just when my head and all of its grey matter gets consumed by thoughts about pastors and cars and planes and houses and what i am going to bring to my family’s thanksgiving celebration and should i attempt another cake this year and i’m happy both the mavs play tonight as well as 30 rock and the office and my 20″ screen looks so much better when there aren’t fingerprints on it and how much i didn’t like rilo kiley but now i do and where is my ipod exactly anyway…?
i am stopped dead in my tracks, my brain locks up, my heart crumples. my friend shaun is in ethiopia right now. read about his trip here. watch his video below:
chris and i sponsor a little boy in ethiopia named abdukerim wejo. i wonder if he’s in this video somewhere? i can’t wait to meet him someday. and somehow my $32/month doesn’t seem like enough when i just spent that much on makeup yesterday.
do you sponsor a child?
not yet, but i am getting my finances in order so that in the near future i will be able to.
you always have a way of bringing things back into perspective. rock on!
Wow. Thanks for posting that.
Good… but very humbling.
Wow I agree with you totally!
We are so blessed and live in a world where poverty is fought from a source of abundance. We need to fight from the sight of someone starving not someone choosing to eat at Mcd’s for the third time today. Pray for those hurting and give more than we take.
An the honest truth is that I am sitting in my schools Caf. writing this after stuffing my face with stuffing and thinking about the 4 shows I have waiting for me on my Tivo. Wow, I am apart of the hipocracy, and the honest truth today is not the day for change. It is just the talk that I embrace, just like the rest of the world. I pray for less talk and more ACTION!
We sponsor three wonderful kids in Haiti, Mexico and India.
We have three small kids of our own as well and it’s been a wonderful way to teach our kids about the rest of the world and to help them realize how very much they have.
It’s weird. Sometimes I feel embarrassed to say that we sponsor 3 kids. Like that’s special or something. Like giving up $96 dollars a month to save lives is noteworthy. We spend that on just eating out every month.
$96 isn’t all that much for anyone who has internet access and a cell phone.
I want to give more but I also find myself forgetting about the need and then just thinking about the things I “need” – like a wireless mouse or a digital picture frame.
I’m thankful for people like Brian and Shaun who travel to places where need is real and remind us what it looks like.
My friend and I decided to partner together to sponsor just last night, as we’re both students and don’t have steady jobs – our boy’s name is Habineza, we’re calling him “Habi”. He’s seven and he lives in Uganda, where he plays soccer and gathers firewood.
Thanks for posting the video! It just made my day!
My love for South Africa, Ethiopia and all of Africa knows no bounds.
It’s awesome that you guy’s sponsor a child through compassion.
I can’t wait to do it!!
Yeah, I do. I work for a UK charity called Toybox, which supports indigenous organisations rescuing street children in Latin America.
http://www.toybox.org
My child’s name is Esly. She’s 6, and because I work in Communications, I can email Guatemala anytime and see how she’s doing. She used to live one the streets, but about 8 months ago she moved into one of our homes, called Salem, with 12 sisters and two house parents who love her.
Awesome.
I love Africa. I can hook you up with some kids! If you need some info go here: http://www.onelifechild.org/
Well said, Anne!
My wife, Joy, and I sponsor a young girl in Mozambique through World Vision. Her name is Sidia, she will be 11 next month, and we would love it if the Lord opened the doors for us to visit her…
we sponsor one little boy, but it’s not enough…
Thanks for the reminder Anne! I was encouraged as I was talking to the youth minister of the church I belonged to in college. It is in a very poor area of the town (there are 5 housing complexes within 3 miles of the church). His myspace bulletin said not to forget money for “your little brother Oscar”. When I inquired, he said their youth group had sponsored a kid and the students were doing the sponsoring!! How cool is it that kids who have very little can give to help a kid who has even less?!
Hi Anne.
Our family sponsors two kids. One is a 13 year-old girl in Guatemala named Nancy. We sponsor her through Compassion. The other is a 5 year-old kid in Ohio named Andrew (actually it’s a FULL sponsorship…we went down to Guatemala to get him…now he’s a full-fledged part of our family). I want to sponsor (and adopt) more. There are so many kids that need good homes…and so many of us who have so much to give.
Yes, Dilson Birtell from Columbia. He’s a cool kid. We’ve been sponsoring him through Compassion since the mid 90′s…it’s been fun to see him grow over the years and turn into a teenager. He’s almost out of the program, we’ll see him through.
Thanks for the compassion facebook invite.
Very humbling, it is so funny how far removed we are from those types of situations. There is a great book titles A long way gone by ishmael beah though it doesn’t deal with poverty like this it does deal with a Plite in Africa great read…great video too. It really make you feel like you have little to complain about here in the U.S. doesn’t it?
We sponsor a couple kids in India at an orphanage, but I’m excited to sponsor a new child this season with my daughter. She’s six and I’m having her pick the child and hoping she will build another friendship. We’re linking through Mike Foster’s Junky Car Club website (junkycarclub.com) to Compassion for the sponsorship.
There are lots of great organizations out there. One is Compassion International. After spending some time with Wess Stafford, the President, I honestly think he is about as close to Jesus as anyone I’ve ever met. Love their discipline, organization and financial integrity. They rock!
Thanks Anne!
I sponsor four kids.
One in Bangladesh, one in India, one in Thailand, and one in Nicaragua.
All through Compassion.
I love them all and want to visit them someday.
Hey Anne,
I’ve read your blog for the past few weeks…Good stuff.
I just returned from Africa (S. Africa & Zimbabwe). Your $32 really means so much to a local African child. I had no clue they had to pay to attend school :(
Most live on $1-2 a day..So in essence your $32 can be a 50% increase to their monthly budget. Crazy right!
That’s some powerful stuff.
My Compassion boy is named Jason and he lives in the Dominican Republic. He writes the sweetest letters. I look forward to meeting him someday.