What Are the Benefits of Developing Creativity in Children?
What parents do and say will affect what their children do and say. Whether direct or indirect, intentional or unintentional, what parents live out every day will influence their children. This is seen in the life of Nado.
Continue Reading ›Sponsors Really Do Exist!
Matthew never stopped smiling as the children swarmed around him and wanted to shake his hand. Even though he was not their sponsor, the children were thrilled to meet the very first sponsor to visit their child development center.
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“I Want to Reach My Dream”
“I want to reach my dream. I want to become a doctor someday because I want to help people in this village,” says Nathan.
Giving Birth in the Developing World
Most Papuan women still give birth with traditional methods in a traditional Papuan house made of wood with a grass bed. They prefer to give birth at home because they are also afraid of the service from health workers who are not always friendly. Many believe that it is more efficient to give birth at home alone or with help of someone who lives nearby.
Your Sponsored Child Prays for You
“We hope we can always uphold our sponsors in our prayers. I hope our sponsors also want to tell more about struggles that they face every day. It will help us not just know them better, it will help us to have better relationships with them and Christ through our prayers.” And so prays Megawati, one of the sponsored children from Sola Fide.
An Indonesian Idol
Knowing Nyopon’s dream to become a singer, Mustika, one of the staff members at the child development center, offered him the opportunity to join the “Idola Cilik” contest. Idola Cilik is a national children’s singing contest inspired by “American Idol.”
How Valuable Is a Little Encouragement in a Person’s Life?
Now a successful man who owns a large egg-selling business, Wolly Towoliu was once known as a little boy who had a very bad attitude. Wolly liked to hit his friends, sometimes even with stones. His mother once even said, “It would be better if you just went to the forest. I can’t stand any more of your attitude.”
What Impact Does Access to Clean Water Have on a Community?
No one would think people who live in an area rich in natural resources would have a problem getting water. But for many years, struggling to find fresh water was a way of life in Meagama Village in Papua, Indonesia’s largest province.
Longstanding agreements with other villages limited the sources where each community could draw water. For the villagers of Meagama, accessing water meant a two-hour journey on foot. Because they usually used a bucket to transport their water, obtaining enough water to meet their needs often required several trips.
But the difficulties didn’t stop there; the water the Meagama people put so much effort into getting actually caused them harm.
Music as an Instrument to Release Children From Poverty
Music has long played an important part in Indonesian culture. The Indonesian jofa is one of the most common traditional instruments and it is used in every occasion or celebration.
In Watuliney, a small village in southeast Minahasa, Indonesia, most of the people love music. Those who are able to play the jofa also like to teach it to their children to perpetuate the musical tradition, but that opportunity does not come to all children. Most schools don’t provide a program for music. The parents who work as farmers can’t afford to buy the instruments for their children or to pay for the music course.
Because of his passion to preserve traditional culture, Adri, the coordinator of Silo Student Center, proposed to provide the jofa for children at the center. He believed that the children in his center had the talent and willingness to learn music.
After receiving a positive response from the church, Adri immediately checked the price of a jofa and ordered some made from a substitute material.
“We changed the material to plastic pipe. We call it jofa. Jofa is the basic instrument that has same tone as the original clarinet.”
There Is Power in Sponsor Letters … in Your Letters
At some point, everyone feels like God has left them. Yunita, one of the youngest translators for Compassion Indonesia, felt as though she had been abandoned by God until she read the words of a sponsor.
Seven Were Chosen to Serve the Needy
Compassion, which reopened its East Indonesia ministry in 2005, has brought new life to the ministry of some churches. Pastor Pangkey is one pastor who has been inspired by Compassion to begin new patterns of ministry.
He had the opportunity to take part in the Global Leadership Summit in 2007 in Jakarta. At the meeting, God asked him to challenge his congregation to open its heart more for the people in the community.
Pastor Pangkey felt that God wanted him to look to the others who haven’t yet been reached by our programs and the church. This is how he began the Stefanus Group.
“God spoke to me through the scripture in Acts 6:1-7, which speaks about the seven chosen men. The Twelve Disciples chose Stephen and six other men to be responsible for what the people needed at that time.
“We know that people who live in poverty are not only people in the past. We still meet a lot of people who live in poverty today. They can’t afford their basic needs like meals because many of them don’t have opportunity to have a job or build their own business. They have to struggle every day to fulfill their basic needs.”
“God spoke to me through the scripture in Acts 6:1-7, which speaks about the seven chosen men. The Twelve Disciples chose Stephen and six other men to be responsible for what the people needed at that time.
The Difference is Jesus
Not too long ago, Kelina wasn’t your ideal mother. She would spill her anger over onto her three children, hitting them every day. Her children were scared of her.
