Compassionate Journal

Swing Set Prayers

2010-04-12T12:16:00.000-07:00

She wants to be a doctor.
6 year old Igoki loves to swing.
And she prays that she can become a doctor.
I remember being young and playing on a swing set. And I remember being young and having dreams of what I wanted to be when I grew up.
Alas, I never grew up to be Roger Staubach.
But, thanks to Compassion, I can help Igoki grow up to be whatever she wants to be.
That's the beauty of sponsorship. A little girl in Africa sitting on a swingset, praying that she will grow up to be a doctor.
And God using me to help make her swingset prayers come true.

Here are three more young children needing answered prayers as they have been waiting over 6 months for a sponsor.

Panai is a 9 year old boy from Kenya:
http://www.compassion.com/sponsor_a_child/waystosponsor/ChildBio.htm?Child=KE6310228

Jose is a 14 year old boy from Colombia:
http://www.compassion.com/sponsor_a_child/waystosponsor/ChildBio.htm?Child=CO2040517

Leo is a 16 year old boy from Indonesia:
http://www.compassion.com/sponsor_a_child/waystosponsor/ChildBio.htm?Child=IO9510359

2010-04-08T10:05:00.000-07:00

I don't remember where we were. Other in a public eating place.
We were on some kind of youth trip. I was in high school at the time. And, as usual, I had done something and was being chastised for it. The pastor and his wife had several of us standing around their table and they were just giving it to me good. I don't remember what it was I did but I do remember that that was the last time I had anything to do with that youth group again until a new pastor was in our church.
Even today, I have many problems walking into that church and looking inside of a building and remembering the many times as a teenager that I was belittled, bullied, scowled at, chastised and otherwise made to feel stupid and useless inside that church alone.
Last night, during a Bible study on freedom, I brought that out for the first time ever. I let others know about this and found out I wasn't alone. The damage of feeling worthless as a kid can last a lifetime. My self-esteem has been a fragile piece of glass for as long as I can remember. Alcohol and drug abuse are memories of my wandering to find some kind of escape from my self-loathing.
But, they say that God can use evil and turn it for good. Wess Stafford's Too Small To Ignore is a highly recommended book and God has revealed through Wess' writings why Compassion has always tugged at me.
I thought a long time ago that I wanted to be a youth pastor. Well, I was close. I still do want to minister to teenagers. But God had a different idea on how he wanted me to do it.
I will be using most of my writings to emphasize teenagers who have been waiting more than six months to receive a sponsor. Like 17 year old Masab from Kenya. http://www.compassion.com/sponsor_a_child/waystosponsor/ChildBio.htm?Child=KE5040280
Teenagers have had sponsors and are now sponsorless. Many stop sponsoring for many reasons but the loss surely hurts and then not getting a new sponsor may make the teenager feel like he or she is a bad kid and unwanted.
The feeling of rejection can grow like a cancer and take ownership of its victim for a lifetime. But all it takes is one person to free a teenager from that prison of rejection.

Quitting The Quitting

2010-03-30T14:26:00.000-07:00

I ain't never been much good at finishing what I have started. Never got my college degree. Never wrote that best selling novel I planned to do 20 years ago. I've changed more jobs than I can count on my fingers and toes. Not to mention the numerous times I have stood in front of a church congregation and swore that this would be the time I really was going to give my life to Jesus and follow Him from here on out.
Uh huh.
I don't like giving testimony that glorifies the things I have done that bring shame to the Word of God. Also, I don't want to make it sound like I blame others for my failures.
I attended, if that's the right word, the LifeChurch Online service this past Sunday. The message was about Finishing the Race. Something I have failed at doing for 43 years. But I want to finish this race. I want to finish what I have started with Compassion Sponsorship.
I almost didn't. This past summer, I allowed three months to go by without makign a payment. I was on the brink of allowing my sponsorship of Fernando to expire. It would have been easy to do so.
But I couldn't. Not only because Fernando needed it but because I needed it too. I needed to see this through. So, I said, "God, please don't let me screw this up."
Not the most eloquent prayer, I know, but it must have been good enough for God for here I am now with not only Fernando but also three others.
The world's worst finisher has four children now depending on him to finish the race he has started.
Some people who have known me for my whole life would be waiting for me to quit on this too. I can't really say that I blame them. I certainly have never given them reason to think otherwise.
In some ways, I think I can understand the poverty mindset that says "just give up. You can't do it. Why bother trying?" I can understand because I deal with those doubts all the time. Even as I type this, I hear the whispers that say "you can say this now, but I know you and you will quit."
So, this week, I am vowing to write each of my sponsored children and encourage them to finish the race. Let them know that they can finish the race.
If you sponsor a child, would you consider writing them an encouraging note this week that is similar in theme? Let's encourage them to finish the race.

-----

So many children are still waiting for a sponsor. Some, 25 years ago, I was sure that I would become a Youth Minister. Well, that never happened. Or maybe it did? For, each time we sponsor a child, we are ministering to the youth of this world. God has put a special emphasis on the unsponsored teenagers in my heart. Teens like Nagaraj from India. A 15 year old boy who has been waiting over 6 months to be sponsored. Can we pray that Nagaraj and others like him find a sponsor soon?

http://www.compassion.com/sponsor_a_child/waystosponsor/ChildBio.htm?Child=IN6510931

Education in Bolivia

2008-12-05T04:38:00.000-08:00

The differences between life in the US and life in Bolivia are striking. But, wherever one lives, one thing always remains the same. The better one's education, the better chance one has to provide a better life for himself or herself as well as for one's family.
This is very true in the USA. College graduates will make a much greater salary (unless one is fortunate enough to play professional sports and excel at them) than a high school dropout. And the same holds true in other parts of the world. This is why sponsorships of all types...be it Compassion or another organization...stress the need for educating these young children.
The following is from Compassion's website and is a synopsis on the education system in Bolivia:

"The typical school year runs from February through November. Eight years are required for primary school then another four years are necessary to graduate from high school.

In the face of poverty and long-term political instability in Bolivia, the educational attitude of Bolivians is positive. People view education as a tool to improve their incomes and a way to improve their quality of life.

Even though an education is a basic requirement to get a better job, it is still considered a privilege to have an educated person in the family. Those who are educated enjoy better health care for themselves and their children. They also have better possibilities to improve their incomes and to obtain a job. Almost 60 percent of the population has no job. Additionally, 15 percent of those who work are overqualified and underpaid for the jobs they are doing.

Many Bolivians who attend school only go for six years. In recent years, many adult educators have been working toward social justice, focusing students on economic opportunities while maintaining their indigenous cultures. The process, particularly for women and minorities, is complex due to the socio-cultural context in which the learning takes place. However, when the educational model takes daily life within the local cultures into account, true learning and change can be seen."

Tomorrow I'll give a quick look at the religious culture in Bolivia.

A Brief History of Bolivia

2008-12-04T07:00:00.000-08:00

Recently, there was news in Bolivia of protests and political unrest and, as one views Bolivia's history, one sees that this has been pretty much status quo for that country. The following is from Compassion's website on the history of the country Fernando is growing up in:

"Beginning in the second century B.C., the Tiwanakan culture developed at the southern end of Lake Titicaca. This culture, centered on and named for the great city of Tiwanaku, developed advanced architectural and agricultural techniques before it disappeared around 1200, perhaps because of extended drought. In about 1450, the Quechua-speaking Incas entered the area of the Bolivian highlands and added it to their empire. They controlled the area until the Spanish conquest in 1525.

During most of the Spanish colonial period, this territory was called "Upper Peru" or "Charcas" and was under the authority of the Viceroy of Lima. Local governments came from the Audiencia de Charcas located in Chuquisaca (La Plata, modern Sucre). Bolivian silver mines produced much of the Spanish empire's wealth, and Potosi, site of the famed Cerro Rico ("Rich Mountain"), was for many years the largest city in the Western Hemisphere. As Spanish royal authority weakened during the Napoleonic wars, sentiment against colonial rule grew. Independence was proclaimed in 1809, but 16 years of struggle followed before the establishment of the republic, named for Simon Bol?r, on Aug. 6, 1825.

Independence did not bring stability. For nearly 60 years, coups and short-lived constitutions dominated Bolivian politics. Bolivia's weakness was demonstrated during the War of the Pacific (1879-83), when it lost its seacoast and the adjoining rich nitrate fields to Chile.

An increase in the world price of silver brought Bolivia a measure of relative prosperity and political stability in the late 1800s. During the early part of the 20th century, tin replaced silver as the country's most important source of wealth. A succession of governments controlled by the economic and social elites followed laissez-faire capitalist policies through the first third of the century.

The period from 1952 to 1964 was marked by significant economic and social reforms in the country and a new constitution was adopted in 1967; however, civil unrest continues to dominate Bolivia's politics and the country remains one of the poorest in Latin America. In December 2005, Bolivians elected Movement Toward Socialism leader Evo Morales, who vowed to change the country's traditional political class and empower the nation's poor majority."

And, as I have been reading, there are many whom are calling for the removal of Morales and Bolivia is faced with instability once again. These are the problems many children in poverty face. Their own governments are too unstable to ever be able to put a plan together to fight this problem.

That's why Compassion needs sponsors. Because there is no one else who can help Fernando and other children.

About Bolivia

2008-12-03T10:17:00.000-08:00

This next chart also comes from the Compassion website and it offers a comparison of life in Bolivia as opposed to life in the United States:
The first column, of course, represents Bolivia and the second column represents USA.

Capital	La Paz	Washington, D.C.
Population	9,119,152 (July 2007 estimate)	301,139,947 (July 2007 estimate)
Languages	Spanish (official), Quechua (official), Aymara (official)	English 82.1%, Spanish 10.7%, other Indo-European 3.8%, Asian and Pacific island 2.7%, other 0.7% (2000 census)
Religions	Christian: Roman Catholic 95%, Protestant (Evangelical Methodist) 5%	Christian 78% (Protestant 52%, Roman Catholic 24%, Morman 2%), Jewish 1%, Muslim 1%, other 10%, none 10% (2002 estimate)
Literacy rate Definition: Age 15 and over can read and write.	Male: 93.1% Female: 80.7% (2001 estimate)	Male: 99% Female: 99% (2003 estimate)
Percentage of population using improved drinking water sources	Urban: 95% Rural: 68% (2004 estimate)	Urban: 100% Rural: 100% (2004 estimate)
Percentage of population using adequate sanitation facilities	Urban: 60% Rural: 22% (2004 estimate)	Urban: 100% Rural: 100% (2004 estimate)
Climate	Varies with altitude; humid and tropical to cold and semiarid	Mostly temperate but tropical in Hawaii and Florida, arctic in Alaska, semiarid in the Great Plains west of the Mississippi River and arid in the Great Basin of the southwest; low winter temperatures in the northwest are warmed occasionally in January and February by chinook winds from the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains.
Percentage of population urbanized	64% (2005 estimate)	81% (2005 estimate)
Life expectancy	Male: 63.53 years Female: 68.97 years (2007 estimate)	Male: 75.15 years Female: 80.97 years (2007 estimate)
Under-5 mortality rate	65/1,000 (2005 estimate)	7/1,000 (2005 estimate)
GDP per capita	$3,100 (2006 estimate)	$43,800 (2006 estimate)
Monetary unit	boliviano (BOB)	U.S. dollar (USD)
Number of people living with HIV/AIDS	4,900 (2003 estimate)	950,000 (2003 estimate)
Percentage of population living below $1 a day	23% (1994-2004 study)	Data not available

Sources for facts: The World Factbook, 2007; The State of the World's Children, 2007

I will post more about Bolivia's history and other information next time.

Fernando's Community

2008-12-02T10:21:00.000-08:00

One of the things Compassion does is to educate the children. But, Compassion also educates us. I am learning about a place that I did not know about just a couple of weeks ago. A place called Minero in Bolivia.
The following chart comes from the Compassion website and tells more about Minero:

Population:	13,000
Name Of Major City:	Santa Cruz
Distance from Major City:	87 km north of Santa Cruz
Information last updated:	2/20/2006
Environment
Home floor typically made of:	Brick/Block/Cement
Home walls typically made of:	Brick/Block/Cement
Home roof typically made of:	Tin/Corrugated Iron
Warmest Month:	January
Avg. Temperature Of Warmest Month:	37C
Coolest Month:	July
Avg. Temperature Of Coolest Month:	14C
Climate:	Humid
Terrain:	Plains/Flat land
Planting Month(s):	October, November, December
Rainy Month(s):	January, February, November, December
Harvest Month(s):	March, April
Hunger Month(s):	June, July, August
Illness Month(s):	January, February, June, July
Economic
Average Family monthly income:	$87
Primary Occupation:	Plantation Worker

I also want to draw your attention to the banner below and the link to the right for the One Dollar Give. For the entire month of December, another blogger will have chosen a charity and is asking each person to donate one dollar to that charity that day. Yesterday's charity was Compassion. Today's was a homeless shelter and mission in Bakersfield. You don't have to donate every day. And if you miss a day, you can always go back and find the charity of that day if you like.
I hope you will visit the One Dollar Give and at least give it a look.
Tomorrow I will post more about Bolivia from the information on Compassion's website.

Fernando's Program

2008-11-29T06:36:00.000-08:00

One of the things about Compassion is the information it gives you, not only about the child, but also about the program the child will be involved in. Pardon the cut and paste I will be doing, but the Compassion website gives a nice bit of information on what Fernando will be involved in doing.
Fernando is enrolled in the Nazareth Student Center, which has been opened since March 13, 2006. Less than three years, very infant in terms of Compassion projects ages. The website says this about the program:

"Your sponsored child lives on the plains of Minero, home to approximately 13,000 residents. Typical houses are constructed of cement with corrugated iron roofs. The regional diet consists of bananas, bread, cassava, beef, plantains and rice. Common health problems in this are include malnutrition, parasites and colds. Most adults in Minero work on plantations or as taxi drivers and earn the equivalent of $87 per month. This community needs employment opportunities, libraries and recreational facilities. Your sponsorship allows the staff of Nazareth Student Center to provide your sponsored child with Bible teaching, hygiene education, recreational activities, development of artistic abilities and academic support. In addition, Bible teaching and hygiene education are available for non-schooled children. Thirty percent of the children in this project are not attending school because they are underage. The center staff will also provide meetings and opportunities for project involvement for the parents or guardians of your sponsored child."

The school year begins in February, so it looks like I came along at the right time as he can be a sponsored child, established into the program as soon as school starts. Next time, I'll share more from the website about the community Fernando lives in.

The Beginning

2008-11-26T13:52:00.000-08:00

It started yesterday. That would be November 25, 2008. That was the day I decided it was time.
Time for my 41 years on this planet to count for something other than being a sports nuttah. Not that I won't still make time for my addiction to the National Football League, mind you, but that there would be more to life than that. Much more to life than that.
That was when I invested my $32 a month into Compassion. Into a 7-year old boy named Fernando from Bolivia.
Today, I have spent some time reading other blogs connected with Compassion. Blogs by Marlboro Man, Mary, Melanie, Nick, Tim and Shaun concerning their visit to the Dominican Republic. I read about the little girl who didn't smile. I read about the girl whom had to share a dress with other girls because she had no clothes to take her picture in. Things that seem so inconceivable in the US of A.
But mostly I read about people whom were forever changed by their trip to another place that most of us can't even comprehend that exists.
So, after sending a quick e-mail to let Fernando know he had a sponsor, I thought that I, too, could begin to blog about Compassion. About my own sponsorship. About my own child I sponsor. And, as I share this story, I hope to be an inspiration to others. To do. Sponsor a child. Donate at a food bank. Give blood. Do. Something. Anything.
For this is the greatest lesson that the bloggers from the Dominican Republic trip have to teach us all. It takes someone's actions to give someone else hope.
We can't do everything but we can do something. And if everyone does do something, then everything can get done.