The Compassion Experience

I still remember clearly when I was at junior high in Indonesia, visiting a friend's tiny house or shack, where she shared with her parents and 3 sisters. The experience changed my perspective and taught me to be grateful and care more about others. 

I was so excited when I heard about the Compassion Experience, an exhibit that brings visitors into the lives of children in the third world countries. 

Group picture before getting in. The Compassion volunteers were so patient and helpful. They gave each one of us an I-pod to listen to the story as we walk through the site.


A quote on the wall:


First, we visited Julian's house in Uganda. Julian lived with her mom in the slums. We got to hear loud noise. Sometimes drunk people were knocking on the thin walls at night.


Life was hard for Julian and her mom, who work hard as seamstress 

Thankfully, Julian got into Compassion program and was sponsored by a family in Oregon. 
Because of the family's faithful donation Julian's life was changed. She even got her master degree in Social Work. 

In each country, Compassion has a center, where the sponsored kids can go after school to learn and play safely with other kids. They also get nutritious food or personal hygiene, and being nourish spiritually. 


Our kids were stunned to see the old books and toys that these kids have. Yet, we also saw the video how the kids at the center were happily play despite the humble condition.
 
I asked Wes if the ball is the same with what he has at home and he answered. "No, this ball is dirty."


The second home we went to was Brinda's on this video:


Brinda's father left the family since she was young. Brinda' mom worked hard to provide for herself and her sick grandma but no matter how hard she works, it just not enough. Brinda had to quit school because her mother cannot pay for it.

Thankfully, her teacher told her about Compassion program. She applied and got accepted. She then can go back to school.
 

Sadly, around that time, her grandma condition got worst and had to be hospitalized. The family began praying to Jesus to heal her and he answered their prayers.

The shelves at Brinda's family room. Looks, she has the same Bible like ours!

Now, Brinda is working to serve and be a blessing to others as her sponsor had been a blessing for her. 


The third home we visited was Ruben's in Bolivia. This is the bed that Ruben shared with the rest of his family. 


This is his mother's kitchen. 




a corner in his house:


Ruben and her mom had to run away from his drunken and abusive dad.


He started working as shoe polishers to help her mom. Most days, they only eat once because they don't have enough money to buy food.


As other children, Ruben also found hope and help through Compassion. 

Someone told me some years ago the different between pity and compassion. Pity is the word we use when we feel sorry about someone or something, but compassion is the word we use when feel sorry about someone or something and do something about it.

We sponsor some kids already but we wanted to sponsor another little one.  This time the kids got to choose which child we are going to sponsor. We ended up choosing the one who has similar name as our own.


 

Visit Compassion International website if  you are called to change a child' story today.