they are helping during the estimated 2,677,765  turns their wheels will make between the Pacific and the Atlantic.

Travis Hilley knows their coast-to-coast trek won’t be a walk (or ride) in the park. He will be without any income for a good portion of the summer – a crucial earning time for most college students.

Yet he believes his financial uncertainty pales in comparison to what millions of children face around the world every day.

“I’m finding that God sometimes calls people to do seemingly unwise things and trust Him with the results.

“Getting out of a boat in a storm, freely giving money away and leaving a comfortable fishing environment for a vagabond lifestyle seemed like unwise decisions. Yet in each case, the people who make the ‘unwise’ decisions turn out to be on the narrow, joyful path that others miss out on. I don’t want to be one of the 11 disciples still in the boat. That is why I am biking across America this summer.”

For updates on Jason, Travis and Alissa’s trek across the country, go to their website at www.bikeamericamission.org.

Photos courtesy of Sheldon Traver of Corban University

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Although it is May here in Colorado, the weather is still reminiscent of winter. As I write this, it is about 40 degrees, sleeting and overcast.

For a Texas girl, this is quite unusual. I can’t help but long for summer. Those three blissful months of heat and sunshine are all I can think about lately. I can’t wait for long drives with the windows down, cookouts with friends at a local park, and nice refreshing afternoons spent in a pool. But I have to stop and think:

Long drives = car

Cookouts = food

Pool = clean water (enough for me to swim in!)

As I look forward to my favorite summer activities, I am reminded that my life is so different from the majority of the world’s. I don’t feel guilty (at least I try not to), but I do take a moment to stop and think about:

• How thankful I am for my life — my experiences, friendships, opportunities and family.
• How grateful I am for Compassion’s ministry. All over the world, we are developing and empowering children so that they and their families are relieved from worrying about food, water, education, etc. and can stop and enjoy “summer.”

As summer approaches and you anticipate all the fun things you have planned, take a moment to be thankful.

They will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness. — Psalm 145:7 (NIV)

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Today is World Water Day. In my house I have nine I can get water. All I have to do is turn on a faucet.

In fact, I don’t have to walk more than 15 feet to reach a water source anywhere in my house.

I don’t have to think about or make an effort to get water. I don’t have to boil my water or worry about drinking it. It’s clean and refreshing.

The water that comes out of my fridge is even filtered to make it taste better.

As long as I pay my water bill each month, I get clean, cold (or hot), refreshing water to come out of every single one of my nine faucets.

Do I take this for granted? Definitely.

A person can live four weeks without food, but only three days, depending on the circumstances without water. Lack of water can cause short-term memory loss, fatigue, and trouble learning. Your body will not function without water.

While I have almost immediate access to clean drinking water at any time of day, more than 1 billion people in the world do not. Water.org is an organization that strives to ensure safe drinking water worldwide. Below are some staggering statistics shared on their website.

• More than 3.5 million people die each year from water-related disease; 84 percent are children.
• Nearly all deaths due to unclean water, 98 percent, occur in the developing world.
• Lack of access to clean water and sanitation kills children at a rate equivalent to a jumbo jet crashing every four hours.
• Lack of sanitation is the world’s biggest cause of infection.
• Millions of women and children spend several hours each day collecting water from distant, often polluted sources. This is time not spent working at an income-generating job, caring for family members, or attending school.
• 443 million school days are lost each year due to water-related illness.

(Statistics from water.org)

Thankfully, many organizations have seen the need and are stepping up to help. Another organization is Healing Waters International, which we partner with to provide clean water to the churches and children we serve. Healing Waters uses purification technologies that tap an existing water supply and make it safe to drink. They currently serve more than 120,000 people with clean water each day.

Since 2008, we have invested more than $6 million in water projects benefiting 650,000 people in all but three of the countries we work in. Because we are committed to equipping and empowering our children, we also provide educational activities on water and hygiene to ensure they are healthy during and after they complete our program.

We have also purchased 56,000 water filters, which are being distributed in Haiti to help fight the spread of cholera. The filters can convert filthy, dirty, muddy water into clean, drinkable water and can be used to make potable water in places where animals are present.

What’s incredible is that there are no chemicals, no moving parts that can break, and no training or electricity needed to use these filters. Each filter can produce at least 1 million gallons of water – enough water for a lifetime supply for 60 people.

In addition to water filters, rainwater harvesting systems we recently implemented in Tanzania can reduce the spread of waterborne illnesses and provide clean water so children can practice good hygiene. The people of Tanzania, for example, experience water shortages regularly because of natural and human factors.

Rainwater harvesting will help decrease illnesses and will hopefully improve program attendance and Compassion’s ability to successfully reach the children on a regular basis.

Today is World Water Day. How many water sources do you have in your house?

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