When One Child Changes An Entire Community
Remember Whitney Houston’s song “Greatest Love of All?” The pre-Bobby Brown Whitney. That girl had some pipes!
The song starts with one of the greatest clichés of all time: “I believe the children are our future…” I guess it’s a true statement, even if it’s overused and abused (hence a cliché).
This past week, I traveled to Ecuador with Compassion International. As I left the Atlanta airport (after a 2+ hour delay, of course), I found myself singing Whitney’s song while searching for an open overhead bin for my slightly over packed carry-on luggage.
Compassion International is the real deal. This amazing organization provides hope for children, families, communities, and even countries primarily through their child sponsorship program. They do other things surrounding children, as well (rescuing babies and mothers, developing future leaders, etc.), but the sponsorship program is the flagship of Compassion. You should learn more about Compassion and sponsor a few children. Currently, there are nearly 1.5 million sponsored children around the world. Many more are receiving benefits through the local churches Compassion engages. And many more still need sponsors (hint, hint).
Before I left, I assumed I would experience impoverished communities in the remote areas of Ecuador where Compassion is working through local churches to help individual children. And I did see that. But what I didn’t expect to see was the impact supporting one child has on those surrounding each child.