Why Help People in Poverty in Other Countries When People Need Help Here?
Our time and resources are finite, yet there seems to be infinite need. We want to be kind to people in poverty and we want to do it wisely. Here are a few things to consider as you struggle through this question for yourself.
Continue Reading ›What Poverty Tourism Gets Wrong
Is poverty tourism just a harmless way to gain insight into what it’s like to live in poverty? Sidney Muisyo explains the underlying and deeply flawed messages that slum tours are based on and can further ingrain in us. He also explains how you can visit an impoverished community in a way that is mutually honoring and beneficial.
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The Two Most Important Elements of a Child’s Education
Behind our work in Colombia, hides a shy face, a brave woman who gives her life for those in need, who kneels down to hear and embrace those who have become her passion. A woman who exemplifies perseverance and who has opened her heart for the hundreds of children who attend Esperanza de Vida Child Development Center.
Expressing Need While Maintaining Dignity
How should we express the urgent needs of the children in our programs while maintaining their dignity?
Where’s the Poverty?
The presence of dignity doesn’t equal the absence of poverty.
Talking to Strangers
“Aah,” we say, “isn’t that great of God to take care of the poor and oppressed. I’m off the hook, because it’s God who is the defender of the defenseless, provider for the fatherless and widow. I don’t have to worry about it, because that nice God is on the job.”
They Missed the Story
This was one of the worst natural disasters in human history. Millions of people affected. An entire nation shaken. The world captivated. And there was barely a mention on the anniversary. But, I think, perhaps what disappoints me most is the stories they missed.
Street-Level Compassion, Street-Level Delivery in Haiti
I once read an article that cited a relief and development organization who said that they couldn’t rely on churches to do the work they needed to do in the third world. They claimed that the needed expertise and skill sets simply weren’t there. It made me scratch my head.
Our Haiti Relief Efforts One Year Later
Download this report which details our work in Haiti beginning in the days following last year’s earthquake to our future rebuilding efforts.
One Year Later: Haiti Will Not Die
The work is still large. It won’t happen overnight or even in a year. It will take years for Haiti to come back from this earthquake. But Elissaint isn’t leaving. Compassion Haiti isn’t leaving. And the local churches who implement our programs aren’t leaving. They are raising a generation of children to believe that their life doesn’t have to end with poverty.
Hope for Haiti: The One-Year Anniversary
This has been a tragic year for Haiti on many fronts. In a matter of months after January’s earthquake, Haiti endured a hurricane which threatened those already homeless and displaced, a cholera outbreak has taken the lives of thousands more, and recent elections were so filled with corruption that rioting and violence followed them.
Crackers or Mud?
Recently, I read about how the poor in Haiti have to mix mud in their food to make it go further. Mud. They mix it with flour to make a few more biscuits or simply fry it up with cooking oil or lard and salt to give it a bit of taste. Imagine a mother having to scoop up mud just to have something to feed her hungry children.
Worlds AIDS Day: The Effects of Your Compassion
At Compassion, World AIDS Day is a day of gratitude for caring friends like you who have so generously given to ease the suffering, in Jesus’ name, of the AIDS-affected children and families we serve together. Thank you for taking to heart the Bible’s command in 1 John 3:18 to “not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”
World AIDS Day: Many Lies, but One Truth
We can easily educate ourselves with books, the Internet, visits to the doctor, etc. However, these resources aren’t as readily available to those in the developing world surviving on less than $1.25 a day. The truth about HIV is that it’s a preventable and treatable disease.
