Passions of the Soul

How many ways can I say it?

I sit here, eating my breakfast as I type, while people are starving to death.  I've been on the attack--at times, only half-heartedly--against my creeping weight gain and winning only very slowly, so I have a hard time understanding what that must be like.  I can't even put myself in the place of a parent who is unable to feed his (or her) children, because I have no children of my own.  None for whom I've ever been responsible to feed and clothe.

I keep asking anyone who happens along and reads my blog to contribute to Compassion's Global Food Crisis Fund.  But what, you may ask, is Compassion doing with the money?  Please go to Compassion's blog for some information that may help to make dollar-sense of the need.

Then, if you haven't, yet, and are at all able to do so, please click on the link to the Fund to contribute whatever you can.  No matter how little it seems to you, it will mean food for a child and her or his family.  See how much you can do and how relatively little it would take from you.  Can you give $13 to feed a child for a month?  Or $78 to feed a family of six for the same period? Please give whatever you can.

Letter from a former sponsored child

The following excerpt is taken from a letter written by Ruzamba Niyomwungeli, a 24-year-old graduate of Compassion's Child-Sponsorship Program.  Written in Kinyarwanda, it was tranlated in English at the Compassion Rwanda country office.

I cried in my neighborhood, but no one listened to me.  I called to my neighbors because of hunger, but there was no boon coming to me.  I was sick in my bed, but no one could render a service.  But not far from God's hands, a sponsor, a parent, came to me from the far country that is beyond the sea where my eyes could not imagine a thought  What a blessing and love.  God I am too special in your eyes.  Thank you God.

You can read the entire letter here.  Then, if you would like to sponsor a child, you may click on the widget, in the left sidebar, or go here.

The problem isn't going away; it's getting worse.

Compassion continues to appeal for more funds for the Global Food Crisis Fund, for very good reasons.  From a letter just received from Wess Stafford, President and CEO of Compassion.  While the global staff continues to try to get a handle on what, exactly, is needed, the reports they get from the field look bleaker and bleaker.  Some examples:

- Thousands of children registered in Compassion-assisted projects "in at least six countries are in immediate need of relief.
- Every Compassion-assisted child in Haiti is affected.
- "Rice, a staple at every meal, has doubled in price.  For many of the 11,000 children we help [in Bangladesh], the only meal they receive each day comes from the Compassion-assisted church."
- Compassion predicts "this crisis will spread to each country where we work and has the potential to affect millions of children and families."  This is not sensationalism.  After all, every country where Compassion works is a developing nation; that means many of the people live in abject poverty.
-"In Haiti, a gift of $13 can feed a child for about one month."  Multiply that out to however much money you can contribute to the Global Food Crisis Fund.

Please remember:  The opposite of poverty is not wealth; it is enough.  Most of us have more than enough, even if we don't think we do--and I lived in a "notch group" for a few years.  The issue is what we spend our money on.  Can we do without a couple of Starbucks double lattes a month?  Buy one DVD fewer?  Rent fewer movies?

I know we're all feeling the pinch, and I know most of us are tightening our own belts.  Every division, every department at Compassion's Global Ministry Center in Colorado Springs is tightening budgets even further in order to free up as much money as possible for this gigantic need.  Compassion International is a ministry you can trust.  (Check 'em out with Charity Navigator or other charity watchdog organizations.)  In fact, you can't make a better investment, anywhere, than to sponsor a child or to contribute financially to Compassion.

Global Food Crisis - Revisited

Compassion International has set aside this Wednesday, June 25, as a day of prayer and fasting on behalf of our Compassion-assisted children, as well as all others whose poverty level leaves no margin for the dramatic rise in prices of basics like rice, beans and wheat.  Anyone who (a) shares a concern for the "least of these" of our world and a concern about this global crisis, and (b) believes in prayer is welcome to join.  Just click here to join the several thousand who have already signed up to participate.  And if you are moved to do so, why not also contribute to the Global Food Crisis Fund?  Both prayer and financial help are badly needed!

More on the Global Food Crisis

This is a link to the Compassion Blog.  It's written by Dr. Wess Stafford, the president and CEO of Compassion, about the Global Food Crisis.

Then, if you and your family have enough, please urgently consider contributing to Compassion's Global Food Crisis Fund.  You can never find another organization that will handle your gifts with more integrity; Compassion's integrity is absolute:  Your money will always be used for the purpose you designate, and Compassion is a 501(c)(3) organization meaning your gift is tax-deductible.

Please.  People are dying for want of food or money with which to buy it.  We feel the pinch of the rising prices; they feel it in the extreme, in their stomachs.  Some of Compassion's children feel something that must be akin to "survival guilt," as they eat one meal each time they are at their Compassion-assisted student center, or project.  They know everyone else in their family is not even getting that much.  Please help!

It's never enough!

I've been conversing, by e-mail, with a new Compassion friend, Kees (pron. "case") about helping to find sponsors for more children.  We've agreed that, no matter how many sponsorships we help to bring about, it's never enough.

While millions of children are still hungry, foraging in garbage dumps for food, drinking filthy water and getting sick from largely preventable illnesses, it isn't enough.  It's never enough, when so many people are so very hungry, many of them starving to death, that some of the children served by Compassion feel guilty for eating the meal they receive at the project, because they know their families are hungry.  It's never enough, when many Haitians eat cookies made of dirt, vegetable oil and salt, in order to "fool" their stomachs into thinking they're not hungry.  It's never enough, when that is so common that those who can afford to buy the bags of soil, make the cookies not only to eat and to feed their own children, but to sell to others!  And it certainly isn't enough, when the cost of the bag of soil rises so much that fewer and fewer people can afford to buy . . . DIRT!

If I were to find (pick a number) 75 sponsors every year, by my own efforts, that wouldn't be enough--and I'm not even close to that.  There is no number that would be enough!!

Maybe you can't afford to make a $32/month commitment to sponsor a child.  Could you contribute to the Global Food Crisis Fund?  I won't ask if you did, because it's none of my business.  Increasing the awareness of the needs, however, is my business.

 

A different kind of tsunami

Please read about "The Silent Tsunami" Compassion's blog.  How much more would people in developing countries have, if the US government encouraged our farmers to produce all the crops they could, for food, rather than either paying farmers to limit their crops (I don't know if that's still done) or earmarking large quantities of some crops for use in creating bio-fuels.  So much of the world is starving, and we're using food crops to burn in our vehicles?

Have you followed that first link, above?  Did you read the post?  Did you notice this sentence:  Our children are feeling guilty for eating one meal a day.  Will you dare to let you heart be broken?

How many ways can you spend $32 in a month's time?  Could you give up a few little things, eat out one time fewer, to help one child in Bangladesh or Haiti?

Compassion International is not a new organization, having begun 55 years ago after the Korean War.  This organization is run with absolute integrity and works to develop a child in all areas of his or her life.  Your money is always used for its stated purpose.  CI is highly rated by several charity watchdog groups.  I've been to several student centers in one of the countries where we serve, and I can tell you that Compassion is helping to break the cycle of poverty for many, many children.

And yet, the current food crisis is taking a toll on even the children we serve.  If you cannot or don't wish to sponsor a child, but would like to do something to help, go to CI's website and look toward the bottom of your screen.  There you will see an invitation to donate to the Global food crisis fund.  Any amount will be welcome, any amount is needed, and it will be used as stated.  Thank you, and God bless you.

Compassion Sunday

Compassion International's biggest annual campaign is known as Compassion Sunday.  Last year, well over 21,000 children in poverty were sponsored through this campaign; the goal this year is 22,000.

The official date for Compassion Sunday, this year, is this Sunday, April 13 '08.  Many, many churches will be hosting CS's, this weekend, although many CS's will be held--and, indeed, have been held already--on other dates throughout the year.  But this weekend is big, in terms of getting close to our goal.  Today, many Compassion employees, volunteers and sponsors are observing a day of fasting and praying specifically for the thousands of children whose packets have been sent out to churches, and for all of the people attending those churches who will have the opportunity to "[release a child] from poverty in Jesus' name." 

If you are reading this, would like to sponsor a child and your church does not (yet) host Compassion Sunday, each year--perhaps never has--you can choose a child right here, anytime.  The cost is $32/month and frequent letter-writing; no, letters aren't exactly required, but if you want to sponsor a child without investing in building a relationship, Compassion may not be your best choice.  On the other hand, if you want to sponsor a child through an organization that is Christ-centered, child-focused, church-based and committed to integrity, but you legitimately will not have the time to build the relationship, you can choose to provide the financial end and either find a friend or family member to be the correspondent-sponsor, or ask Compassion to find such a person for you.  This is not uncommon, especially for large corporations that sponsor perhaps thousands of children, or for doctors and other people who legitimately do not have the time and may, in fact, sponsor many children (like a doctor I heard of who sponsored 100 kids; trust me--she's not going to be able to write letters to them!)

If you are a sponsor or become one and would like to hold a Compassion Sunday in your church, click on the link in the first paragraph of this post and read how to go about it.  You may also pose questions to me, here, or by e-mail.

Sponsoring a child, sharing life with him or her through letters, possibly visiting by traveling with Compassion, loving, encouraging, praying for, nurturing that child may change you in ways you never thought possible.  I know it's one of the best things I've ever done...the other "best thing I've ever done" is to advocate for children through Compassion.

Announcing...

First, my guest post is up at Compassion's own blog.  Reading it is not required, and there will be no quiz.  However, I have it on the authority of my friend Candy, at Compassion, that she laughed, and she cried, while reading it.  (One of my former graduate-school professors would have given me an A on it, simply because a reader was moved.)

Second, and very important, is a bulletin just in from Compassion:  April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month.  Compassion's board policy states:

Concern for children is the cornerstone upon which Compassion International has been built.  We are opposed to all forms of child abuse and exploitation and will do everything within our power to ensure that no harm comes to any child registered in our program due to his or her involvement in the ministry of Compassion International.

The bulletin goes on to define some ways in which workers in the field "safeguard children in Church Partner activities from all forms of abuse and exploitation...:

• Providing a positive and save environment for children that enables them to fulfill their potential;
• Engaging the active commitment of caring adults who surround them, to care for children with dignity, respect and integrity at all times;
• Preventing and/or reducing the risks of the incidence of abuse through enforcing policies, strategies and procedures on child protection;
• Educating children on the limits of acceptable behavior as it relates to physical, sexual and verbal abuse.

"As child advocates, our mandate is to ensure that all children in our care as well as those we come into contact with every day enjoy safe, loving and well protected lives thus releasing them to achieve their ultimate potential."

And anyone who thinks this is just a nice-sounding board-room policy needs to read Too Small to Ignore:  Why the Least of These Matters Most, by Dr. Wess Stafford, President and CEO of Compassion International.

Children of the world

I haven't written a post quite like this in quite a while.  Today, I received the Prayer Partner Newsletter from Compassion, and several of the requests for April really struck me.  The Newsletter is set up with one prayer request or praise for each day of the month.  All are important, but some get between my ribs, so to speak.  I want to share some with you.  We're praying for:

six-year-old Dariana, in Guatemala.  Her mother was hit by a car and killed, after dropping Dariana off at the child development center;

hundreds of families in Ecuador who have been affected by severe flooding.  Besides the losses of many homes, hundreds of Compassion-assisted children have contracted dengue fever or rotavirus;

a child in Nicaragua who was recently diagnosed with HIV.  [In Africa, Compassion would be able to step in and provide treatment for him, and other help for the family to prevent the spread of the virus.]  Please pray that the office staff will be able to find appropriate help for this boy;

50,000-plus sponsored children in Tanzania, many of whom have lost their parents or guardians to AIDS.

Bequer, 7, in Peru, who suffered leg injuries in an auto accident in which his brother was killed.

April 13 is the official Compassion Sunday (Compassion Sundays can be held anytime during the year, however).  Pray that thousands of children all over the world will find sponsors who will love, encourage and nurture them as they are released from poverty in Jesus' name!

Pray for the family of two children in Bolivia, whose mother needs surgery for arthritis.  They face eviction, because she has no money.

Pastor Jose, in El Salvador, whose church runs a Compassion-assisted child-development center.  This pastor faces financial struggles and gang threats.

Many children in Kenya have been scarred by sights of looting, killings and angry people carrying machetes through streets and neighborhoods.

Ten-year-old Anthony, in Ecuador, suffered third-degree burns on his legs and may not walk again, unless God heals him.

A 12-year-old boy in Guatemala has been diagnosed with leukemia.

April 25 is World Malaria Day.  While we praise God for those who have supported Compassion's Malaria Intervention Fund, we also pray for help in combatting this deadly disease.  And please consider contributing to this fund:  $10 pays for an insecticide-treated bed net and other assistance.

Pray also for children in child development centers in Rwanda's western province; an earthquake there left more than 1000 families homeless.

And, of course, if you are interested in sponsoring a child in any of 24 countries, please go here!  All it takes is $32 per month, a caring heart and a willingness to pray for and correspond with a child in poverty, encouraging, nurturing and loving that child as she or he is released from poverty in Jesus' name.  I have seen the work of Compassion in the field, and I know it works!