10 Questions With Mike Hinckfoot (Part II)
Yesterday, Mike gave us a lesson on what Compassion’s Leadership Development Program (LDP) is about. Today, he talks about his vision for LDP.
6. What are the goals of the LDP for each student who graduates?
The LDP is an outcome-driven ministry. Everything we do focuses on our goal of seeing students graduate and serve their communities and the world at large. A young person who graduates from Compassion’s Leadership Development Program demonstrates:
- Personal commitment to the lordship of Christ
- Good health practices
- Personal and professional skills to be economically self-supporting
- Positive self-worth and healthy relationships
- Servant leadership
7. Can you tell me about an LDP student who you believe embodies the goals and spirit of the LDP?
Lillian grew up in the care of an aged peasant father and two brothers. They lived each day as it came, knowing that a day to day existence was the best way they could live. As a young child her home was trees, made up of old limbs, cardboard, and scrap metal. She was brought up in a small tribal community based on a patriarchal model, which does not place a premium on educating girls. Women in her village do not dream. They are viewed as insignificant, with little hope for the future than to live in poverty and to raise their children in the same conditions.
But with the help of the Child Sponsorship Program and her sponsor, Lillian saw the first seeds of hope flourish. She became the first in the family to graduate from high school. Now, through the LDP, she has become the first and only girl in her village who has achieved the distinction of being accepted into a university.
With the knowledge Lillian is gaining from the LDP program and her studies, we believe, and with her determination, she will become a school teacher and instill these same dreams and hopes into other young children. In spite of all the hurdles, Lillian breaths life and energy and hope. Lillian has a “can do!” heart. She truly believes God will provide all.
8. Tell me what the LDP graduates are doing now.
Since 1996, more than 600 students have graduated from the program. Based on our most recent contact with our graduates, we know that:
- More than 80 percent are employed.
- About 72 percent of graduates are employed within their field of study within six months after graduation.
- Approximately 99 percent are actively involved in a leadership role within their church.
- Around 65 percent are currently mentors themselves.
- About five percent are Child Sponsorship Program sponsors, and more are sponsoring siblings to attend school.
- More than ten are missionaries to other countries.
9. What is your vision for the LDP?
Our vision is that one day, the country offices that we work in become partner countries. That one day, Compassion Uganda will raise up sponsors, where they are a part of our ministry just like Compassion Italia, Compassion Canada or Compassion Netherlands. And we envision that our leadership development students, that one day a student could be the president of his or her country. An awesome parent, a man or woman of God… a loving spouse. A young person who could be a teacher or a lawyer, walking with the Lord — a leader in the church; an elder, maybe a pastor, impacting family, church, community, nation, and in so being, transforming our world for Jesus Christ. That is the Leadership Development Program.
10. What is your favorite LDP memory?
It was 2 a.m. at a LDP retreat, and I was packed into a small room with 20 LDP guys (no ladies), laughing at goofy jokes, making fun of one another, engrossed in stupid guy humor, singing Christmas carols loud and off-key, praying for miracles — to release the captives and rebuild nations — and not superficial wants. And I knew without a doubt these young men will transform their nation for God’s glory.
Rosa: An Amazing Woman
I met an amazing young woman this week while leading a trip to see Compassion’s work in Honduras. The young woman’s name is Rosa, and she is part of Compassion’s Leadership Development Program.*
This university-based program, known as LDP, works with high achieving and high potential students from Compassion child development centers. The LDP program in Honduras is in its first year, and Rosa is one of 19 students in the inaugural class. It is inspiring to hear the LDP stories throughout the world, and I was honored to be in attendance at Ethiopia’s first LDP graduation a few months ago.
Compassion’s President, Wess Stafford, stood in front of the 24 Ethiopian graduates and congratulated them on completing their college degrees and then challenged them to be servant leaders in their communities and nation. He closed his talk to them by saying, “You may have been born into poverty, but poverty was not born into you.”
Rosa is a testimony to Wess’ statement. There were many times in her difficult life where she could have given up, and most of us would not have blamed her. However, if you spend just a few minutes with this remarkable 17-year-old girl, you will realize that giving up was not an option. She shared with us her daily schedule, and it is a great snapshot of the will and determination of Compassion’s LDP students.
6 a.m. – Wakes up each morning to clean the house and make sure all laundry is done for her mother and brother. Rosa’s mother raised all five of her children alone and works at a local restaurant cooking chicken.
8 a.m. – Prepares breakfast for her family.
9:30 a.m. – Begins baking tortillas to sell for the business she operates out of her home. Each day Rosa makes tortillas and people come from around the neighborhood to purchase them to eat for lunch. The money she earns from her business is used to help buy food for her family, and it also pays for her bus fare to and from the university.
12 p.m. – Finishes selling the tortillas and starts lunch for her 14-year-old brother. After he has eaten, she makes sure he gets off to school.
12:30 p.m. – Cleans up, eats her own lunch, and studies for her afternoon classes.
1:30 p.m. – Takes the city bus to the University of Tegulcigalpa, where she is a first-year student studying Business Administration.
7:30 p.m. – Returns to her home and spends the rest of the evening studying and spending time with her mother.
Rosa was asked what she would like to do once she graduates from university. “I eventually want to own and operate a business in my community but first I think I want to get my Masters degree,” she says.
The question, “What does success look like for Compassion International?” has become an easy one to answer because of students like Rosa.
*This content honors our historical Leadership Development Program. To learn more about our current youth development opportunities, click here. Brian Seay is an artist relations manager for Compassion, working with musicians and bands who advocate for Compassion and children in poverty. He was one of the bloggers on the Uganda blog trip.
An Introduction
I have always had a desire to write, but if you ask me, never in my wildest dreams did those thoughts include blogging. In a way this feels like God’s way of preparing me for that special role of sharing my life with others and using my past and my present to build others as He builds me.
At first, when I read the e-mail telling me that I was selected to be a contributor to this blog I was excited, but it was not until later that evening, when I was thinking of what to write for my first post, did I start getting cold feet with the realization of what I was just about to do.
I sincerely don’t know where God is taking me with this but my prayer is that at the end of it all relationships will be developed and through the many authentic conversations shared, communities will be fostered, trust built, and that I will have effectively and knowledgably shared with you about Compassion International and what it means to me and to the other many sponsored children, not only here in Kenya, but around the world.
My name is Anthony Njoroge. I was born 24 years ago in one of the largest slums in Kenya, Kawangware, famously known for drug abuse, prostitution, crime and high levels of poverty.
I am the fifth-born in a typical family, typical being where the mother is the bread winner, head of the home and the pillar of the family. It’s a scenario in almost all the slums because all the men are either too drugged to take care of their families or in prison.
It’s in this slum that Compassion found me, enrolled me in the Child Sponsorship Program, gave me the chance to go to school, and provided me with the chance to enjoy three meals a day, something unheard of in the slum. Compassion also provided me with my very first pair of shoes, and, literally, my very first set of clothes, because most of the clothes I had were either handed down to me from my big brother or given to me by a close relative. Most importantly, I got the chance to know Christ.
Once your heart is changed, your mind changes, your body changes and definitely the environment around you changes, and that’s what it means to release a child from poverty in Jesus name, for poverty is not only a lack of basic necessities but more so a lack of hope. It’s times like this when I look back at my life and the places I have come from and thank God for having brought Compassion International into my life and the way God has used the relationship with my sponsors not only to show me that I can make it, but that where I came from doesn’t matter and that I am not defined by poverty.
I am about to graduate from Compassion’s Leadership Development Program,* and I leave a better-fulfilled Christian adult with big dreams, a degree in information technology, and a servant leader. And that’s why it’s hard for me to truly tell you about my life and who I am without mentioning Compassion and my sponsors, for they have helped me be who I am today.
My life has had its ups and downs, and through the many conversations we will be having I will share these moments with you. Did I tell you how I joined Compassion? That’ll be my next post.
*This content honors our historical Leadership Development Program. To learn more about our current youth development opportunities, click here.
