Your support will enable Compassion center staff to work directly with little ones through age 3 and their caregivers, as well as expectant mothers. Your support not only will provide them nourishment and medical assistance for physical health, but it also will help us equip and encourage guardians to maximize each child’s God-given potential — mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
(Courtesy of Compassion International)
(Courtesy of Compassion International)
According to Compassion's website, 24,000 children under the age of five die EVERY DAY from preventable diseases.
Twenty-four THOUSAND.
Children.
Every day.
Preventable.
Preventable.
They don't have to die. Mothers don't have to grieve; their empty arms don't have to ache to hold their child just one more time.
We can do something. We are called to do something:
Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
Those pictures above? I've known each and every one of those kids. They aren't just random, nameless faces. I know their stories*. . . and how much a Child Survival program could have benefited them and their families. Several of these kids were born with hydrocephalus, a neural tube defect that could have been prevented had their mothers had access to better nutrition (which is something that the CSP provides); it also could have been treated at birth, had proper medical care been available. Instead, they've suffered. Many of these beautiful babies are abandoned because their families don't have the resources to care for them and don't have anyone to turn to for help. Many die. This is so unnecessary.
Praise God for ministries like Compassion International who have seen this great need to reach out to children and their families....and are responding. And not only are they responding to the physical needs, but more importantly, they are doing this while sharing the gospel. Because truly, Christ is their greatest need (and ours, for that matter); He is their (and our) Healer and Protector and Provider...and Savior. How incredibly exciting to think that as we partner with Compassion and the Child Survival Programs, we helping to reach children...families...nations for Christ. Don't you want to be a part of that?
Oh good, because you can. Head on over to the left sidebar and click on the Run for Compassion link to donate :) And thanks in advance for your generosity!
* Photo #1: Alain. Abandoned due to severe disabilities. Growing up in an orphanage with great needs but limited resources.
Photo #2: Benson. Severely burned as a baby. Abandoned. Last I heard, living at the home of a missionary amongst several other boys whose families could not care for them.
Photo #3: Nayka. Hydrocephalic. Died at the age of 5. Beautiful girl who loved to sing with her mom.
Photo #4: Ashley. Hydrocephalic. Abandoned as a baby. Now living in an orphanage for handicapped teens and adults.
Photo #5: Jubilee. Her twin sister died of meningitis when they were only a few months old. Jubilee's adoptive sister, my cousin Everly, wrote, "They didn’t have any medications. The cure was in a bottle that is so common, my father [a doctor] carried it in his brief case. They hired someone to breathe for her all night, but she died within twenty-four hours."
Photo #6: Sonson. Hydrocephalic. His family was very close. His parents and older sister traveled across the country to find help for him, using transportation that Americans would only stand for about 30 seconds. Hoping to find medical care, they spent a few months in Port au Prince until their helplessness overwhelmed them, and they returned home without him. He was moved to an orphanage, where he died just a few months later.
