Compassion

As some of you already know, I am an Advocate for Compassion International.  For those of you who don't know, Compassion is a Christian child sponsorship organization that provides healthcare, supplemental food, education, etc. to children in the poorest countries in the World.  My favorite promotional video is this one: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=180351094789

Last night, Compassion put on a special event here in Atlanta that I was very fortunate to be a part of.  They began with the stories of two different teenage girls: the first one raised $40,000 for a program in Kenya and the second was raising awareness and funds for malaria in Africa.  Very inspiring stories.

However, the main speaker for the night was Ricmond Wandera, who is one of the four individuals featured in the video link above.  There are no words to describe the magnitude of his story.

His father was murdered in Uganda when he was 8.  Richmond, his mother, and his six siblings were forced to moved to the slums because they couldn't pay the rent.  During that time, many of his friends died of malaria, diarrhea, and other preventable deaths.   Fortunately for him, he was enrolled in a Compassion project in Uganda where he was sponsored by a 15 year old girl.

After being sponsored, he was singled out for his leadership qualities and became a part of the Leadership Development Program (LDP) where he was able to get a Bachelor's degree in Accounting while being mentored.  He graduated first in his class.  He became the youth leader at the Church that he use to be a sponsored child at.  He is currently one of four LDP graduates who was selected for a special scholarship for a Master's degree at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago.  He currently promotes Compassion and plans to return back to Uganda to be a leader.

He shared that sponsorship changes 3 groups
1.  The sponsored child
2.  The sponsor
3.  The Body of Christ -- he shared how his mother and all 6 of his siblings became a Christian as a result of the act of this one 15 year old girl

I get to do concerts and events from time to time.  Last year I heard the musician Shaun Groves speak on Compassion.  He talked about how his family had decided to move to a smaller house and move from two cars to one car and lived simpler.  It was incredibly convicting to me.  I knew that I should give up my monthly cable bill.  I loved watching Mike and Mike in the morning on ESPN, but that was money being spent that could be going for something way better.  When I thought about it rationally, I knew what the right thing to do was, but I still wanted to hang on to a comfort.  So it took me a couple of months, but I ended up doing it.  It's easy to pretend like it's some great sacrifice, but hearing stories like Richmond's only emphasizes how little I know about sacrifice.

As an advocate, I have an amazing opportunity to present to different groups on what is Compassion is about.  If you know of any group at all that would be open to having a presenter, I would love to come and talk about Compassion.  If you're in another city from me, I can find someone who will be able to come.  And even if only 1 child becomes sponsored as a result, that is at least 1 more life that is saved.