Extreme Makeover: Heart Edition
I am a sucker for reality TV. Seriously, if someone is weighing himself or trying to win a quick-fire cooking challenge or ripping down a house on TV, I’m there.
But I’ve got to tell you, working at Compassion spoils you for pop culture. Suddenly everything is in perspective.
Before starting my job here, I used to love Extreme Home Makeover. I loved seeing the crazy kitchens, the creative design and the happy people. I would cry with them when they yelled with Ty, “Bus driver, move that bus!” And I still do love the heart of helping and generosity it is spreading.
But since being daily faced with the realities of the majority world, I can’t help but be distressed by our sometimes-trend toward bigger is better and more is more attitude. We seem to be in a never-ending game of one-upmanship.
I don’t personally think there’s anything inherently wrong or sinful about a big house. What is dangerous is the subtle message we are ingesting that if our homes aren’t big, if they aren’t new, if they aren’t decked with the trendiest design, it’s a reason to shake our heads shamefully. We can begin to look around at what we have and think, “This isn’t that great” when we compare it to the over-the-top luxury we see.
It’s sad. We have so much! Think of Joshua’s home in Indonesia. (more…)
Continue Reading ›A Time Such as This
I hit a point several weeks ago where I didn’t think I could handle seeing one more thing or reading one more article about Haiti. I needed some distance and recuperating time, which is a good thing. But despite the time of stress and trauma, there is one thing we must keep doing:
“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” – Ephesians 6:18, (NIV)
Imagine this.
You’re at work and you run into a coworker. You ask them how they’re doing. Their aunt has just passed away, and they’re having a hard time dealing with it.
Then you’re sitting in a meeting at work. You look around and realize that every single person in the room has had a loved one die in the past month. One a cousin. One a pastor. One a father.
Now imagine that you haven’t slept in your own bed for one month. 30 full days.
You’re not sure your home is safe, so you, your spouse and your kids are sleeping in a tent outside. At night you hear the dogs bark and cars roaring up steep hills. You don’t remember the last time you got a full night’s sleep. You duck inside your home in the mornings to shower, but other than that, you stay clear away from those uncertain walls.
Now imagine you have also just had your brother and and a good friend both pass away on the same day.
Continue Reading ›Clean Water for Haiti
The critical need the poor always have for water has been heightened in Haiti after the earthquake. We’ve used various ways to distribute water to our church partners, and we’re looking to our strategic partnerships to continue to meet the short- and long-term needs.
We have a long-standing relationship with Healing Waters International, providing water systems to church partners in Guatemala and the Dominican Republic.
In response to the immense need in Haiti, Healing Waters International has provided 2,500 one-gallon jugs of water at no cost to Compassion Haiti. The water was bottled at the Healing Waters projects at our Dominican Republic church partner sites. If there is continued need, they are equipped to begin bottling on a daily basis.
The water will be trucked to Haiti along with the family food kits being assembled at our warehouse on the Dominican Republic/Haiti border.
We will also investigate several long-term solutions, such as building water systems at church partner sites in Haiti.
According to Gregg Keen, our Complementary Interventions Director,
“Healing Waters International and Compassion have been good partners for several years. When the disaster hit Haiti, Healing Waters was among the first organizations we called to ask what their response would be. They went to heroic efforts to find available water bottles in the DR when none could be found there. Bottled water will help people to avoid drinking and using contaminated water and the related diseases they can cause, especially in a disaster situation like this one. The impact of this can’t even be measured.”
Healing Waters’ mission is to empower local ministry partners to bring physical, social and spiritual transformation to poor communities, a mission that makes them an excellent partner for us.
Read more about our partnership with Healing Waters International.
Recipe to Help Haiti
I know so many of us are riveted to the news, to our emails, to Facebook, or wherever else we can scrap together some information about the Haiti earthquake. Many of us are wishing there was something more we could do to help, some way to respond to the unimaginable things we are seeing.
There is one vital action that is always open to us: Prayer.
“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” – Ephesians 6:18 (NIV)
If you’re trying to find someway to respond, consider calling together a prayer group. Spend the night praying for Haiti and make one of the most traditional Haitian dishes, Soup Joumou, which they use to celebrate the new year.
Things to Pray:
- For the safety and rescue of David Hames and for peace and encouragement for his family
- For those still trapped in the rubble
- For those working to rescue people
- That roads would be passable to get in water, food, medicine, and other aid
- For our staff, church partners, and children
- That reliable communication channels can be established
- For efficient and strategic responses to the crisis
- For God’s will to be done
- For God to get all the glory
Ask your friends to each bring $5 or $10 to help pay for the soup and give the rest of the money to relief or rebuilding efforts. You can cook the soup together and use it as a time to build relationships, share prayer requests, and support one another.
Soup Joumou (Pumpkin Soup) (more…)
Catalyst 2009: It Could Have Been Me
Catalyst 2009 – When I watch the video, I see that this could have been me in different circumstances. I see that this can be my sponsored child.
A Chance to Be Family
Compassion partners with churches in the developing world — they aren’t our subjects or our charity cases, they are our partners. But beyond partnership, they are our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
A Different Perspective
Recently, my husband and I had the opportunity to have one of the Leadership Development Program Moody scholars stay with us. 
You’ve met Richmond, Michelle and Tony. Well, “Jimmy from Kenya,” as he likes to call himself, is our newest scholarship recipient.
With Jimmy from Kenya (a.k.a. Jimmy Wambua) as a house guest, we were treated to the first reactions to life in America from the perspective of someone who had grown up in poverty.
After the first couple of days, I asked him how it was going and what struck him most about life in America. It was the cheese.
“In America, you are so particular about what you want. You take me to Subway and they ask, ‘What kind of bread do you want?’ ‘What type of dressing do you want?’ ‘What type of cheese do you want?’ In my country cheese is cheese. It’s this or it’s nothing.”
The variety in general was a bit overwhelming to Jimmy.
“When I asked Mike for tea, he opened the cabinet and there was so much. Tropical tea, dessert tea, tea cocktail. Even in cars you have variety. You have a car for different kinds of weather and different activities.”
At every turn, we seemed to be asking him to make choices. And let’s not even talk about our trip to Walmart.
He was also quite struck by our home and our neighborhood. We live in a fairly typical middle-class American neighborhood and home.
Before he came, I had felt a bit self-conscious because the other hosts of the students were older with nicer homes. I secretly thought he’d be disappointed to stay with us. I know this is a silly worry considering he was coming from a one-room home without indoor plumbing, but I was thinking about the Joneses.
His perspective was different than mine.
“This is the home of a politician. These are the couches of a politician … . This is what I’ll call stinking rich. You live in posh environments, but you don’t feel they are posh.”
Jimmy stayed in our basement, which has an attached bathroom. He said,
“When you first showed me my room, I thought, ‘This must be the main part of the house, the best part of the house.’ Then I saw it was just the basement. In my country, I could work for years and still not have something as nice as your basement.”
I asked Jimmy if it frustrated him or made him angry to see people with so much. I always wonder that when visitors come — are they secretly judging us? Jimmy was gracious.
“Someone without my background who is struggling might be angry. But my feeling is biased because of Compassion. I understand why God blesses Americans — what you give. I believe that spirit of giving has gotten into American culture. You’ve been able to be content with what you have and give to others instead of keeping it for yourselves. Because of your generosity, God has blessed. God rewards you for listening to his call.”
I hope I can live up to Jimmy’s generous attitude toward us.
My Best Day in Ministry: Blessed are the Poor
Hope Lives author, Amber Van Schooneveld, talks about her best day of ministry with Compassion International.
Remembering Roselyn
Several weeks ago, Compassion internally released a book communicating its brand, its mission and its character to employees worldwide. I eagerly flipped through the pages, as I always do, looking for photography by my co-workers.
On the second page was our mission statement, “Releasing children from poverty in Jesus’ name,” and a picture of Roselyn.
I remember the first time I read about Roselyn. It was my first month on the job. Edwin Estioko in the Philippines had written a story about her in September 2007: (more…)
Child Sponsorship Releases Generations From Poverty
People often ask me what my favorite part of my job is. For me, the answer is easy: the people I get to meet and know around the world. There are people working for Compassion with such heart and passion and such incredible stories of their own. Henry Guarin is one of those people.
Henry’s fun and funny, he sings in a rock band, he has a passion for his job. And he used to be a sponsored child.
Here’s a little more about Henry, in his own words.
It’s 7:15 a.m. in Bogotá, Colombia, it’s cold, as usual, and I am waiting for the school bus to pick up Juan Felipe, my 5-year-old son.
As we stand at the door of the apartment building we live in we are talking about his favorite TV shows, dinner, games with his friends at school, and other things, just like every day.
The school bus finally arrives, so I give him a big hug and a big kiss and I tell him,
“The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him; and he delivers them.”
I come back to my apartment and Xiomara, my wife, is finishing feeding our little son Lucas. He is only 5 months old and he is happily kicking in his cradle, and he smiles at me as he sees me coming in.
Xiomara and I sit and start talking about how different things were for us when we were children. (more…)
Do Not Show Partiality to the Poor
What God wants from us isn’t to become judgmental of the rich and syrupy sappy with the poor. What he wants is justice.
Meeting Sarath
NOTE FROM EDITOR: This content honors Compassion’s historical work in India. While we no longer have an India sponsorship program, we are grateful for the lives changed and meaningful work achieved through our sponsors and donors in our nearly 50 years there. For a detailed explanation of the end of our sponsorship program in India, please visit: compassion.com/india-update.
When I was in India last month, I met the boy I sponsor, Sarath. I had been hoping and praying to meet him, and I just happened to be taking a work trip to India.
I was a bit nervous. Don’t tell, but I’m not great with kids. I know I work at Compassion, but I’m a writer–more natural with a keyboard than with real, live people, let alone children who can smell fear. So I wasn’t sure how this was going to go.
The day I visited his village outside Chennai was Pongal, a festival in the state of Tamil Nadu. Along the way, we saw bright sand drawings outside every doorway and cows adorned with flower garlands for the holiday. I had put on my nicest salwar kameez, vainly worrying he would think I was some weird-looking old white lady.
We arrived in Sarath’s neighbhorhood, and I was so happy to see that it was a relatively nice, pleasant place. There was space between the homes, his family had their own bathroom and even a little courtyard to play in and wash dishes.
Sarath was waiting outside. I’d like to say we rushed toward each other and hugged and cried. We didn’t. (I learned on my trip that Indian children don’t seem to be as into hugging as other cultures are.)
We shook hands and he whispered something in my ear. He was very sweet. He was so shy that during the entirety of my visit, he only whispered a couple of short phrases in my ear, so quietly I couldn’t tell if they were in English or Tamil.
We stepped inside and I met his mother, two lovely sisters, aunt, and cousin, who all share the same little room for their home.
On their shelf was a picture of my husband and I. His mother told me that he likes to call us “Mommy” and “Daddy,” even though the project taught him to call us Auntie and Uncle. Sarath tells his mom that even if she dies, he knows he’ll be OK because there’s someone else who cares about him. (more…)
