My Best Day in Ministry: Fruits of Our Labor
Spiritually speaking, some of us plant seeds, some water, some are the sun, but we all get to taste the fruits of our labor sometimes.
Continue Reading ›Maintaining Dignity
Hello everyone. My name is Rick Carter, and I work for Compassion in Asia as part of the communications team.
My team is responsible for bringing you the stories that talk about our child development centers in Asia, such as A Day in the Life of a Child Development Center Worker or A New Beginning for Eric, as well as hosting the sponsor tours that visit those same centers. So the fine line between educating the western world about the plight of the poor and exploiting the poor by profiting from their misery is something I have to consider everyday.
Stories like this one, which talk about the reaction of slum residents to Slumdog Millionaire, remind me how important it is for us to be sure that we are maintaining the dignity of our children, their families and their communities as we share their needs with you.
Rather than “shock and awe,” our hope is that our stories and your visits to our child development centers bring you “reality and relationship.” Sometimes the reality is shocking. Our children come from the poorest of poor situations. That is their reality. To get past the shock, we emphasize relationship.
With Compassion tours and visits, we try our best to avoid the “zoo experience” – just looking. We spend time at the child development centers doing activities and interacting with the children to help develop deep relationships.
Getting to know your child through the letters you exchange is so important to understanding his or her reality, but also in seeing them beyond their environment – Compassion-assisted children have hopes and dreams for the future.
I just wrote “Compassion-assisted children” because I realized I have been calling them “our children.” And that’s the key! That’s the way to stay on the right side of that fine line – between education and exploitation.
I know I speak for all of us in Compassion Asia when I say these are our kids and we will treat them as such.
I’ve lived in China for over 15 years. Very little I see in the slums shocks me. But I do still experience awe, and the awe is in how our church partners and you, as sponsors, are helping to lift children out of poverty. Thank you for what you do.
Continue Reading ›A Field Perspective on Sponsor Trips
Wanna peek into my e-mail inbox?
I have the great pleasure of “talking” (read: e-mailing) each day with some of our great staff around the world. They always challenge me with their perspective.
I’ve been reading along with all the posts and comments about visiting your sponsored child, as I weigh the decision of when to make a trip. (I just happen to sponsor children in two of the most expensive countries to visit!)
This e-mail from Samuel Llanes, our field communication specialist in Guatemala, about his recent experience accompanying a sponsor trip gave me a new perspective on sponsor visits.
Hi Amber,
I want to share with you about what I learned in this sponsor trip we had this summer.
Commitment
I knew the kind of heart a sponsor is supposed to have but NEVER had the experience of “experiencing” it first hand. It was amazing to see and feel the kind of heart they have and how humble they are. And not just them, but even their family! Some of the sponsors came with their entire family and it was so awesome seeing how their kids were so “into” everything! Some of those kids started passing around a plastic bag to collect food to give later to some of the students at the center. For me, it was really amazing. Also, there were some “advocates” there. I had never had the chance to see one of them, but I saw how a heart like theirs really is! 🙂
Tenderness
I saw some of them who met their sponsored children for the first, second or third time. They were so happy (they were even crying!) when they saw them! For me, it was a very touching thing to witness because I could see and prove their commitment toward our fellow sponsored children! It really touched my heart, and those people are a real blessing to me!
A Genuine Heart for the Poor and Compassion International’s Help
I know that the American culture can sometimes be seen as a cold and individualistic culture, but this trip taught me that not everybody is like that. All the sponsors had an utterly different way of treating people (and even me! Hehe!) and they broke indeed a lot of paradigms I had about the American culture. I never saw hearts like those EVER in my life, and I was completely touched by it.
Love
Seeing how humble their hearts and spirits were for the children it’s something indescribable! I could see God’s love showed there and I couldn’t believe it. It was like they were their very own children!
Sam
The Poverty of ME
Last week, I was in Mexico. On a sponsor tour. And I saw the deepest, darkest poverty of my life.
But I didn’t have to travel to ME, the abbreviation we use when referring to Mexico, to see it. I only had to look at me.
I was in Mexico for the wrong reason. I didn’t go for the children, to become a stronger, more passionate voice for them. To serve them better. To serve you better. I went because I like to travel. I went for me.
There certainly are solid business reasons for me to have gone on the trip, but I didn’t get out of my own way long enough to realize them. I hate that.
How do I redeem the opportunity God gave me and that I squandered? (more…)
Experiencing God in Mexico
Hello everyone. This will be my last post from Mexico. I need to put the computer aside and experience God.
I’ve lost my way and made this trip about something other than Him.
I’ve uploaded another 50 photos to Flickr tonight. I’ll have more after August 23, when I return home.
I’ll also have some video of the welcome presentations at the two child development centers we visited today.
And I’ll have one more blog post.
On My Sponsor Trip
We heard what you think about visiting your sponsored children. And some of you shared some great experiences with us too, which got us wanting more.
Want! Want! Want! That’s us. 🙂
So, if you didn’t comment, haven’t ever commented or still have more to say, finish this sentence:
On my sponsor trip . . .
Back From Bolivia
As many of you know, I recently took a trip to Bolivia to visit my sponsored children. It was an experience I don’t think I’ll ever forget.
I had planned on visiting my children for a long time, and this was one of the reasons why I sponsored all of my 12 children in one country — Bolivia. This way, I could visit them in one trip, creating a logistical headache for the person in the country office trying to organize all of this. 🙂 Doing it this way is probably the least expensive way per child to visit them. It’s not for nothing that they say, “Cheaper by the Dozen!” (more…)
A Response From YOUR Fan
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- Do you have a favorite Bible verse or story that has personal meaning to you?
Yes, I do. My favorite Bible verse is Lamentations 3:21-25. And if you read the whole chapter you’ll see why even more.
My favorite Bible story is the story of Joseph, for I can associate with how brothers (and sisters in my case) can disown you or treat you in a way that suggests that you are not part of the family, and how God uses all those bad experiences not only for His glory but also to lift us up and to bless others in the process.
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- What piece of the Compassion program had the biggest impact on you and your life? (Fellowship with Christians, having access to medical care, meals that were provided, educational opportunities, or something else?)
Gosh, it’s really hard to pick one program that had the most impact because all of them played a major role in my life as I was growing up, but the one that comes to mind was the Thursday Bible study I used to attend when I was 9 years old. It was here that I was exposed to the word of God, which gave me a chance to give my life to Christ (my best decision ever) and equip me with the basic foundation for the Word of God and fellowship with others – something I still treasure to date.
By the way, I can’t forget the meals (which tells you I love to eat … Ha!) coz honestly, this was the only place where most of us children from the slums had the chance to enjoy three meals a day.
And yes, educational opportunities, because I wouldn’t be where I am were it not for the chance to go to school.
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- Are there things Compassion could do to improve their service to young people and families?
With God All Things Are Possible
Hey! I have new photos of Amisi. I was so blessed to meet him on my trip to Uganda last month.
I was told the outfit he’s wearing, along with his shoes and socks, were purchased through the Christmas Gift Program.
During my visit, I also gave him a banner that says, “With God, all things are possible.” As he grows up, I hope he clings to this message. I can’t wait to see how God works in his life. He may be living in a poverty-stricken African village now, but with God, the possibilities for his life are endless.
Have you visited your child? I’d love to hear about it. Leave a comment and tell me!
And if you have any photos, add them to our Flickr group. Be sure to include brief descriptions and I’ll share some of them here in a few days!
Why Me, God?
For about 35 years, once I first heard of such a possibility, I wanted to sponsor a child. But for most of that time, I simply could not afford even $10 per month.
About mid-2001, watching a commercial on TV for another organization, I realized I could finally afford to do something. But through which organization? Who could I really count on to use the money for the child’s benefit? Could I trust any of them, and how would I know? Having no answers, I did nothing.
I spent all of 2002 praying for God to show me what area of ministry He wanted me in. Almost every Sunday, I heard, “Find your passion and use it!” “Hmm…where can I get a ‘passion’?” I couldn’t have found a passion in me with a flashlight or a search warrant. So I prayed, and I waited.
Two weeks before Christmas, I walked out of church on a cold, gray day in a mood to match. I walked down three or four steps into the fellowship area and began to pass a row of ministry tables. Above and behind the first one was a banner saying something about Compassion.
I kept walking, but my inner skeptic wanted to know: “What are we being ‘compassionate’ about, today?”
I turned, looked down at a sea of packets, each with a photo of a child; the world stopped, along with all sound and movement around me. I knew what these packets represented.
I stood there, saying half under my breath, “I can do this! I can do this!” About the fourth time, a Voice inside said, “Yes, you can do this. This is it!”
A warmth started at the top of my head and flowed over me and through me, right down to my feet. I took home two packets, unsure about one child.
That afternoon, I went to Compassion’s website to look at more children. I didn’t realize how many photos they kept on there, and I quickly felt overwhelmed. “God, I can’t sponsor them all!” soon changed to “God, we’ve got to find sponsors for these kids!”
About the fourth time (what is it with four times?!), I heard, “Yes, we do!” Then I realized the “This is it” meant more for me than “merely” sponsoring. And I do not mean to minimize the importance of sponsoring!
So, as is true of so many advocates, if not all, I came into this ministry with a clear calling. There have been times when I have needed to remember that, when church doors refused to open, when people walked by the tables with hardly a glance, and I wanted to use a 2×4 on their heads to get their attention. (Thank God, I’ve grown past that!)
But let me mention some of the things that continually reaffirm the rightness of Compassion in my life, and as a real ministry in this world. (more…)
Photos, Comments and A Promise for More
The Internet connection wasn’t the best in Ethiopia. In fact, it was non-existent. It’s not like it was a blog trip to Uganda or anything.
The Internet connection wasn’t a priority for the sponsors that went to Ethiopia to meet their sponsored children. However, once everyone got back home … yesterday, Chris Harp, one of the Compassion employees leading the trip, did get us some photos, along with a couple of sponsor comments and a promise for “more to come,” once he wakes up from his transcontinental coma.
(He also brought back a lot of commas, by the look of that last sentence, and you may now be in a coma yourself – a comma coma.)
Brace yourself for the beauty below.
Laura 3/5/08
Greetings from Ethiopia!
Over the past few days, the group has experienced so much: new sights, smells, tastes, and sounds. The stories I could tell from the last few days could make your heads spin! The greatest privilege of this trip so far has undoubtedly been the time spent with the children in the centers and here at the Ghion hotel. They have such beautiful smiles of contentment and peace; though the have nothing, they consider themselves blessed.Today, I met up with a little girl from here in Addis whose sponsor was unable to make the trip. I was one of the fortunate ones who could step in for the day and play with her. Her precious little smile, independent and quick nature, and her hilarious facial expressions will stay near to my heart for a very long time.
Relatively unfamiliar with Compassion before this trip, I have been so encouraged and inspired by the selfless work and love of each of the staff persons; Compassion is and will continue to make a difference in the lives of many. What an honor to play such a small part in this ministry that gives hope, worth, and love to so many.
Friday, March 7th 2008 – John Michael
I awoke this morning in Awassa, Ethiopia, thinking of my Ethiopian daughter, Tezeta, and I am feeling so very blessed by God. We have shared so many wonderful letters these past few years, sharing so much of each of our lives and our hopes and dreams for each other.On Wednesday we were able to finally look into each other’s eyes and see each other’s souls, as God placed his hands on both of us. She has so much love in her heart, and because of Compassion, so much hope for her future. Her faith in God is so strong and she helps me in my faith. Tezeta is truly a blessing in my life.
