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This Is Where I Live: 7 Children Share Their Homes

This Is Where I Live: 7 Children Share Their Homes


Have you wondered what your sponsored child’s home might be like? Children from each of the seven countries where we work in Central America and the Caribbean took us on a tour of their homes! We hope having a glimpse into the homes of typical sponsored children in this region will help you know how you can pray for them — and how very much your support means!

Nahomy in Guatemala


Nahomy lives on the top of a hill in Flores, Guatemala. She climbs 96 steps to reach her house every day! She turns it into a game and counts each step as she climbs, sometimes pretending to be a frog, jumping from step to step.

At the top of the hill, she lives with her mom and little brother Fernando. Their home is 20 square meters and is made from wood and corrugated metal sheets. They have one lightbulb that illuminates their home, and one bed, which Nahomy received from Compassion.

A girl in a white and blue dress stands in front of a small home in Central America made from wood and metal sheets. In the background are green hills and tress.

Recently during a routine medical checkup, Nahomy was found to be underweight. She immediately started receiving extra help each month with groceries. The family doesn’t have a kitchen in their home, so they go down the hill to cook in Nahomy’s grandmother’s kitchen.

“I don’t see any bad things about my house,” says Nahomy. “I love it because I have trees and water. I have a house and, thanks to the Compassion center, I now have a new bed where we sleep.”

Yaretzi and Julieth in Honduras

A girl in a blue dress and a girl in a purple dress smile largely at the camera, with their arms around each other, in front of a green wooden wall.

Two smiling girls wearing purple and blue dresses hug outside of a home made from wood and metal sheets, on a hill.Yaretzi and Julieth from Honduras lost everything when gang members threw them out of their home, along with their grandmother and grandfather. The violent men said they would kill the entire family if they didn’t find another place to live. They were forced to move to a community near the city dump where their grandfather built a simple wood home.

In their new home, they don’t have access to electricity, potable water, a sewage system or a health care center. On hot, humid days, the pollution and stench of the city dump is unbearable.

Two girls lie in a bed in a corner of a room, reading a Bible. A drying line of clothing hangs from teh ceiling and the walls and floors are covered in plasticbags, used for storage.

Their favorite place in their home is their bed where they lie together and read the Bible and their sponsors’ letters with their grandma, Maria.

“The registration of my grandchildren in the Compassion center has made a huge difference in their lives,” says Maria. “They eat healthy meals, have medical checkups twice a year and receive school supplies and Bible teaching. We were hopeless when we moved here, but the staff became our new family.”

Dodson in Haiti

A woman wearing a hat smiles largely, with her arms around three smiling young children. They are inside a concrete home with a stack of clothing in the corner.
A concrete brick home with a corrugated metal roof stands on a dirt lot surrounded by a woven fence. There is a large tree behind the home.

Dodson lives with his mom and three siblings in a one-room concrete brick home in rural Haiti. Their home is surrounded by braided coconut leaf fences, which is common in this area. They don’t have electricity, so light comes into their home through the door and one small window.

The family doesn’t have dressers, so they store their clothes in a suitcase. To sleep, Dodson’s mother lays several layers of clothing on the floor to make a mattress. They cook once a day in their outdoor kitchen, because one meal a day is the norm. Dodson likes to be outside. After doing his homework, he plays soccer with a makeshift ball made from several pairs of socks.

A boy in a yellow shirt and jean shorts stands outside with concrete brick walls behind him, standing at a small raised silver cooking pan next to a small wooden table.

Dodson cooks outside in their kitchen.

Although this family does not have much materially, they do have love and dreams.

“When I lie on the ground during the night, I smile because I get to dream that one day I will become a great doctor,” says Dodson.

Keyli from El Salvador

A girl holds a teddy bear, standing in front of a home in Central America made with mud and sticks. There are many holes in the walls. A laundry line hangs out front.
A girl in an "Anna and Elsa" shirt and jean skirt sits in a green plastic chair inside her home in Central America. There are large plastic tarps hanging from the ceiling to serve as walls. A chicken eats corn on the floor.

Keyli from El Salvador lives in a home made from mud and branches. Inside, her home is divided into rooms using plastic tarps. Her favorite things in her house are her beloved teddy bear and her chicken, her only two possessions. She loves chasing her chicken and hugging her teddy bear.

Keyli and her family live in a rural, mountainous community in El Salvador where most people work as subsistence farmers. Her parents can earn $5 a day, but the income is unstable in some seasons. Although her parents struggle to provide all she needs at home, she is getting support from her sponsors and the local church!

“As a family we’re thankful because both of our girls are growing up with faith and they will get far with the Compassion center’s support,” says Keyli’s mom, Mirian.

Denison, Yosaira and Ilsa in the Dominican Republic

Three young children sit on a concrete beam that is a bridge across a ditch full of water. In the background are palm trees and corrugated metal sheet homes.

Denison, Yosaira and Ilsa sit above the ditch where they bathe.

A man stands with three children outside a worn wooden home painted light green. There is a wooden fence in the foreground.

Yosaira, Ilsa and Denison live in a batey in the Dominican Republic, a rural community for people who work in the sugar cane mills. People in the bateys don’t have access to potable water, electricity, sanitary services, health care or education.

The walls and roof of the children’s home leak, and when it rains, the floor floods. The beds are on concrete blocks to protect them from water. The family kitchen is in the corner of their home, next to the girls’ bed where they help their mom cook. They don’t have a bathroom, but they bathe in a ditch near their home.

Two girls sit on a bed with their faces covered in prayer. The bed is raised up with concrete blocks. A mosquito net hangs above the bed and the roof is made from corrugated metal.

The girls pray on their bed each morning and before going to bed at night. The bed is on concrete blocks to protect them from flooding.

A girl in a blue shirt and tan skirt leans over pots and pans on a dirt floor. There is a table to one side. The walls are made of wood slats with holes in them.

Yosaira works in her family’s kitchen in her bedroom.

But in the center of this community where the children live in such extreme circumstances, is a local church and Compassion center helping the children. Recently the children’s dad, Wilkinson, was in a motorcycle accident that left him unable to work. The man they rented from threw them out of their home, so Compassion helped the family find a place to live.

“Compassion brought food for my family while I was hospitalized and gave my wife candy, so she could sell them to generate income,” says Wilkinson. “I can’t imagine my family without Compassion.”

Marcela in Nicaragua

A girl in a pink shirt and jeans stands in the doorway of a wooden home in Central America.

Marcela is from Ochomogo, a community in southern Nicaragua. She lives in a one-room wood home. She loves to help her mom cook in their kitchen. Her dad can’t find regular work. Although her parents try their hardest, they can’t always give Marcela the things she needs.

But thanks to gifts her sponsor sent, Marcela now has a dresser, bed and fan.

A girl in a pink shirt adjusts a mosquito net above a bed. There is a brightly colored plastic dresser in the background, in front of worn corrugated metal walls.

Marcela got a bed, dresser and fan, thanks to her sponsor.

A girl in a pink shirt stands in front of a wooden block with a black pan on it, stirring something in the pan with a spatula. the wall is made of corrugated metal sheets.

Marcela cooks in the family’s kitchen.

Marcela’s mom, Jahaira, says she’s so thankful for the sponsor’s giving heart, especially when there’s something she’s not able to provide.

“I am beyond grateful that her sponsor, someone who is so far away and has never met her, keeps my daughter in her prayers and thinks about her with such love,” says Jahaira.

Leslie and Felipe in Mexico

A teenage boy in a pink shirt and jean shorts and a teenage girl in a pink shirt and jean short stand in front of a simple home made of plywood and and metal sheet roof. In the background are trees.

A devastating earthquake in Oaxaca, Mexico, in 2017, destroyed entire communities. Leslie and Felipe’s home was reduced to a pile of rubble. After the earthquake, they had to sleep under a tree with just a tarp for protection.

But through disaster funds, Compassion was able to rebuild temporary houses for 132 families, including Leslie and Felipe’s. Their house has one room with a kitchen in one corner and hammocks hanging from the roof. They plan to construct a more permanent house with government support later in 2019.

A boy in a pink shirt and jean short stands in the interior of a home built from plywood and metal sheets. Colorful hammocks hang from the ceiling, and personal items, like backpacks hang on the walls. There is a small table in one corner.

Felipe and Leslie believe that God answered their prayers through this home.

“I like my house because it is beautiful,” says Leslie. “We have what we need and we do not sleep under a tree anymore. I feel safe!”


We hope touring the homes of these beautiful children in Central America and the Caribbean is a reminder to you of why your support is so very important! Don’t sponsor yet? Learn what a big difference sponsorship can make!

Words and photos by Nora Diaz, Junieth Dinarte, Javier Elis, Yrahisa Mateo, Jonathan Morency and Juana Ordonez Martinez





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