Stories to Connect You With Compassion & Grow Your Faith

New poverty-alleviation technologies, strategies and tools pale in comparison to the impact of this one simple yet powerful concept that is a poverty game changer.

In this month’s “Totally Worth It,” we’re highlighting some technologies and stories that will remind you that young hearts and minds have the power to change the future of poverty in the world.

Sometimes there are stories that just bother you, that rattle your soul, cause a lingering heartache and won’t let go. A few weeks ago, I heard about a tragic event that happened in Ethiopia and it hasn’t left my mind … or my heart. It started with a headline that you will likely never see in any western media outlet.

Do you have someone in your life who prays for you? A parent or a best friend who regularly cries out on your behalf? Now let’s flip that. Do you have someone in your life who you pray for? Where does the child you sponsor fit in that equation?

Karunia is one of kind in her village. She’s not one of kind because she was the first in the village to be born with Apert syndrome. And she’s not one of kind because she looks different than other little girls her age. She’s one of a kind because she and her family, without even knowing it, are teaching their community about acceptance and true beauty.

Last week a radio host asked me in an interview to make a statement about the state of the world and how difficult it is to raise kids in this current cultural climate. My answer disappointed her. She was hoping for doom and gloom mixed with some religious jargon about how these are signs of the end of things. Instead, I told her that raising kids in this world feels hopeful. Hope. Full.

Ask most mothers what they want for Mother’s Day, and you’ll get more “moments” than “stuff.” Which makes sense. What mom wants more things to put away or dust around? They want moments of quiet, rest, adventure and togetherness.

In this month’s “Totally Worth It,” learn what’s new in the field of child development and how Compassion implements holistic child development in developing countries.

Close your eyes and picture the child you sponsor opening your last letter. Pulling out that piece of paper. Reading your words. Smiling at the pictures you included. That’s what Mary Harms does when she writes Winner, the boy she sponsors, and his family.

Poverty tells children a lot of lies. But each Compassion-assisted child is given a Bible…the Truth that they can literally hold in their hands.

Most kindergartners learn their shapes, numbers and alphabet. But Tsehaywota Taddesse, Compassion Ethiopia Country Director, had a different experience in rural Ethiopia: “I attended my kindergarten in a meadow, learning the languages of the sheep and cows.”

“I was very scared because the water grew very fast. I took nine children with me and their moms. We don’t know how to swim, so we climbed on the roofs, saving our children first. It was a desperate moment because the help didn’t arrive and our children were crying. But I never lost my hope because my Almighty God is faithful and I knew He would come to rescue us,” says Compassion tutor, Noemi.