Rain-fed agriculture is the most common source of food, but with the gradual change in climate, this form of farming is not sustainable. This puts Kenya under constant threat of food insecurity.

Compassion Kenya is implementing creative ways to mitigate the effects of drought through the establishment of demonstration gardens and farm animals. In the semi-arid region of Ngaamba, one Compassion centre is helping families gain food security through dairy goats.

In this area, most people depend on sand harvesting as their main source of income. But with sand diminishing at a fast rate, they fear that they will have to look further and further away for sand banks.
The average family has six to nine children, and parents struggle to provide for all of them. Judith, the accountant for this Compassion centre, sees the affect of their situation daily.

“Our beneficiaries have talked a lot about missing harvests due to failed rains, worsened by poor water infrastructure in the area,” says Judith. “As a result, they have become perennial beneficiaries of government food aid and relief efforts from well wishers.”

But now the Compassion centre has introduced Toggenburg goats as a first step in helping families become more financially secure. In comparison to the local breeds, Toggenburgs are sturdy and vigorous. They have high milk production and produce high-fat milk. Their young can be fertile as young as 7 weeks, and the bucks are ready to be used for service as young as 3 months. A mother can give birth to several kids at a time.

“This [goat] is better than the one I had. I look forward to getting more milk for my family.”

The Compassion centre received an initial amount of approximately $1,300 to build a goat pen, purchase five goats and transport them to the centre. They also hired someone to monitor the goat’s health, feeding and breeding.

Growth has been almost immediate, with the goats giving birth within the first few months. By February 2012, the herd had grown from the initial five goats to nine.

Families are already benefitting from the goats.

“We have started breeding the goats with those of our caregivers who have gone through training on how to take care of this type of goat,” says Judith.

Their goal is to have all families own at least one dairy goat. With one litre of milk going for 60 Kenyan Shillings, about 70 cents, this will be a great help for the families.

“This [goat] is better than the one I had. I look forward to getting more milk for my family,” says one parent who now has a Toggenburg goat.

The goat milk has also helped two highly vulnerable children in the centre, one suffering from tuberculosis and the other from HIV. Both have been receiving milk daily for the last six months to help them stay strong. Goat milk is known for its nutritional value, and the children’s health has improved significantly.

The impact of the goats will stretch beyond just Compassion beneficiaries, as the centre also hopes to offer goat breeding to the community for a fee and offer expertise in rearing dairy goats.

Through creative solutions and the partnership of our supporters, these families in Kenya are finding ways to support their families long-term, even in the midst of a famine.

By Silas Irungu, Compassion Kenya

Although many countries are beginning to pull out of the recent financial crisis, many children are still experiencing hunger every day. One in every three Honduran children under 5 years old is chronically malnourished. In some rural communities, chronic malnutrition reaches up to 88%. Much of the time, these children could be better nourished, but their parents were never educated on how to prepare nutritious meals.

To help these children, Compassion Honduras has responded with “Step by Step,” a program that is responding by training mothers in nutritious cooking and providing nutritious meals for children.

In the capital city of Tegucigalpa, one Compassion centre starts the day with excitement to begin the program. There are about 30 children in this centre who are underweight, and they come to the centre, holding their mothers hands to begin the two-week program. The children will receive two daily meals rich in carbohydrates, vegetables and grains, while their mothers are trained by a nutritionist on how to prepare low-cost, healthy meals for their children.

Guide mothers developed three recipes for lunch and three for snacks that can be made using healthy local ingredients that are low cost. The mothers are trained on how to make healthier meals, and they learn that they can improve the health of their children using what they have available to them.

“I did not know much about the importance of certain meals.”

While her children go to Bible classes, mother Paola Raudales starts the day with prayer time and then begins to cook. Paola has two children, 10-year-old Kevin and 6-year-old Madelin, who are both in the program. Before participating in Step by Step, this young mother didn’t know about nutrition and both of her children were underweight.

“I did not know much about the importance of certain meals,” says Paola. “This activity helped me as a mother because I got so much knowledge from the Step by Step activity and now I´m sharing everything that I learned with many mothers so now they know how to feed their children.”

Paola didn’t realize that she had been leaving out many important ingredients in her children’s diet.

“Both of my kids had low weight, but now I realize how important it is to prepare nutritious meals. It is really about changing the way we cook and mixing other ingredients that our children would not eat, like vegetables.”

As part of the program, home workshops were also held to prevent malnutrition and rehabilitate malnourished children. The children’s height and weight will be monitored twice a year to ensure they are staying healthy.

At the end of the activity, Paola was able to see the results of the program, “My kids are healthier and now they eat with more appetite and have tried different things like vegetables, which children do not like that much. My husband and children enjoy very much all the nutritional dishes that I learned from this activity.”

So far, the Step by Step program has impacted approximately 3,875 registered children, 300 siblings under 5 years old and 1,838 mothers or caregivers. This program will have far-reaching impact, keeping boys and girls strong and healthy, while passing on the tools to stay healthy throughout communities in Honduras.

Story by: Yuri Fortin, Compassion Honduras

But wait there’s more…

See for yourself all the ways you’ve helped to give children and their families the skills and resources that can help them overcome poverty.

Next Christmas, we want give even more children and families the skills and resources that can help them overcome poverty, and you can help by giving a Gift of Compassion.

Visit Compassion.ca/shop to choose yours today.

By Compassion Canada

Compassion’s Three-Part Strategy to Fight Malaria

• Bed Nets: Compassion provides the households of Compassion-sponsored children who are at risk for malaria with insecticide-treated mosquito nets. Distribution of bed nets is one of the most cost-effective ways to prevent malaria. The nets cost only $5 to $10 each and reduce instances of malaria by 50 percent and malaria mortality by 20 percent.
• Treatment: When a child does fall sick with malaria, Compassion makes sure that child gets the treatment they need to get healthy and back to school.
• Education: Compassion educates both children and their parents on the simple steps they can take to prevent malaria, such as closing their windows at dusk, clearing bushes away from around their homes and throwing garbage away further away from their homes.

What sets Compassion’s strategy apart is that we not only give bed nets and treat sick children, but we also teach families how to prevent malaria.

“Parents and communities must be involved in the process of disease recognition, therapy and prevention if the existing patterns of childhood morbidity and mortality are to be improved,” says Dr. Alemayehu Habtegabriel, Senior Health Specialist for Compassion Africa.

The education is contextualized to each community to make sure families understand how to protect their homes, and social workers visit children’s homes to make sure the nets are being used properly.

Some Examples of Recent Successes in Compassion’s Fight Against Malaria:

• Bangladesh distributed more than 15,000 bed nets last year.
• Countrywide, about 35 percent of Ugandan households have bed nets. Among Compassion-sponsored children, 68 percent of households have nets.
• In the final three months of 2011, Compassion Uganda saw a 50-percent decrease in malaria cases among sponsored children.
• In one centre in Togo, cases of malaria were cut to a sixth after bed nets were distributed and prevention training was held.

With your support, it is possible to prevent malaria in the life of a child. Watch this video to find out a little more about Compassion’s fight against malaria around the world.

Story by: Amber Van Schooneveld, Compassion Canada

Thirteen-year-old Tamarre and her family live in a two-room mud hut here, where her mom takes care of her father who is disabled. But her parents wanted their children to be educated, so they decided to send them to live with relatives in bigger towns. Tamarre was sent to the home of her aunt so she could attend school.

After moving to her aunt’s house, Tamarre was registered at the Compassion centre at the local Christian church. At the centre, she attended computer and floral art classes. She also hoped to start a cooking class to learn a way to earn money. Tamarre started gaining confidence and learned kindness and obedience. She became like a daughter to her aunt.

But one night, Tamarre’s aunt was away from home. She left the little girl under the supervision of her husband. During the night, her uncle abused her, physically and sexually.

Tamarre told her aunt what had happened, but her aunt didn’t want to believe her. A few weeks later, Tamarre didn’t feel well and was taken to the hospital. They found out that the 13-year-old was pregnant. Everyone was in shock. Her uncle fled the country to hide in the Dominican Republic.

“I feel good here, I feel loved and valued by the centre staff.” said Tamarre.

Tamarre didn’t know what to do, so she went to the Compassion centre. Compassion Haiti’s child protection officer, Jesula, was informed about the incident, and together with the centre’s health specialist, they made sure Tamarre got regular prenatal check-ups and psychological assistance.

The young girl courageously bore her child after nine months. But fifteen days after childbirth, the baby died.

Tamarre had quit school because of her pregnancy and was too ashamed to go back. So the centre committee and Jesula arranged to relocate her to another town, where she was transferred to another Compassion centre. It was hard on Tamarre, because she had to repeat the 5th grade when she should have been in the 7th grade.

But the support she received helped Tamarre start her life over again. Compassion Haiti rented a new home for Tamarre and her family and provided them with the basic household articles they needed to start anew.

“I feel good here,” said Tamarre. “I feel loved and valued by the centre staff. They pay special attention to my situation. I am so thankful for all that.”

Through the support of our donors, Tamarre was helped through this horrible situation with counselling, medical assistance, relocation and financial support.

“The ultimate goal is to help Tamarre regain confidence in life and to provide the mom with a small business to generate income in order to be able to take care of the family in a sustainable manner,” said Jesula.

Tamarre feels relieved because of all that the church and Compassion have done to help her recover. She knows that she is not alone. She also believes that this experience will serve her when she grows up. She hopes to be able to advise other children facing such situations.

“I want to tell children who are victims of such bad actions to be encouraged. Such experiences don’t mean that God has abandoned us, or that life is over,” said Tamarre. “They need to continue to attend school and return to their normal life.”

Thank you for helping children like Tamarre regain hope and confidence to face their future.

By Ricot St. Paulin, Compassion Haiti

Many of these women are illiterate or school dropouts and can only find ways to earn negligible amounts of money as petty traders. According to Bolivia’s Child Survival Program Specialist, Magali Challapa, many of the mothers in the program want to help their husbands however they can to provide for their families. Many others are single, widowed or have been abandoned and are solely responsible to provide in whatever way they can.

In the past, however, many of them have never started small businesses for several reasons. Many have a fear of failure—their low self-esteem and the environment around them tell them they couldn’t possibly be successful so they shouldn’t even try. Many also aren’t able to find work because they don’t know how to do basic math operations or can’t read or write. Most simply don’t have training in skills to earn a living.

But thanks to Compassion’s Response funds, 607 mothers in Bolivia have been trained in micro-entrepreneurship. These women have not only been trained in the processes of starting a small business, but they have also been trained in skills that are the most useful in their context. The mothers chose between skills training in three different areas: pastry and cake decorating, hairdressing and industrial clothing (sewing).

“It was always my dream to be a seamstress, and my dream came true,” says Marina.

One of the moms who benefitted is Marina Heredia, a 30 year old mom of Juan Timoteo. Her husband is a home painter and they struggle to have enough for their four children. Maria took the three-month course in sewing.

“It was always my dream to be a seamstress, and my dream came true,” says Marina. “I mainly make clothes for children, sweatpants and other sports clothes, shirts and some dresses. I even make skirts and blouses for me and pants for my husband.”

Marina has already received requests from neighbours, church members, parents from school and even from some other Child Survival Program mothers to make clothes.

What she has earned so far has been a great help to her family, and she enjoys it too. Her husband, Juan, is also very happy and thankful for the training.

“This is a help for us,” Juan says. “Marina will continue learning and improving everything she is doing and in the future she can make more things.”

According to Ema, the Coordinator of the Child Survival Program Marina attends, the benefits of this project go beyond just financial.
“For these mothers and families, the trainings didn’t only mean economic support but it also helped them in their self-esteem,” Ema says. “They now feel able to do something and know they can go ahead.”

Marina was very shy at first. But at the graduation for mothers who underwent training, she spoke to represent the sewing training students and gave thanks for the training she’d received. Hundreds of mothers like Marina, who once may have felt voiceless and helpless in their situation, now have the skills and confidence they need to help their families thrive.

Story By Galia Oropeza, Compassion Bolivia

Equipping children to teach good health and hygiene practices at Compassion centres.

Something as simple as this lack of knowledge then leads to common childhood diseases, such as diarrhea and acute respiratory infections. These health problems are often left untreated because people cannot afford to go to the hospital.

But small changes in hygiene can make a huge impact in curbing preventable diseases and even preventing death.

To combat this problem and equip the children themselves, Compassion East India started the Little Doctor Training Program. This program teaches children about health care, hygiene and basic medical intervention to select children—so that they can then go back and be leaders in teaching other children good health practices.

The program trained ten children from each of the 33 Compassion centres in East India. The training of these “little doctors” was done in collaboration with the Indian Red Cross Society. The children were trained in first aid, health care practices and hygiene, including hand washing, nail-cutting, bathing and hair-combing. They were instructed in the importance of wearing clean clothes, keeping the centres clean and motivating their parents to have proper hygiene and sanitation.

“I am happy for my daughter, Sukhla, This training program has been a stepping stone for her to get closer to that dream…”

Children received individual attention through the small group learning method, which helped them better grasp the teaching. At the end of the training program, each child was awarded a certificate and a hygiene kit.

Through the training, children have learned to administer first aid for the minor cuts and injuries that they often get during play. They have also learned how to administer different types of bandages for burn injuries, snake bites, dog bites, and other types of wounds. They were taught how to administer CPR if someone’s heart stops and how to provide first-aid assistance.

“I was chosen to be a part of this training, so I want to use this opportunity to share what I learned at the training with my peers and other children at the centre… We can create awareness among our centre friends, who can then share it with their friends, family members and neighbours in their community,” says Akmam, one of the little doctors.

“We have organized a comprehensive training with hands-on demonstrations of things we learned for our friends at the centre who could not be part of this training,” says Pintu, another little doctor. “It has helped to create increased awareness among them.”

“Here’s a short video showing one little doctor teaching other children some basic first aid techniques.”

This training is empowering children—they are learning to dream big in their life through the opportunity to teach and lead others. In writing their “My Plan for Tomorrow” assignments, many children mention that they want to become real doctors. This training has enabled them not only to see themselves as doctors of today, but it also has provided an opportunity for them to give back to their society.

“I am happy for my daughter, Sukhla, because she could be part of this training program,” says Sukhla’s mother. “She used to share many times with me about her dream of becoming a nurse, but we could never afford it for her. But this training has been a stepping stone for her to get closer to that dream… Many things that she has taught us after coming back from the training about health care, personal hygiene and first aid were unknown to us. I am a proud mother to see the interest with which she teaches us and also our neighbours.”

Sukhla has helped with dressings for her older sister, who recently had a baby. Sukhla has even administered first-aid assistance to a lady from her neighbourhood who hurt her right leg in a fall.

There are many children like Sukhla around East India. Compassion East India is helping these children to not only stay healthy, but to dream big and help those around them.

Story by: Provashish Dutta, Compassion East India

More than 2,000 Compassion-sponsored children were impacted by the flooding, holding tightly to their parents, siblings and even pieces of wood—anything to stay out of the floodwaters. As light finally came, residents of the growing metropolis Cagayan de Oro saw homes completely sunk in mud.

The homes of hundreds of Compassion children were destroyed by the typhoon.

Charess is just one of the children living in public evacuation centres, like this gym.

Annaliza was 9 months pregnant the night the typhoon hit, and her baby was born that very night, after she escaped from her home by jumping from rooftop to rooftop to get to the health centre. Her home and all her belongings are gone.

Many Compassion child development centres were damaged in the flooding.

Rikki, a Leadership student, organized youth volunteers from his Compassion centre to go and help clean up at surrounding centres that were badly affected.

Volunteer Christian counsellors came from Manila to help parents and children. Children drew pictures of what they experienced to help them process the trauma.

A medical mission team also provided immediate attention to those who were injured in the flooding and children received spiritual support.

Compassion Philippines is now supporting these families with relief assistance, such as food, water and clothing. They will also help restore the damaged homes of those who lost their personal belongings and homes in the waters, like Annaliza and Charess. Children who need follow-up medical care will also receive help through Compassion’s Response funds and caregivers whose livelihoods were destroyed will be given assistance.

Through your generous support, these families’ lives and livelihoods are being restored.

By Edwin Estioko, Compassion Philippines

Ekwamkrom is a farming community in Ghana, about 50 kilometres west of Accra. It is a community blessed with water, the Akora River, which serves as the major source of water for all household needs. But with this blessing is also danger. The water carries disease.

“We have pipe water here in Ekwamkrom, but it is never adequate,” says Samuel Bossman Mensah, the coordinator for Compassion’s program at this church. “So we have to turn to the Akora River. We drink it, wash clothes with it, bathe with it and even cook our food with it.”

When the Compassion centre opened here four years ago, a health screening was done on the children. Of the 200 children, 96 were found to be suffering from bilharzias—a disease caused by parasitic worms and spread through water contaminated with infected snails. Bilharzias is a chronic illness that can damage internal organs and impair growth and cognitive development in children.

The sick children were treated, but they became infected again soon. After researching the cause, they found the Akora River was the source of the disease.

“We drink it, wash clothes with it, bathe with it and even cook our food with it.”

Compassion Ghana provided training to parents on the hazards of using water from the river and what to do when they had to use it. This helped a bit, but cases of bilharzias were still prevalent. Something more was needed to protect children and parents from this serious threat.

So on this Wednesday morning, over 250 families were given water filters that transform contaminated water to pure water within seconds. The filters have had a stunning impact. Although the first health screening recorded 96 cases of bilharzias, the most recent screening recorded only two cases.

Eugenia, an 11-year-old girl, was one of the children helped.

“Before, I was urinating blood because I used to drink water from the river. Compassion took me to the hospital and I was treated, and they gave us the water filters. We put our water into it and it becomes good water so I am not urinating blood anymore,” Eugenia said.

The water filters are benefiting not only families with children in Compassion’s program, but the entire community. Families are filtering water for their neighbours, and the disease is quickly dying out in the community. Families who would buy water instead of using the river water are also now able to save that money that would have been spent on water.

Because of the generosity of people like you, hundreds of children are now free from disease.

“I thank Compassion and the donors who gave money for the water filters,” said Eugenia. “God richly bless them.”

Story By Vera Mensah-Bediako, Compassion Ghana

Togo’s hot and humid climate is perfect for mosquitoes to breed. Malaria rages through Togo not only in the rainy season, but all year long. According to national health statistics in 2007, 42 percent of consultations in health facilities and 28 percent of hospitalizations were for malaria.

Even though it’s the biggest killer, the Togolese are hesitant to embrace the methods of prevention and treatment of malaria. Recent statistics from the Ministry of Health show that less than half of children are treated with appropriate anti-malarial medicine and only 40 percent receive anti-malarial meds within 24 hours of the symptoms’ onset.

Malaria is an equal-opportunity killer, but it disproportionately affects the poorest who cannot afford treatment or have limited access to health care. It traps families and communities in a downward spiral of poverty—parents are not able to stay healthy to work, children miss school, and money that otherwise could have been saved is constantly doled out for treatment.

It is in this context that Compassion Togo opened in Lomé in 2008 to release children from poverty in Jesus’ name. The children registered in Compassion’s programs are precisely those who are most vulnerable to malaria. So to respond to this health crisis, from September 2010 to January 2011, Compassion distributed 4,555 long-lasting insecticide-treated nets to children at 20 Child Development Centres.

Now, a year later, we can see the impact these nets are having.

Gouta-Davi K. Honore is the attending physician at a Compassion centre near Lomé where the children’s parents make about $1 a day. The centre is located near the coast, and the area is frequently flooded. Malaria is a major cause of childhood death here.

“At least 20 percent of the children in the centre came every week to the clinic,” Honore said. “And at least 90 percent of these children who arrived in the health centre every week suffered from malaria.”

But since the distribution of the nets, the number of cases of malaria has dropped drastically.

“I want to thank the centre for supplying us with mosquito nets because today my money is no longer used to cure a disease that I could easily avoid.”

“From July to December 2011, 6 children suffered from malaria every month. But before the nets were distributed, 10 children suffered from malaria every week—40 children every month.”

That means that in the year following Compassion’s distribution of nets, the number of children in this centre who got malaria was slashed to just a sixth of what it was—34 fewer children each month.

The parents are relieved for the help their children are getting. Yawo Kodjo, father of Rolland, is one of them.

“We live in a part of the city flooded throughout the year. Even when you were coming here, I am sure you saw the signs, they are still visible. So no one in this area sleeps without a net. But our purse did not allow us to,” says Yawo.

“That is why we and our children were falling sick frequently. Since we received the nets from Compassion, I admit that the illness has decreased considerably. If we have to go to the health centre, it is for something else and not malaria. I thank Compassion.”

Adjo is a mother of Rebecca who also received a net.

“Before, I did not have a net. I did not earn much money, but the little I had I was using to pay the hospital expenses either for my child or for myself. My life was ruined just because I had not taken precautions to protect my family against malaria,” Adjo says. “I want to thank the centre for supplying us with mosquito nets because today my money is no longer used to cure a disease that I could easily avoid.”

Adjo and Yawo are just two of the thousands of homes who received malaria nets. Through your support of Compassion’s Response funds, Compassion is able to literally save lives with something as simple as the gift of a net.

Story by: Bernard Gbagba, Compassion Togo