Charity

A dollar a day

As most of you probably know I have a heart for the work that Compassion International does.  They match children in poverty with sponsors around the world and for $38 a month, the sponsor provides a way out of poverty for their child.  The child has access to the gospel, education, food if needed, medical care and training, and love and guidance.  Compassion’s thinking is that changing a child and giving them a chance will change the community.

I signed up to be a Compassion Blogger a while ago but recently someone new took over this program, Brianne, and we’ve already received a blogging assignment.  So you will hopefully be hearing about Compassion more frequently now.  While Compassion is providing me and other bloggers topics to blog about, please know that I only blog about it because I truly believe that this is a great way to be involved and live out the Great Commission.  And for every topic that I blog about, I do my own research about the topic to form my own opinions.

Brianne sent us an email yesterday about Missions in Action.  They are an organization that is traveling the world to highlight problems and how people can help solve the problem.  They will be producing webisodes about these situations to help spread the word.  Their first episode is from the Philippines.  In the video below they ride through the flooded slums in the outskirts of Manila and visit a Compassion center and homes of Compassion children and children waiting on a sponsor.  Please watch, you’ll learn a lot about Compassion.

There were a lot of things that touched me in the video.
The little girl waiting on a sponsor.
The older sister who gets to go to school because her younger sister is sponsored and so her Mom can spend her money on her.
The little boy swimming in the polluted waters because he didn’t have anywhere else to play.
And the fact that one of the only two jobs available to these adults is that of a bike rider ferrying people around and that they do that job for one dollar a day.

Did you hear that? One dollar a day. 

It made me think about all the little things that I spend my money on that cost more than one dollar a day.  To be honest, I just ran some errands and picked up a hamburger while I was out that cost four times what one person with two children makes in a day.

And while $38 a month seems like a large amount on the onset.  Especially for those just starting out or in college.  That’s only 9 hamburgers like the one I just ate.  That I bought without even thinking about because I knew I had a couple dollars in the bottom of my purse and change to cover it.

I’m pretty sure that I am going to start looking at a single dollar and what it can buy a lot differently.  Compared with the reality that it is someone’s daily wage, my hamburger doesn’t sound so tempting.  And the Sonic drink that I pick up on the way to pick Charlotte up from school almost sounds bad.  There’s no way to get those dollars to that particular woman but I can save those dollars instead of spending them and donate them in many ways to Compassion.  I could sponsor a child.  Or donate to the Unsposored child fund so that little girl can continue to receive help while she waits on a sponsor.  Or buy a chicken or a cow.  Or so many other ways that I could give in a one time way.

If you want to know more about my experience with Compassion just send me an email (talesofapeanut at gmail dot com).  I’d love to talk with you about it.  And if you can’t donate or get involved, please pray.  These children need encouragement and love so much and your prayers will never return void.

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2 Comment

  1. Reply
    Andrea
    November 19, 2011 at 12:35 pm

    Compassion is such a great program! Glad you’re teaming up with them! ~Andrea

  2. Reply
    brimichelle
    November 28, 2011 at 10:45 pm

    Thanks for much for sharing this post and your heart, Jennifer! It got me thinking about all the things my “spare change” went towards today (and by the way, I love grabbing a Sonic drink while running errands). Thanks for the call to action!

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