Paper Bridges » Compassion International

Doubt the impact of Compassion International? Watch this

Monica Brand — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 14:19:06 +0000

Compassion Friday from brian crow on Vimeo.

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Walls

Monica Brand — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 19:35:59 +0000

Spring cleaning today. I wiped clean the walls in the family room, now free from a winter’s worth of wood stove dust. The walls, butter yellow, a color I painstakingly selected years ago. In the hallway, a dime-sized hole in that yellow Sheetrock.

Each time I walk past that blip of an imperfection, my spirit growls. Stupid hole, don’t you dare get bigger.

So what do I do with this?

This is Kolkata, India.

Suddenly a little hole in the wall is not such a big deal.

Who lives there? Is there a mom like me, cleaning, wiping away grime from walls that are nothing like mine?

What does she think of her walls made of cloth and sticks?

Lord, help me…

Proverbs 31:8-9

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.

Image source

Do something…

Follow Compassion Bloggers in India

Monica Brand — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 01:12:22 +0000

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in India?

What about in horrific poverty, in an Indian city famous for it’s slums and suffering?

Bloggers traveling with Compassion International will describe those living conditions when they travel to Kolkata, (formally Calcutta) this week. It’s my job to tell you how you can follow their journey, to learn about the ministry of Compassion International.

1. A snippet of every post, every picture and video will be uploaded to this page: http://www.compassionbloggers.com/india (I’ll also have this link on my sidebar.)

2. A Facebook group has been created not only to generate prayer and encouragement for the bloggers, but also to share links to posts, pictures and videos: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=53591862382&ref=ts

3. A few of the team will be attempting to use Twitter while in India. The addresses are:

http://www.twitter.com/theshaungroves

http://www.twitter.com/spencesmith

http://www.twitter.com/flowerdust

The hashtag #CompassionIndia will be used to mark every tweet. Searching for that on Twitter (or Tweetgrid and Tweetdeck) should bring up all of the tweets.

4. This is the link to the trip’s RSS feed. Subscribing to the feed will send a snippet of every post from every blogger to your RSS reader: http://feeds2.feedburner.com/compassionbloggers

5. If you’d prefer to follow the trip by visiting each blog here are their addresses:

Bloggers:
Pete Wilson – http://www.withoutwax.tv
Melissa Fitzpatrick – http://livingproofministries.blogspot.com
Angela Smith – http://www.audreycaroline.blogspot.com
Robin Dance – http://www.pensieve.typepad.com

Photography:
Keely Scott – http://www.keelymariescott.com

Videography:
Anne Jackson – http://www.flowerdust.net

Leaders:
Spence Smith – http://www.spencesmith.com
Patricia Jones – http://jonesbones5.com
Shaun Groves – http://www.shaungroves.com/shlog

Sorry for the lack of hyperlinks. I just can’t do it all! (Shocking, I know.) Copy and paste, baby.

Also – and I wanted to leave this last because it’s the most important – don’t forget to pray for the safety of the travelers and that many children will be sponsored as a result of their journey.

This week

Monica Brand — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:25:33 +0000

I anticipate being on the quiet side here this week. With the A Woman Inspired conference taking up most of my day, I’m going to focus my attention there. I’ll probably write thoughts about it at the end of the week. Please leave me your own links about the conference in the comments when I publish my post.

What else? My Twitter and Facebook fast has come to an end, now that Lent is over. I have lots to say about that experience too, mostly regarding Twitter. Those thoughts may find themselves here before the end of the week. Next week at the latest.

And lastly, I had the most wonderful time at my first regional conference for Compassion International advocates this past weekend. Must blog about that too.

Lots to write about… many thoughts coming. But first the kids, life in general and all those little tasks away from the computer. I’ll be back…

Don’t blog about Global Food Crisis Day

Monica Brand — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 16:50:19 +0000

Don’t read the stats. Don’t look at the images of starving children. Don’t read books like this.

Unless you want to mess with your head and heart and have your nice comfy worldview twisted around, shaken like a spiritual heartquake.

I’m telling you – don’t get involved with Compassion International because these little ones suck you in and you start loving people you’ve never met, caring about what happens to children with distended bellies and haunted eyes.

You chew on verses like “let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth,” and “Lord, when did we see you hungry… and did not help you?”, while you eat your nice London Broil and broccoli. When you scrape uneaten food into the garbage, you see the faces of children that search landfills searching for anything to eat.

Don’t love, don’t care and sure as heck don’t get angry at the apathy around you, because not everyone will be affected like you (lots of hard hearts surfing blogs too.)

Whatever you do – don’t pray for passion or for something to do with your little blog. Don’t ask to see folks like Jesus does.

Don’t give in to that desire to be part of hope. That’s what Global Food Crisis Day is all about, after all. Hope.

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Do you have hope? I do. Together we can rescue the hungry from what the UN World Food Programme calls “a silent tsunami.”

Donating to the Global Food Crisis Fund:

- Provides food vouchers to children and families needing immediate relief.
- Provides seeds and agricultural tools so that families can grow their own food as well as earn extra income.
- Provides supplemental nutrition services at Compassion-assisted centers around the world.

If you are reading this in RSS, you can follow the links above to donate or come over to Paper Bridges to use the little widget in the sidebar. It’s a very pretty widget, you may want one for your own blog too.

Let’s not lose hope in what we can do or turn away to ignore those Jesus wants us to serve in love.

So the poor have hope,

and injustice shuts its mouth.

Job 5:16

I dare you to look

Monica Brand — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 05:01:41 +0000

Please visit the Compassion International sponsor page for another act of daring love. Or make a gift to the Global Food Crisis Fund.

On behalf of the forgotten children of the world – thank you.

Indonesian children: surviving on the street

Monica Brand — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 11:00:31 +0000

Sundays. I’ve never been much for posting on Sunday, preferring to take a break from all things Internet related. But now I think a better use of this space on a Sunday is to point to a problem that we should be giving loads of attention and linkage.

Hence this video.

This is the link to sponsor a child through Compassion International. Or if Compassion International with it’s passionate Christian message isn’t your thing, I suspect there are plenty of other organizations helping Indonesia. Go find them and do something.

If you are wondering, “Why Indonesia?”, you can read about my connection to the country here and here.

Compassion bloggers in Dominican Rebublic Nov. 2 – 7

Monica Brand — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 03:18:58 +0000

It’s almost 11 pm and I’m sitting here crafting my Most Awesome Blog Post Ever (wow! seriously, I am!), and I realized my wisdom will not be ready for today, so I better come up with something else, fast.

You know – this whole NaBloPoMo thingy. This is Day 2 and already I’m ready to quit.

Thankfully, Compassion International will save me from my lack of blog posting organizational skills.

Here’s the facts: a handful of bloggers are right NOW in the Dominican Republic witnessing children in poverty. They’ll be blog reporting all week about what they experience. Follow this link to hear what they have to say, or you can click on the pretty blue button in the side bar. And if you are so moved to action, and I pray you are, go HERE to sponsor a child.

Thank you. I will now return to my mad blog crafting. Come back tomorrow to see what it is…

Six things you can do today to help fight poverty

Monica Brand — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 01:36:49 +0000

In my previous posts, I talked of the facts of poverty, with images that help make give a human face to the numbers, and I listed many Bible verses that specifically address the Lord’s concern for the poor.

Now you may be thinking: Okay, I get it. There is suffering and children are starving and dying. I had no idea there were so many scriptures that talk about poverty and what our response should be. What can I do? I’m just one person in the world.

Excellent question! Here are some ideas to help us in the war against poverty:

Six things you can do today to help fight poverty:

Pray. I believe in an all-powerful, loving God who listens to the cry of His people. I pray for them, especially the littlest ones that seem to suffer the worst. I also pray that the Lord would use me to help and to give me opportunities.

Give. Yes, money helps, but it’s not the only thing to do. Throwing money at a problem is a typical knee-jerk reaction for us Americans. How much can I donate to make the guilt go away? We need to give out of love, not because it’s easy and fast to write out a check. Giving your time may be a bigger sacrifice to make – I sure know it can be for me. Let’s give our time and energy to organizations that seek to help those in poverty.

Teach. If you are a parent, then teach your children about poverty around the world. Don’t be afraid to give them the honest truth. You may be surprised at the compassion and understanding from your children. Give them the chance to help out.

Love. Our motivation for everything we do. Without love we are… just a loud, ugly noise. If I give everything I own to the poor, but have not have love, it’s a waste (I Corinthians 13: 1-3).

Go. The natural response of love. A soup kitchen in your city. A building project. There are many opportunities if you just look. Before I was married, I witnessed horrible living conditions in my travels to South America and Asia. My church denomination offers women’s mission trips to work with the poor.

You can also go to compassion.com right now to sponsor a child trapped in poverty. My family has sponsored an Indonesian girl for several years and I know our monthly support and letters are changing her life.

As for Number Six? I’m leaving that one up to you.

What can we do to fight poverty? Leave your suggestion in the comments, or write your own post, and I’ll link to it here.

Let’s inspire each other!

***

photo credit: angela7dreams

Blog Action Day: The facts and faces of poverty

Monica Brand — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 11:52:31 +0000

Today, 30,000 children will die as a result of living in extreme poverty.

2.8 billion people live on less than $2 per day.

More than 1 billion live on less than $1 per day.

More than 800 million people go hungry daily.

100 million children around the world are homeless.

I don’t like numbers. Too easily dismissed, no emotional impact. Tell me you have X number of children, I understand the number.

But show me their photograph, and I’ll smile, thinking of my own. I’m emotionally involved when I see a face.

I understand the severe problem of poverty by reading the numbers, but it’s not until I see pictures that it begins to get down into my gut.

People, many of them children, are dying as a result of living in poverty.

Normally when I post a video, I tell you to enjoy it. You will not enjoy this video, I want you to see it because it serves a purpose: to show what numbers – 30,000, 800 million, 2.8 billion – can’t accomplish.

You can’t comprehend death and suffering only with a number.

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All numbers provided by Compassion International.