Hello! We’re in the Philippines this week with our good friends from Student Life & Compassion International. It’s been an incredible week thus far, but I’m awake early this Saturday morning and can’t stop thinking about this family I met yesterday in Cebu City… I’m certain words can’t do justice to what we’ve seen.
We had the chance to visit their home which literally lies in a graveyard. It is the most unsettling situation of poverty I’ve seen in my life… Hundreds of families and young children living in the slums in small humble “homes” the size of an american walk in closet… yet built on top of the dead.
The city has counted over 500 families living in 329 structures spanning over 9000 square meters. It’s been used as a cemetery as far back as 1912 yet poverty has forced families to build structures on top of tombs, some even using the tombs as beds inside the shanties.
As we walked for about 15 minutes into the community, we arrived at the home of this sweet family. We had an opportunity to pray for this woman, a mother of 6. After spending time with their family, we asked what her dreams were & how we could pray for her. Her simple response was “I pray that one day we could own a home, and that we could have electricity.”
I believe that her dreams can come true because of Compassion. Her eldest son, Jeffrey (13), is fortunate enough to attend the Compassion project at their local church. Compassion is changing the lives of currently 711 kids in this community by showing them the love of Jesus and giving them an education, as well as much needed access to medical care for their entire family. The greatest thing is it’s not even under the banner of Compassion…. they’ve empowered the local church to reach their community in an astounding way. And they’re doing it all across the globe through the local church.
If you sponsor a child through Compassion, be encouraged – you’ll never know the impact you’re making.
Somehow, in the gravest of circumstances, these children have joy.
Even in death, Jesus is life. In the darkness, He is light
-Ben