The Radical Runaways: Inside an FGM Rescue Center for Girls
Florence’s rescue center has saved more than 413 girls from female genital mutilation (FGM) and early marriage. The Kenyan schoolteacher’s lifelong crusade against FGM began with her own narrow escape as a child.
Continue Reading ›Tough Questions: “What Don’t People Understand About Life in Poverty?”
In Uganda, Olive smiles as a neighbor invites her to a family member’s wedding. But secretly, her heart sinks. She doesn’t own clothes nice enough for the occasion. These days, food is more important than fashion. She hates that her absence will make her look rude. It’s too embarrassing to explain, though.
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Tough Questions: “Why Do Families in Poverty Have Phones or TVs?”
According to the World Bank, the world’s poorest families are more likely to have access to a mobile phone than a toilet or electricity. As technology advancements reach the most remote corners of the globe, devices like cellphones and televisions are becoming important tools for daily life. They’re also becoming a lot more affordable.
Tough Questions: “How Did You End Up Living in Poverty?”
The causes of poverty vary widely. Poverty can be purely geographical: Simply where you are born can dictate so much about your life.
But although poverty is often passed down for generations, the plunge to life below the poverty line can also be blind-siding. These families share their experiences of being born into poverty or ending up there because of changing circumstances.
Tough Questions: “Are People Who Live in Poverty Lazy?”
Hear how parents of five children in Compassion’s program responded to this tough question people ask about poverty. For them, the hurtful myth that they are poor because they are lazy couldn’t be further from the truth.
5 Tough Questions About Poverty, Answered
Why do parents keep having children if they can’t afford to support them? Why don’t they get a different job, or work harder, if they need more money?
We put difficult but common questions like these to five brave parents of children are in Compassion’s program. In vulnerably sharing their experiences, they hope to break the stigma of and reveal the truth about living in poverty.
What Is Daily Life Like for Kenya’s Girls?
These girls are like any girls, anywhere. They love to learn and play and have big dreams. However, like more than one-third of Kenyans, they live below the poverty line, and they face confronting challenges. With the support of Compassion’s local church partners, these girls have the care they need to rise above their circumstances with determination and hope.
11 Quotes From Children Who Are Part-Time Comedians
Children are pint-sized comedians. If you’re not convinced already, take a read through this list of funny quotes from kids in Compassion’s program! The product of their creative minds — or perhaps the translation process — these funny one-liners perfectly capture the quirkiness and fun of children. Has the child you sponsor shared any gems in their letters?
Before and After Safe Water: 20 Powerful Photos
In northern Uganda, young Betty once faced a frustrating choice: walk nearly 4 miles to fetch water that cows and pigs also drank from, or drink from the nearby well, which was wriggling with worms.
For Betty, a safe water point changed everything. See for yourself! Meet Betty and other children whose lives changed after they gained access to safe drinking water.
How a Year of COVID-19 Has Changed Us Forever
In early March 2020, I was on a storytelling trip to El Salvador for Compassion. One minute we were loading the van to head to a child development center, the next we were packing our bags to rush to the airport — urgently called home as COVID-19, a seemingly distant threat, suddenly became very real.
Here are beautiful moments from the past year that represent prayers answered, lives changed and lessons learned. They show what is possible when together, we rise as one.
11 Warrior Women With Unshakeable Faith
This International Women’s Day, we honor the strength of women around the world. They are mothers, grandmothers, sisters, aunts and daughters. And with their unshakeable faith in God, they are all warrior women.
25 Children in Poverty Share Encouraging Messages for Hard Times
After one of the most challenging years of their young lives, children from all over the world still have inspiring messages of hope.
Just as their families and Compassion tutors have supported them through the struggles caused by the pandemic, the children have handwritten, heartfelt signs of encouragement to share with YOU. Their message — from Nicaragua to Tanzania, Bangladesh to Ecuador — is beautiful: You are loved, you are not alone, and you will get through this.
