Compassion International: Rescuing Children from Poverty

Elbert Hubbard once said, “men are only as great as they are kind.” Compassion International has taken those words and lived them from foundation to fulfillment. Kindness is their motivation and action is their motto. And, because of that, they are changing the lives of children worldwide.

Kefiwe, a four-year old girl from a little village in Burkina Faso, Africa, has experienced the greatness of Compassion’s kindness firsthand. She lives with her mother, father, grandmother, and five siblings in a two room mud hut. Her mother and grandmother take care of the children, cook, and weave baskets to sell. Her father raises and sells yams. The combined income from her mother’s basket making and her father’s yams allows each child to eat two meals a day, but cannot always provide blankets, clothes, or education.

Eleven months ago, however, Kefiwe was registered with Compassion International and four months after registering she has a sponsor and a hope for the future. Now Kefiwe is provided with three meals a day, blankets, clothes, and the opportunity for an education. She began attending Bible-school classes three months ago and will begin her proper schooling next term. This month she received the first of her school textbooks, and soon she will have a uniform.

Kefiwe’s mother, Rondi, says that Compassion is the best thing that has happened to their family: “I’ve put all six of my children in the program. Two of them have sponsors now; it helps our family live. I do not worry anymore that my children will be hungry.”

Compassion International began in 1952 founded by Rev. Everette Swanson. It began as an outreach to the war orphans of Korea who lacked food, shelter, healthcare, education, and Christian training. The ministry has developed over the years to include not only Korean children, but children from third-world countries all over the globe: Bangladesh, India, Thailand, Ethiopia, Rwanda, El Salvador, Burkina Faso, and many others.

Currently Compassion International is run by a man named Wesley Stafford, who grew up as a missionary kid in western Africa. His heart for impoverished children began there, in Africa, and continued into his later years at Compassion. He says that Compassion does not simply do things for people—Compassion empowers people to change their own circumstances and preserve their dignity in the process. President Stafford’s summation fits right into Compassion International’s mission statement: “Compassion International exists as an advocate for children, releasing them from spiritual, economic, social, and physical poverty and enabling them to become responsible, fulfilled Christian adults.” Compassion International wants to offer a leg up to each child in practical and spiritual ways and hand them the controls for their own future. God created us with choice in the beginning; Compassion wants to give that choice back to those who no longer have it.

The second part of Compassion International’s two-part mission is to educate and motivate people who have the resources and ability to help children in need. The ministry offers people the opportunity to change a child’s life for a relatively small commitment.

Deep down, we all want to do something truly heroic. That’s why comic books, superheroes, and stories of everyday heroism touch such a deep part of us: we want to be the hero. With Compassion International, we have the chance. For $28 a month (less than $1 a day) you or I could sponsor a child and make an eternal impact on our world.

Sponsorship provides food, water, health care, regular Christian training, education, personal attention and guidance from the Compassion staff overseas, and an opportunity to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ for one needy child in a third-world country. What Compassion professes in their advertisements is 100% accurate: less than one dollar a day CAN change a child’s life.

In addition to sending money, Compassion International encourages its sponsors to send letters to their child. Through exchanging letters with their child sponsors are able to make their monthly commitment more personal and each child has the opportunity to say thank you to the sponsors they hold in such high esteem. Gwendolyn Umbreit, a Shippensburg University student and Compassion sponsor, finds a source of endless joy in receiving letters from her Compassion child. “I love the letters from my child. I love the way that they don’t quite make sense in a way that you know was a five-year-old child speaking to a translator.” Compassion International wants not only to change children’s lives, but to involve others in those changes. They make heroes out of everyday Joes. Compassion International is not only about serving the impoverished, but also motivating those who aren’t impoverished.

And there’s more...

Alongside their main ministry of one-child to one-sponsor sponsorships Compassion International also offers seven other practical ways to be heroic and change a part of our world.

Child Victims of HIV. The Compassion International website says that “thousands of Compassion children in Africa have suffered the trauma of seeing one or both parents become ill and die, victims of the HIV/AIDS epidemic sweeping across the continent.” Through their HIV program Compassion offers relief to those caught in the epidemic: food, clothes, and housing for AIDs orphans, treatment for those infected, and training for the parents and medical workers who are combating this disease daily. Through the kindness and love of local churches Compassion is able to minister to the needs of those caught in the clutches of AIDs and bring relief.

Unsponsored Children. Compassion also offers the opportunity to contribute a one-time gift to the life and livelihood of a child in third-world conditions. These gifts go to the children who are registered with Compassion and still await sponsorship. A one time gift can offer aid to a child in need while they wait.

Disaster Relief. In the words of Compassion’s website: “Floods, fires, earthquakes, volcanoes, or family illness can shatter the lives of children anywhere.” The Disaster Relief Fund gives food, shelter, blankets, and replacement belongings to Compassion-assisted children and their families in times of great need.

Currently, the greatest needs on Compassion’s Disaster list are the issues in Haiti and Kenya: In Haiti’s third largest city, Gonaives, there has been disasterous flooding and mudslides that have taken out homes, roads, electrical power, communication systems, and clean water supplies. Schools are closed, compassion projects have been effected, and children’s homes are flooded. Housing, health monitoring, and emergency food and water are the greatest needs in Gonaives.

In Kenya rain patterns have shifted dangerously in the past year and caused crop failures. As a result, food prices doubled and millions of Kenyans have felt the impact. Malnutrition and starvation are all too real to the Kenyan people right now.

By supporting Compassion’s Disaster Relief Fund sponsors are able to aid the struggling people in Haiti, Kenya, and other places that are hit with unexpected calamities.

Leadership Development. Because Compassion desires to give a leg up rather than a handout they have developed a program to train a new generation of leaders to help their countries. The leadership development program allows men and women to rise above their poverty, obtain a college education, and become leaders in their communities. The program offers a full college curriculum, Christian leadership development, and character development workshops. It provides for the tutition, fees, textbooks, room, board, and other school related expenses for education at an approved University. One student is fully sponsored by only $200 a month, or a one-time contribution of any amount can be given to assist students who are awaiting a sponsor. Thirty-year-old LDP graduate, Jaques Elissaint, says “I have integrity and confidence. My behavior is different as a Christian.” His education and Christian training have prepared him to become a leader in his community in Haiti and now Jaques sponsors his two younger siblings through Compassion so that they too can complete their education.

Christmas Gift Program. Every year Compassion allows sponsors, and those who want to give a special gift during the holidays, to contribute to the Christmas Gift program which offers children in third-world countries a chance to get Christmas gifts--often for the first time ever.

Partners of Compassion. To meet the needs that sponsorship does not cover--the provision of Bibles for children and other beyond-basic needs--Compassion offers the Partners of Compassion program.

When a school in Thailand repeatedly shut its doors due to flooding Compassion International was there, assisting in the construction of a dam to ensure that the school would no longer be effected by the annual flooding of the region. The availability of the Partners program enabled Compassion to respond to this need and many others.

Medical Treatment. Chronic illnesses, severe burns, and other medical issues need to be addressed for Compassion sponsored children. What is easy to remedy in developed countries can prove fatal in the third-world. Families in third-world countries often cannot provide the medical care necessary for their children. Thus, the children’s health and wellness suffers. This is the purpose of Compassion International’s medical program: to address these issues separately from one-to-one child sponsorship. A contribution to this section of the ministry can literally and immediately save a life.

Because one fifth of the world lives in abject poverty... because every year ten million children under the age of five die from preventable causes... because thirty-two percent of young children in developing countries suffer from stunted growth (both mental and physical)... and because, in the words of the Compassion International website, “these children have no voice, no political influence, no organization, and no way to be heard.” Compassion International is working hard all over the world to bring physical and spiritual poverty to an end. Through their main ministry of one-to-one child sponsorship, as well as their disaster relief, HIV relief, Christmas gift, Partners of Compassion, Leadership Development, Unsponsored children, and medical care ministries Compassion is impacting this world for Jesus Christ.

In Matthew 18:5 Jesus says: “Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.” As Christians, most of us would receive Jesus into our home, clothe Him, feed Him, and care for Him if He had any need. We would pour ourselves into serving Him. So also should we pour ourselves into serving these little children. Jesus said, in Matthew 25:40, that whatever we have done to the “least of these” we have done to Him. If He was hungry we would feed Him. If He was thirsty we would offer Him a drink. If His house was flooded we would do everything we could to get Him back on His feet. The very heartbeat of Compassion International is to do those things for children worldwide. This ministry desires to serve and love these children and motivate others who are fortunate to serve and love the children as well through child sponsorship with Compassion. It doesn’t take much to be a hero and change this world: just a heart of compassion and a little less than one dollar a day.