Over 10,000 Children Saved in Uganda

We're still having a lot of Internet problems at this hotel. We even traveled to the Compassion Uganda office today to use their Internet connection. Please pray that our Internet connection will improve. We really need a high speed Internet connection for this trip to be a success.

One of the interesting things we learned today is that approximately 10,000 Compassion children became Christians in the past year! Compassion's ministry is not limited to just the spiritual development of the child though. Compassion also helps with a child's educational, physical and social well-being too. However, the spiritual development of the child is a crucial part of Compassion's child development program.

So far, we have received 54 child sponsorship requests since the trip began. Our goal is to find 500 sponsors for children in need. I would like to encourage you to prayerfully consider sponsoring a child today!

Child Home Visits

Today, we had the priviledge of visiting two child sponsorship projects. However, the highlight of the day has been visiting the homes of some of the sponsored children. The photo above was taken in a slum in Kampala. The little girl above is sponsored by my roommate, Phil Ware. We had to wind down dark alley ways, under laundry lines, over trash and sewage until we found her home. She lives with her mother, grandmother and five siblings. They live in a very small home, which was approximately 12 foot by 10 foot. They do their cooking outside.

At one of the projects the staff told us that approximately 30% of the children had lost one or both parents to AIDS. They estimated that another 30% of the children are infected by AIDS themselves or one of their parents is suffering from AIDS.

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I've been thinking "what if one of my kids were in this same situation?". I would hope and pray that someone would help them in my absence. Compassion's Christian child sponsorship ministry helps with the child's physical, educational, social and most importantly their spiritual needs.

I encourage you to sponsor a child today! You can view photos of childen waiting for a sponsor, including over 400 children from Uganda. You can even search for a child to sponsor by age, gender, country, birthday, special needs and much more. Allow God to work through you. Sponsor a child today!

Off to Uganda...

I'm sitting in the Columbus, Ohio airport this morning waiting to meet up with 14 other Christian bloggers to see Compassion’s ministry to children in need in Uganda. I will be meeting up with the rest of the bloggers at Chicago O'Hare airport later today. We'll arrive back in the United States on February 18th.

We will combine the power of our blogs to educate and inform within our circles of influence about the impoverished children in this country. Read our blogs and get an insiders view of Compassion's work in this African country. Each blogger will tell the story in their own unique way. You can read along as we share the emotion, sights, sounds and smells with you as our travel partner.

Our goal is to find sponsors for 500 children. Learn more about sponsoring a child.

The Compassion Blog is Now Live!

The Compassion blog is completed. Check it out at http://blog.compassion.com/.

Uganda Blog Widget

Check out this widget that Shaun Groves built to support our blogging trip to Uganda. Quite an amazing piece of work. Nice job Shaun!

Add it to your site by clicking on the share link in the bottom left corner of the widget.

Psalm 41:1 in Action

The first part of Psalm 41:1 says "Blessed is he who has regard for the weak". I mentioned in a previous post about a boy in my church that collects toys to distribute to poor children in third world countries. This boy has taken Psalm 41:1 to heart. Check out the photograph of the toys he has collected for my trip to Uganda. He's collected dozens of stuffed animals and unopened toys from fast food restaurants. I'm sure that the children that receive these toys will have a smile on their face when they receive his thoughtful gift. Many children don't have any toys with the exception of the toys they make themselves.

Compassion Wins MySpace Award!

Compassion won the MySpace Impact Award for the January 2008 Poverty Relief category! A big thanks to all of you that voted. Stay tuned to Compassion's MySpace page. We'll be giving members of MySpace the opportunity to vote on how the $10,000 will be used.

Help Compassion Win The MySpace Impact Awards

Compassion has been nominated to receive MySpace’s Impact Award. Each month, MySpace gives the Impact Award to an organization who is making a positive impact on our culture. This month’s category is Poverty Relief and Compassion is one of three organizations to be nominated!

This is a unique and exciting opportunity to raise awareness about the needs of children in poverty and Compassion needs your help! The winner will be determined by online voting. You need to be a MySpace user to vote, and each person is allowed to cast one vote per calendar day through January 24th.

The winner will receive a cash prize of $10,000, as well as featured placement on MySpace for a month, reaching over 75 million active members. In the event that Compassion wins, the prize money will be used to help even more children to break the cycle of poverty.

So here are some ways you can help Compassion win:

1. Pray for this opportunity to raise awareness about children in poverty
2. If you are a MySpace user, visit the MySpace Impact Awards site each day and vote for Compassion.
3. Tell your friends, family and co-workers encouraging them to log on and vote.

Vote early and vote often!

Vote for Compassion here.
Visit Compassion’s MySpace page.

Future Missionary?

An amazing young boy in my church has been collecting toys and candy to give away to children in need around the world. He's only an elementary school student but he has found a way to get the items to children in Africa and Central America. He's even been featured in the local newspaper. My wife thinks he will become a missionary one day.

He's collecting some items for me to take to Uganda. I'll be delivering those items on his behalf. Stay tuned to this blog for more updates. I'll be posting pictures and comments about the distribution of these gifts that he is collecting.

Blog About Compassion and Get a Free Scrap Book

Just blog about your Compassion experience and link to compassion.com. Compassion will send the first 500 people who sign up a free Compassion scrapbook! Learn more about this opportunity.

Historic Uganda Blog Trip

On February 10th, I will be joining 15 Christian bloggers to see Compassion International's work in Uganda. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time any charitable organization has done a trip like this. Read the blogs and get an insiders view of Compassion's work in this African country.

The purpose of this trip is to spread the word about children in need. Our goal is to find sponsors for 500 impoverished children. Learn more about sponsoring a child in need by visiting Compassion's web site. You can search for a child to sponsor by age, gender, country, birthday, special needs and more.

New Design For Compassion's MySpace Site

Check out Compassion's new MySpace design. It includes a background that focuses on children in poverty. It even includes a featured Compassion artist section, which is currently focused on the Christian music group Point of Grace.

Speak Up With Compassion Text Archive

Compassion just recently posted the text archives of their one-minute radio program, Speak up With Compassion, to their site.

Search the Internet and Raise Money for Compassion!

Did you know you can raise money for Compassion whenever you search the Internet. Just visit http://www.goodsearch.com/Default.aspx and select Compassion as your charity of choice and they will donate money to Compassion's ministry. Over $500 has already been raised!

Check out this AIDS Orphan ticker

Every 14 seconds a child is orphaned by AIDS. Don't let another second slip away. Sponsor an AIDS affected child today.

Compassion Christian Child Sponsorship MySpace Group

Check out the Compassion MySpace Group. It's created for people that sponsor children with Compassion. Dave Wells, a Compassion advocate and sponsor, created this group.

Compassion Sunday

We recently held our Compassion Sunday at our church. We attend Delaware Grace Brethren Church in Delaware, OH. This is the third time we have held a Compassion Sunday in our church. Sharon Holst co-ordinated the Compassion Sunday for us and did a great job! We had about 15 packets taken. I'm expecting about 5 to 10 of those children will be sponsored. There are now dozens of people in our church that have sponsored children with Compassion International!

Yuvely's Photos

These are photos of our sponsored child, Yuvely, from Columbia. Over the years she has grown into a wonderful Christian young lady. When she writes to us she says that she prays for our family often. She would like to become an attorney someday.

Yuvely lives with her father and her mother. She is responsible for carrying water, washing clothes and making beds. Her father is sometimes employed as a farmer and her mother is sometimes employed. There are 3 children in the family.

Rolling a hoop, swimming and walking are Yuvely's favorite activities. In middle school her performance is average and she also regularly attends church activities, Bible class and camp.