Anne was one of those children at Bugolobi Child Development Center who gave their lives to Jesus Christ every day after the altar call at the center. She had done this for the three years she was part of our Child Sponsorship Program.

As a Child Development Officer at the center then, I did not know whether Anne and the other children took salvation seriously or, better still, whether they understood what salvation was. It was not until Anne turned 10 that I understood that God honors a child’s commitment to Christ, and He gives such a child His Spirit, too.

I remember that it was an ordinary Saturday. Because Anne was 10 years old, her mother, a police constable, deemed Anne old enough to come to the center and return home on her own.

After attending the center program with a host of other children on that Saturday, Anne boarded a 14-seat commuter taxi that evening for Kitintale, the suburb where she lived with her mother.

My colleagues and I were stunned when at dusk Anne’s mother appeared at the center premises concerned that her daughter had not returned. We immediately reported the matter to the Bugolobi police.

We put announcements on radio describing the little girl and asking if anyone knew her whereabouts. We did not get any response from the public.

After five days, Anne’s mother called the center informing us that Anne was at the Jinja police station. The kidnappers had abandoned her in Bujagali. Bujagali is located about 100 kilometers (80 miles) east of Kampala near Jinja town; it is a lonely spot famous for the whitewater rapids of the River Nile.

Eventually we did meet the little princess and she narrated her ordeal. Anne said that when she entered the taxi, she assumed that the two women were passengers going home after a busy day.

“They were friendly. They gave me a book with pictures to read.”

Anne did not remember what happened next except that it was morning and there was a loud sound of gushing water coming from the neighborhood. She saw a big river that she recognized. We had once taken all the children at the center to see the Bujagali rapids.

Anne continued to share with us in tears, wiping her eyes all through,

“I was taken to a small hut. The man inside the hut saw me and told the women that his spirits did not like the Holy Spirit inside me. He said that the women should go and bring another child to sacrifice.”

The two women ushered her out of the witch doctor’s shrine and ordered her to walk ahead of them. That was the last Anne saw of the women; they disappeared into the bushes lining the footpath.

In Uganda, most footpaths reconnect to the main road. Anne trekked until she reached the Kampala Highway. It was the most tormenting journey of her tender life!

At the highway, she asked for the nearest police station. A Good Samaritan took her to Jinja police station whereupon the police made connection with the Bugolobi police.

When we got Anne back, we took her for trauma counseling. She found strength to testify before fellow children at the center. Her testimony moved the one hundred and fifty plus children in attendance that Saturday to commit their lives to Jesus Christ and ask God to give them His Spirit.

Anne reiterated to the fellow children that when children give their lives to Jesus, God gives them His Spirit!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Gerald Kateu served as a child development officer with the Bugolobi Child Development Center for seven years before joining our Uganda field office as Sponsor and Donor Services Associate in July 2008.

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It was a dark, rainy and cold night. On the top of a hill, inside a straw hut, with the company of some llamas, Marta gave birth to Pablito (little Pablo) when she was only 14 years old.

In the countryside of Bolivia, it’s normal to have your baby at home with the help of relatives or neighbors rather than going to a hospital. But being only six months pregnant, Marta wasn’t prepared. She had gone to the hut with her brothers to put her family’s animals away when she went into labor. Her two little brothers didn’t know how to help. They were scared and cried. Marta had her baby alone in a hut.

Marta, the second child in her family, lived in the countryside of the city of Potosi, Bolivia. She helped her family with the cattle and the household duties. Marta was only able to study part of the first grade because her father didn’t want her to attend school and didn’t want to buy her any materials.

“I wanted to study very much but the teacher got mad at me because I didn’t bring notebooks. I had a hen so I sold the eggs and was able to buy a notebook. However, my teacher didn’t want me to take the notebook home — he didn’t want me to lose it — so my father thought I wasn’t learning anything and he took me out.”

Marta had a difficult childhood. She had to live with the frustration of not accomplishing her dreams and work hard to help her parents and grandparents take care of their animals and other obligations.

At a community party Marta met a man, a widower who at that time was 37. Marta got pregnant and became a very young mother who didn’t receive support from her family.

Six months into her pregnancy, Marta went to get some roots to cook. She almost fell into the river and hit her stomach with her knee. Two days later, her premature baby was born.

“He was very small and thin, he didn’t have any hair. Since I didn’t have clothes for him I covered him with a plastic bag.”

At first Marta lived with her parents, but since baby Pablito was sick he cried all the time. Marta’s mom told her to leave. Marta went to live with her grandfather, who performed many strange rituals in order to heal the baby.

Rather than go to the doctor, many in rural Bolivia go to witch doctors who practice an indigenous religion. They use herbs and massages to heal, or even at times people must drink the blood of animals.

To heal Pablito, Marta’s grandfather killed a black chicken and covered Pablito with the blood. But nothing worked.

Some months after Pablito was born, Marta found out that her baby’s father was back in town, so she found him, and they moved to Cochabamba.

Andres, now 39, is a widower with two children, Noelia, 12, and Emilio, 16. However, he doesn’t live with them anymore. His family, which now includes Marta’s second child, shares a rented room on a hillside in the south part of Cochabamba.

In spite of the difference in ages, Andres seems to care for Marta and his four children very much. He encourages Marta to improve. Marta is learning how to build a better life for her family through her participation in our Child Survival Program (CSP).

“When we met Marta, she was extremely shy. She hid behind her stepdaughter. However, she agreed to be part of the program.

“Now we can see a sociable Marta, and she isn’t afraid to speak in front of people. She is very responsible and loves to attend the CSP meetings. She is also very punctual,” says Rosalia, the CSP Coordinator.

There are even greater accomplishments with Pablito. Because of the conditions he was born in, he has always been sick, and there is a great difference between him and Marta’s 3-month-old baby, Elena.

“Elena is very lively. She already has a strong and firm body, the opposite of Pablo. When he was 6 months old he couldn’t keep his head steady. Elena did that when she was only 2 months old. It was very sad to see him like that. When he was 6 months old, he started to have convulsions. He was lying down, and suddenly he had convulsions and his eyes turned white. But Elena isn’t like that,” says Marta.

Pablito was undernourished, which affected him in many ways. The left side of his body wouldn’t function properly. He had infections, diarrhea, chronic anemia and was dehydrated. He was pale, had convulsions and needed blood.

Thanks to the Child Survival Program, Pablo received a blood transfusion and treatment for his malnourishment. Strengthened by the medical interventions, Pablo learned to walk and is developing in a healthier way.

“He still needs to gain a little more weight, and that’s our challenge. Also, with Marta we are at 80 percent. We want her to learn to read, write and study a technical career. We also want her to receive Christ as her Savior. She attends church, but we want her to become a member,” says Rosalia

Marta enjoys being a part of the Child Survival Program, including everything she is learning and the benefits she is receiving. She likes to learn about the Bible and knows it is good for her. She can affirm there is a great change in her life.

“I want my children to study and not to be like me. I want them to study because I don’t want them to suffer. I want them to be better in life. I can’t even get into the bus to go somewhere because I can’t read what number it is, but now I am learning.”

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Pastor Joel grew up on the remote island of Siquijor in the Philippines, which has long been known for magic and witchcraft, but Compassion in the Philippines only began partnering with churches in Siquijor this year.

Although Compassion reached the Philippines in the 1970s, we finally landed in the isolated island after 30 years!

In 2004, we began regularly updating our strategy map to identify the poorest and neediest provinces in the country with the fewest number of evangelical churches, and the list included Siquijor.

And now Joel, who has turned away from his island’s belief in witchcraft,  is pastor of the Siquijor Celebration Christian Fellowship, one of our newest church partners in the remote island province.

He has been pastor here for 15 years and vividly remembers the years when it was so difficult to share the gospel. But today, the church has led to the Lord at least 15 individuals who used to be part of the occult practices.

“There are now 32 evangelical churches in the island, and witchcraft has greatly lessened its control. We used to be known as an island of sorcery but not anymore, thanks to the gospel. And now that Compassion is here, we are excited to create more impact.”

Only a few months into the partnership, the Siquijor Celebration Christian Fellowship has seen an increase in church attendance.

“We have 100 new Bible studies for the 100 new families of our 100 registered children.” The church leaders are meeting in the homes of all the new families to hold small Bible studies.”

And Cyrene is one of the 100 Siquijorian children to be registered. She is full of potential, just as the pastor was when he was little.

Cyrene tops her grade one class with a score of 100 percent in all her tests. Many of her classmates are two years older than her because they did not have the money to go to school earlier.

“I want to be a teacher,” bubbly Cyrene says. When asked why, she insists, “I just want to be a teacher.”

Like Pastor Joel, Cyrene’s parents did not finish high school. In fact, 90 percent of the adult population here doesn’t. Rogelio, Cyrene’s father, says,

“We were so poor when I was young. I was like Cyrene before, getting good grades and all. I was also at the top of my elementary classes. I had high hopes because until high school I had good grades, so I wanted to go to college.”

Poverty, however, won and he stopped schooling when he reached the third year of high school.

“My father was a fisherman/farmer and our family subsisted with whatever little amount he could earn. He couldn’t even send me to a free public school because I didn’t have food to eat in the morning or uniform to wear.”

But with Cyrene’s sponsorship, her parents have found hope.

If not for Compassion, Cyrene would most probably end up as many of the locals here – uneducated and unemployable.

Her bouncy personality and intellectual potential would not be harnessed to the fullest. Soon she would have to stop schooling because Rogelio does not have a steady job to support her.

Both Rogelio and Merlyn are focused on their daughter’s education and future, not necessarily thinking of how historically significant it is. Little Cyrene represents a milestone in the our ministry in the Philippines:

She is the 50,000 child to be registered in the Philippines program.

Compassion Philippines has seen its programs go through several transformations over the past 30 years. And now that we have reached out to Siquijor and other similarly far-flung, hard-to-reach provinces, we look forward to registering the next 50,000 children into our programs.

Now, unlike Pastor Joel, Rogelio and Merlyn, Cyrene has a different hope for life. With her sponsorship*, she has been given a chance to follow in the footsteps of thousands of successful Compassion alumni who have gone through our programs through the years; the chance to follow in the footsteps of:

• Sarah Jane, a former sponsored child who is now a medical doctor
• Jonathan, a former sponsored child who is now an accounts manager in New York
• Bobby, a former sponsored child who is now a successful international businessman
• Erla, a former sponsored child who is now a missionary to China
• Keewani, a former sponsored child who is now a sponsor herself.

Cyrene is next in line. 

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