It’s been hard not to follow the tragic situation coming out of Flint, Michigan. Nearly one year ago, high levels of lead were discovered coursing through the city’s drinking water supply and, as a result, in the blood of thousands of local children. In children ages 6 and under, even low levels of lead exposure can cause irreversible brain damage. […]
Do you ever get that déjà vu feeling that somehow the more things change the more they remain the same? I sure do, especially of late as the media brings our attention to the current drought and famine situation across Africa, specifically in the Compassion country of Ethiopia. Despite significant economic growth over the past decade, Ethiopia still remains one […]
It’s International Women’s Day, a day to honor and celebrate the cultural, social, economic and political achievements of women. It’s a day to remind ourselves why girls are so amazing. In the course of human history, the female population has been horrifically oppressed, abused and mistreated. Girls have been burned at the stake as witches. They have been buried alive, […]
I remember I was in the very beginning of my second pregnancy when I heard about cases of babies who were born with microcephaly in the countryside of northeastern Brazil. Everyone was saying it wasn’t normal for so many babies to be born with the same abnormality in the same region. I confess I didn’t pay much attention. Of course, […]
NOTE FROM EDITOR: This content honors Compassion’s historical work in India. While we no longer have an India sponsorship program, we are grateful for the lives changed and meaningful work achieved through our sponsors and donors in our nearly 50 years there. For a detailed explanation of the end of our sponsorship program in India, please visit: compassion.com/india-update. In this […]
As the Zika virus becomes a growing concern in Latin America and the Caribbean, it’s important to stay informed on the development of the disease. Here are a few simple questions and answers to help you understand the virus and how it is affecting the communities where we work. What Is the Zika Virus? The Zika virus is a mosquito-borne […]
We’ve come to the end of another incredible year at Compassion International and we thought we’d take a moment to highlight some of our favorite and most popular blog posts of 2015. And as an added treat, we’ve added a little “story behind the story” of our top 10 to give you a peek behind the curtain of how some […]
Let’s play a game. A Where’s Waldo of sorts. This description of poverty comes from The Poverty Wheel on Compassion.com: The most widely held and understood definition of extreme poverty, established by the World Bank, defines poverty in strictly economic terms — earning less than $1.90 a day. But the World Bank has also described poverty as follows: “Poverty is […]
Mexico is full of contrasts. Many different cultural traits prevail, as modernity and the old traditions exist together. But the marked differences among the population represent a challenge. Inequality has increased terribly in the last decade, exposing a growing gap in between the poor and the rich. There is a hurting division in society marked by lack of income and […]
Recently, I’ve had the opportunity in my job to read a lot about development. After all, development is what Compassion is about. We don’t want to give a handout; we want to do the things that will truly help a child become a self-sustaining, responsible adult. And although you might not think that theories of international development have much to […]
What is Compassion International all about? Well, first and foremost, we’re about Jesus. We are Christ centered. We “release children from poverty in Jesus’ name.” We work through the local church and live out our faith by extending care to others. We demonstrate what we’re about in how we behave — what we do and how we do it. We’re child […]
The room was packed, occupied by some of the most inspiring Christian leaders I’ve met from across the continent of Africa. I began my afternoon presentation in Ethiopia with a movie trailer for a new documentary, Poverty, Inc., that seeks to reveal some of the pitfalls of the global aid system. At one point in the movie trailer, an entrepreneur […]
My friends thought I was losing my mind. After working my entire career in the non-profit world, I was making the plunge into the big, bad for-profit world. For 7.5 years, I worked for one of the leading organizations fighting violence against the poor (including human trafficking and slavery), International Justice Mission. For years, I got to tell the stories […]
Moms in our Child Survival Program in Ethiopia regularly get together to share stories of their lives, swap care taking ideas for their kids and catch up on the local town news over a cup of freshly roasted Ethiopian coffee. Watch how the process of creating Ethiopian coffee unfolds from roasting beans and grinding in a press, to brewing in […]
“The girls are being forced to do things they don’t want to do. They were planning to take girls to other countries. I never thought they were going to release me; I even thought my family wasn’t doing anything. I didn’t think I was going to return home.” These are the heartbreaking words of Daniela*, a sponsored teen girl who […]
While most of Seoul stayed away from public gatherings during the recent MERS outbreak, 1,100 church leaders representing 163 churches from across the peninsula of South Korea came together to prepare their hearts and minds for the day when they can directly serve the children of North Korea. Stepping into the large conference hall for the recent North Korea Ministry […]
There’s just something about the sun-scorched regions of Africa, isn’t there? I don’t know if it’s the beat of the African drums, the relaxed pace of life, the smiling faces that greet me or that I frequently find myself humoured by the fact that some things can only be explained with a shrug and a smile! Recently, my husband and […]
You’ve probably come to expect that we will work to bring safe water to the child or teen you sponsor – and along with that, education about how to avoid waterborne illnesses. But what if I told you your sponsorship also helps children in poverty learn about a safer and more dignified way to go to the bathroom? Providing a […]
The International Day of Families is an occasion to celebrate the importance of families to people, societies and cultures around the world. The parents in my workshop, just then, started shifting in their red, conference-room seats and looking mostly at their hands, or shoes. I was at a conference, speaking to a group of parents, and had just asked, “Raise […]
Helping meet the physical needs of the children in our program, and of their communities, sometimes means having to find healthy food sources. Often, farm to table is the best solution possible. This is where little Borisut comes in. He is a sponsored child in Thailand’s rural northern region. And we’d like you to hear his perspective on how farm-to-table […]
