Easter in Peru
To talk about Easter is to talk about Christianity, and to talk about Easter in Peru is to talk about a variety of traditions in the country. The most common traditions began during the colonial times when the Spaniards brought their culture, and their religion, to Peru.
Continue Reading ›Best Employee of the Month
As the kitchen door opens, a young man neatly dressed in a chef outfit emerges carrying a bowl of warm spaghetti and wearing a wide smile of self-confidence. Although he began cooking only six months before, he carries himself like an experienced cook.
“After finishing high school, I was not sure what career to choose, so I decided to write down all the things I like best and found out that the best option for me is tourism and hotel administration,” says Waldo, a 21-year old Leadership Development Program student who is breaking the cycle of poverty by studying at a university in Lima City.
Continue Reading ›New Year’s Resolutions
I’m not much into New Year’s resolutions. I find it an odd tradition. If you really want to change your life, why wait until January 1 to start? But perhaps it’s a positive thing if it helps us to truly focus on being better human beings — even if our New Year’s resolutions only last a few days or weeks!
Take a look at some of these popular New Year’s resolutions for 2009:
- In 2009, I resolve to eat better.
- In 2009, I resolve to keep my home in better shape.
- In 2009, I resolve to take better care of my body.
- In 2009, I resolve to be better about what I spend my money on.
- In 2009, I resolve to look for a new job.
Any of those look familiar?
Now, go back and read those resolutions again … but this time, from the perspective of a person living in poverty.
Imagine a little boy in Kenya who resolves to eat better because he’s tired of going to bed hungry. Imagine a single mother in Peru who resolves to keep her 6’x6’ shack clean. I’ve seen families that sweep their dirt floors just to try to keep their humble homes presentable.
Imagine a little girl in India who wants to take control of her own body instead of falling prey to the men who abuse it. Imagine the family that scrapes together spare change to eat today. Imagine the father who is desperately searching for a job so he can give his children an education and a shot at life.
This year, I urge you to resolve to do something about global poverty. Get involved.
Here’s a list of suggested, revised New Year’s resolutions for you:
- In 2009, I resolve to go on a mission trip.
- In 2009, I resolve to help my church start a food pantry — or donate to an existing one on a regular basis.
- In 2009, I resolve to pray for children trapped in poverty.
- In 2009, I resolve to support a ministry that cares for the poor.
- In 2009, I resolve to think beyond myself and truly make a difference in the life of a child living in poverty.
And let’s try to make these New Year’s resolutions last.
It’s About More Than Survival
Last month, I was reviewing the next newsletter that will be sent to people who support our Child Survival Program. I wasn’t too far into it when the tears started coming. Ok, so it isn’t completely unusual for me to cry while doing my every day work … I mean I do work at Compassion. But this time was different.
This time I could hear my son’s giggle, I could picture his face and I knew that if I had been born in one of Compassion’s ministry countries, most likely neither my son nor I would be alive today.
And Edison, my sweet Edison, who was born by c-section after hours of labor that went nowhere will probably be 15 pounds in a few weeks … an average weight for a four-month-old boy in the U.S.
- What would I have done alone in a ramshackle house with a dirt floor after hours of pushing and no baby?
- What would I do now without the multiple child health and development resources that I pour over weekly?
- What would I do without Jesus and the support of my local church community?
It’s a miracle that a small number of women and children in these circumstances actually survive. How can I not do everything I can possibly think of to tell others about what Compassion’s Child Survival Program is doing?
How can I not pray that this program can grow and grow and grow? So the children around the world growing up along with the amazing boy God has blessed me with will have the opportunity to reach their potential.
In a world with a growing global economy it is no longer about children and mothers who are far away, it’s about my next door neighbors … it’s about my own child.
And it is not just about survival it’s about women and children thriving so that they can change their own communities and countries and build a better world.
