Artist Spotlight: Robbie Seay Band
A trip to the Dominican Republic gave Compassion artist, Robbie Seay a unique opportunity to see how child sponsorship shapes the lives of children living in poverty.
Continue Reading ›Bringing Baseball to the Batey
A batey (buh-TAY) is a sugar plantation in the Dominican that mostly uses the labor of Haitians. Most bateys are defunct, but in some case the Haitians have been permitted to stay on the land, living in slums with little clean water or any means of support.
Continue Reading ›Who Can You Sponsor a Leadership Student With?
In 2006 my wife and I went on a sponsor trip to the Dominican Republic. Before our trip, we thought we knew what Compassion did, but our understanding of the ministry fell far short of what we saw.
When I came home from that trip, I signed up to be a volunteer. I made coffee mugs with photos of my sponsored children on them, and I spoke of the kids often.
“Hey Patterson, you know those kids that you’re so fond of? ”
“Yeah, Norm.”
“I think we should sponsor one of those kids as a shift.”
I explained to Norm that a typical child sponsorship is under $40, but then I told him about the Leadership Development Program. I suggested that if we were able to get 12 firefighters together, we could sponsor a Leadership Development Program student and it would cost only $25 per person each month. (more…)
How Drug Running Affects a Community
Like in any place where drug smuggling is done, a strong clandestine support structure is needed. A list of packers, sellers, messengers, gunmen, guards, lawyers, policemen, drug-storage-home owners and front men are supposedly kept on payrolls, and the financial benefits are still enough to make the capos richer. Gualey is no exception.
