What Does Compassion Do?

To start with I thought I would do a post about what Compassion does.  

Compassion International has offices all across the world, their main headquarters are in the USA but anyone can sponsor through their regional office or the US office – even if they don’t live in the US! They have sponsorship programs in 26 countries around the world and have released over 2 million children from poverty in Jesus’ name!  I actually live in New Zealand and we have Tear Fund which is the same organisation as Compassion but under a different name, they do great work too! The reason I chose a Compassion sponsored child is when I was looking at their website (for fun  ) I saw a picture of her and she melted my heart and I knew I had to sponsor her! 

Compassion International’s main program is child sponsorship but they also have two other main programs which are the Child Survival Program and the Leadership Development program. For child sponsorship they use a one-to-one model where they match up one sponsor with one child and the money the sponsor gives is used to directly benefit the specific child by doing such things as providing meals, medical care, school supplies (and fees if it is not a government funded school), and most importantly teaching them about how Jesus love them, what he did for them and how they can come to know him themselves!  They also provide a wonderful Christmas celebration for the children each year. The children are not suffering from lack of food as much as they are suffering from a lack of hope and Compassion does not only provide for their temporary, physical needs but also for their emotional and eternal needs! Another great thing about Compassion is that they really emphasise the sponsor-sponsored child relationship and how the relationship built though letter writing is a powerful tool in the fight against poverty. I will talk more about how the relationship changes lives in a future post.:)

The Child Survival Program is targeted at mother’s and babies and gives practical help (food, medicine) as well as training in nutrition, health care, and other useful skills. They also share the good news of Jesus with the mothers and as a result many women have come to know Jesus! Children who are in the this program usually move onto being sponsored children once they turn three  .

The Leadership Development Program is a program for young people who have graduated from the sponsorship program, however it is a much more specialised program and only a handful of young adults are chosen to participate in it each year. The sponsorship they receive allows them to attend university and while their they also a Compassion based course in leadership and a bible college qualification as well! The young adults that are picked are aspiring leaders who are very involved with helping out in their communities. The LDP allows these young people a wonderful opportunity to reach their leadership potential and be even more of a help in their communities!

These are the three main programs Compassion is involved with but they also help out with disaster relief – like the 2010 Haiti earthquake or the terrible typhoon that has just hit the Philippines! They also have an unsponsored child’s fund for providing for the children while they wait for a sponsor. If you want to help out either of these things then you can donate any amount of money and donate once off or on a monthly basis. If you want to support one of their main programs it is only $46NZ/38US a month for child sponsorship or $24NZ/$20 a month for the Child Survival Program. The Leadership Development Program is significantly more but still a great investment into a young person’s life, it costs $361NZ/$300US.
Change a life today and SET A CHILD FREE FROM POVERTY IN JESUS’ NAME! 

P.s. check out this 4min promotional video clip which is about Compassion child sponsorship and features some people who used to be sponsored children! 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lW25nhiEaY