Sharing a Place at Our Table
Inspired by Chris Seay’s book, “A Place at the Table,” the Pina family decided to fast from certain foods. For 40 days they are eating the same foods that their sponsored Nicaraguan child eats.
Continue Reading ›A Compassion Alumnus Gives Back to His Community
We came to Rwanda with nothing and found that our family members in Rwanda had been killed during the genocide. Life was difficult because we were starting a new life in a new country with nothing — and we didn’t have hope for the future.
Continue Reading ›
How Would You Define Your Relationship with Food?
In A Place At The Table, author Chris Seay proposes that we spend 40 days in a fast with a unique twist: eat what our sponsored child eats. And in the process, recapture gratitude and a sense of solidarity with the poor.
Where Is Gratitude in the Midst of Death?
How do you give thanks in the midst of overwhelming grief?
Does This One Come in Blonde?
Research on why people give to charitable causes is never very flattering to the donors. According to one study, when we give we’re often not motivated by philanthropy or logic, but by our feelings.
Can I Send This Gift to My Sponsored Child?
Our correspondence team receives many gifts from sponsors for their sponsored children that can’t be sent to our country offices. What items can be sent to your sponsored child through the mail?
Artwork in Your Letters to the Child You Sponsor
Doesn’t it just make your day when you get artwork from your child? Have you ever considered that your child would love to receive artwork from you?
A Precious Perspective
One sentence from a little girl an ocean away immediately and forever changed my perspective.
Representing the Cheetah Generation
I’m grateful that the man overseeing Compassion’s work in Africa believes in my sponsored children. And, I’m thankful that the church staff will continue to breathe life into them and help them run with the speed of cheetahs.
Grieving the Loss of a Sponsored Child
How do you say goodbye to a sponsored child who has died? Have you ever had to do that, or to say goodbye to another child in your life?
The Happiest Day of a Sponsored Child’s Life
If you can’t visit your children, and we understand that it’s not always possible, you need to know this. It’s an absolute truth. Your sponsored children want to hear from you!
Life as a Sponsored Child (Part II)
From yesterday’s post:
I was among the first lucky ones to get a sponsor, and when I did I had a new family — the Pendleton Browns from Atlanta, Georgia.
Every Saturday I attended the Compassion Saturday program. When I was first enrolled I knew for sure the weekly meetings would interfere with my soccer time, which was also on Saturdays. But when sports were introduced I became comfortable with the idea of attending.
As a kid, I often played at the dumping site and scavenged for edibles that the various companies and airlines disposed of at the site. My friends and I named the dumping site “Chombo.” Chombo is a Swahili word meaning machine.
We named the dump “Chombo” because we found biscuits disposed of by factories that the machine did not cut into the correct shape. Most boys ended up not going to school, but found a home in “Chombo.”
Not many kids made it to high school in my neighborhood, basically because of two reasons; one, to make it to high school, there is a national exam that one has to take. Passing this exam is not easy as such, and if one never makes it in the exam, then there is no place for him or her in high school.
Another reason is that, even if some make it in the exam, they fail to join high school because they cannot afford the school fees.
I thank God for Compassion because it ensured that my school fees were paid for in high school. My sponsor family also encouraged and believed in me, hence I did so well in my exams and joined a government high school.
Some of the kids I grew up with did not get the opportunity to join high school. Most boys went into drug addiction and to nurse their drug addiction, they turned to crime.
Ladies turned to prostitution, and most of them had babies as early as 14 years old.
I saw more than 15 boys I grew up with either being shot down by the police or being stoned to death by mob justice. The community was just fed up with crime and took the law into its own hands.
An event that turned my life is when I saw one of the young men I grew up with and even shared classes with being chased down the streets. Later, the crowd caught up with him, stoned him to death, and set his body ablaze.
I later learned that this young man had stolen an electronic gadget worth maybe less than $100. It saddened me seeing my friend die in the hands of an angry mob.
For a long time I blamed myself for not sharing my faith with him. I resolved to join an evangelism and discipleship class in church popularly known as Campus Crusade for Christ. Here I had opportunity to learn how to share my faith and I saw my friends come to Christ, though some rejected.
By the time I had completed high school, I did not know what the next step would be for me, because in Kenya at the age of 18 years I was due for graduation from the Compassion program and that was it.
For sure, high school education alone could not help me achieve my dreams. I became sad. I really had the desire to proceed with my education, but I knew without the help of Compassion I was not going to make it.
One thing surprised me, though; I did well again in my Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education exams. I became a role model in my community, and I often had parents send their kids to me to talk to them.
I had an interest in teaching kids in church; I found it fun singing with 8- and 9-year-olds and teaching them Bible stories. I also continued sharing my faith in the neighborhood through door-to-door evangelism.
