Transformation in Manila

March 1, 2016
by Rodney Olsen
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Manila Children

Over the last few days I’ve heard incredible stories of transformation as I’ve been part of a group visiting the work of Compassion in Manila, Philippines. I’ve had the privilege of traveling here with some former colleagues from 98five. They’re taking the opportunity to tell Perth listeners about the people we’re meeting and the life change we’ve seen.

One of the people we’ve met is Maritess, the mother of a child being sponsored through Compassion. They live in extreme poverty. Their monthly rent is around AU$60, yet it’s a struggle to make those payments and they live constantly with the fear of being thrown out of their tiny home.

Maritess thanks God that he used one person to change her life. She said that it was her son becoming registered with Compassion that helped her decide to start attending the local Wesleyan Church which partners with Compassion.

She explains some of the change in her life in her own words.

Before, I always fought with my neighbours and my favourite pastime is gambling. It is also the means of my family’s living as I worked as a jueteng lady (illegal number games in the Philippines). Everyday was a burden for me because I am not content with what we have. I always nagged my husband for our tight budget and I was often getting angry with my children. I would hit them with a coat hanger to the point that it was broken on their bodies.

Little by little I came to know Christ and all the blessings that came to my family. My Christian life was not easy and because of the help and trust of our Lord Jesus Christ it changed my vision that I must trust God because he is the one who gave me my life when I accept him as my personal Saviour I changed my life. If you accept God you don’t have to worry in what you need because everything will be given.

Maritess said she felt the love of our God because all her prayers were answered according to his will. She says her family is doing well they are able to provide for their children’s education.

Now me and my family accepted Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour and became covenant members of the church. My ministry is being a 3 years treasurer in women’s ministry and leader in independence area bible study and I thank God for this ministry

I love the fact that while Compassion is working specifically to release children from poverty in Jesus’ name, it’s not only the children who benefit. Families and communities are being transformed.

The story Maritess shared with us is just one of many transformational stories we’ve heard in the short time we’ve been here. I’ll write about more of those stories in the coming days.



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Learning for Life

June 29, 2015
by Rodney Olsen
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I don’t think I ever really felt as if I fitted in at school. I did OK. There was nothing in my results to raise alarms. I just did what I did and was more than happy to leave that world behind at the end of my schooling. Having said that, I am incredibly thankful that I was able to have the education I did. While I didn’t really value it at the time, it has helped to set me up for all the years since.

A lot of us in places like Australia are less than keen about school in our early years. However, I see a real contrast when I visit churches partnering with Compassion in developing countries. Wherever I’ve traveled I meet children who are incredibly thankful for the opportunity to learn. Here, everyone gets to go to school. In many other countries it’s not like that.

Take, for instance, Togo where over half the population on A$2 or less a day. The average cost of a grade nine textbook in Togo is more than six times this amount. Imagine paying a week’s wage for just one textbook.

Even if children do get the opportunity to go to school, most will never have the opportunity for higher learning. Only 14% of students that finish secondary school in Sri Lanka will go on to enrol in tertiary education, compared to 86% in Australia. In Africa, only 8% of young people enrol in tertiary education, compared to a world average of 27%.

Thankfully Compassion is working to help young people bridge some of those gaps.

Education is a powerful way to reduce poverty. Every child in Compassion’s programs will have the opportunity to go to school and receive an education. But for thousands of these children, breaking the cycle of poverty requires extra educational support to see them succeed and thrive.

Compassion staff knows each individual child’s strengths, struggles and dreams for the future. They understand their specific education needs—and how meeting those needs can help them overcome poverty.

From vocational training and university education, to computer labs and libraries, from literacy and numeracy tutoring, to textbooks and classrooms, Compassion child development centres tailor their education programs to meet children’s individual needs. It’s an approach that helps to release children from poverty in Jesus’ name.

Compassion’s approach is working but there’s much more to be done. It’s not only Compassion who thinks that their programs are making a difference.

THE WYDICK RESEARCH

Compassion child sponsorship, and the educational support it includes, has clear, positive outcomes for children living in poverty. Independent research conducted over three years by Dr Bruce Wydick and his team found numerous benefits for former Compassion sponsored children compared to their non-sponsored peers.

• They stayed in school for an average of 1 to 1.46 years longer;

• Were 14 to 18 per cent more likely to have salaried employment as an adult, and;

• On average, were 50 to 80 per cent more likely to complete a university education.

Compassion is currently running an Education Appeal to help ensure that young people don’t fall at the first hurdle when they’re setting out on life.

Right now there are thousands of children and young people who have great talents and abilities, but lack the resources to reach their potential. Your generous support will help give children around the world the extra educational support they need to live free from poverty. Please donate to this year’s Compassion Appeal to help provide children with life-changing education and skills that will impact all areas of their life.



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A Mother’s Decision

May 9, 2015
by Rodney Olsen
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One of the greatest honours in my work is sitting in the homes of those living in poverty and hearing their stories. It’s impossible in the short time I have with them to really enter into their world but sometimes there are glimpses that give me a new respect for the courage they show in facing the kinds of struggles so very many people in our world meet each day just to survive.

A few days ago I travelled on winding mountain roads a few hours out of Chiang Mai, Thailand, with a number of fellow Australians. We arrived at a small village and it was there that we met an amazing woman. She welcomed a small group of us into her home. We sat together and she started telling us her story.

We asked a lot of questions about her home, which her husband had built from timbers he sourced in the surrounding jungle areas. It took around five years to gather the materials and a similar time to construct their dwelling. Her husband is a farmer, working at little more than a subsistence level.

It wasn’t long before she started telling us about the eldest of her four sons, who is currently about eighteen, and the brain tumour that he is battling. How do you cope with something like that when you’re already living in poverty? Thankfully Thailand’s health system has paid a significant amount of his treatment costs but the remaining amount is still a struggle.

Her youngest son is almost three. He seemed to be a happy and healthy little boy. In his old, worn grey t-shirt and red shorts he lay on the concrete floor, leaning his head on his mother’s lap. At the time of his birth his mother was suffering from a kidney disease. After breast feeding her new baby for just fourteen days the doctors told her she would have to stop as they needed to give her medication which would affect her milk.

Not being able to breast feed meant buying formula for her son. The problem was, their family couldn’t afford the ongoing cost. Having to regularly buy formula was simply beyond their means.

The solution was almost unthinkable. They would have to find someone else in their village to take their baby. To simply ensure that he could live, they would need to give him up to someone who could afford to look after him.

No mother should ever have to face that kind of decision. The most precious of all gifts, their brand new baby boy, would have to grow up in someone else’s family, calling someone else mum. Poverty is a thief and a destroyer.

Thankfully, that’s when the local church, partnering with Compassion, stepped in. Mother and son were registered in Compassion’s Child Survival Program at the church, meaning that the family would have the essential support they needed to stay together.

Mum’s kidney disease is now improving too. Instead of the 90 tablets she was taking each day, she’s down to just three.

In a few months that precious little boy will turn three and he will ‘graduate’ into Compassion’s Child Sponsorship Program, meaning that he’ll get the opportunity of being released from spiritual, socio-emotional, physical and economic poverty in Jesus’ name. A sponsor, thousands of kilometres away from his village, will pay a modest monthly amount to secure his future and to let him know that he is loved.

As we prepare to celebrate Mother’s Day tomorrow, let me encourage you to consider making the burden for a mother living in poverty a little lighter by sponsoring a child through Compassion. Let’s together honour the mothers in our own lives as well as those mothers who, through no fault of their own, are facing the kinds of struggles and decisions no one should ever face. (If you’re reading this after Mother’s Day it’s not too late to make a lifetime of difference for a child and relieving some of the burden for their mother through child sponsorship.)



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A new day in Thailand

May 4, 2015
by Rodney Olsen
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(Click the photo for a closer look.)

They might have million dollar views but the family we met yesterday are certainly not ‘living the dream’. Some might even say they’re facing a nightmare.

It started years ago when the husband of this small family in Thailand started cheating on his wife with other women. Then there was the drinking and the gambling. Part of that dangerous mix was also the physical abuse he handed out to his wife.

On Saturday afternoon the whole situation escalated when the husband and father to four children gathered his belongings and left to live with another woman. How does a family living in poverty cope in that kind of situation? Where do you turn when there’s no social security or safety net?

Sunday was a new day.

Thankfully two of the young children in this family, a ten year old boy and his four year old sister, have already been recieving care from the local church. That local church is partnering with Compassion to see children released from poverty in Jesus’ name. Because those children are reigistered with Compassion, there are benefits for the whole family.

Sunday was a new day because while the children were registered with Compassion, they hadn’t yet found sponsors. Yesterday, when one of the group I’m traveling with in Thailand heard that these children needed a sponsor he agreed to sponsor both. At that point he had no idea of the trauma the family had been facing.

We visited the family’s modest home and the little shop that provides a small income for them to tell them that the children were being sponsored. When their story poured out so did the tears. We had opportunity to pray with the family and assure the mother of ongoing support. It was a powerful moment and it pointed to God’s perfect timing.

Of course this is not the story of someone from the western world flying in to make all things right for a family in poverty. This is a story of the local church being there for a family in deep need. That church is partnering with Compassion. Now, on the other side of the world, a man from a local church in Perth is also partnering with Compassion. Through that chain there will be a brighter future for a mother and her children. It’s about partnership and it’s a big part of why I love working for Compassion.

Today you have the opportunity to be a link in another chain, bringing hope and healing to another family. Will you consider sponsoring a child through Compassion?



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Who can you trust with your money?

February 5, 2015
by Rodney Olsen
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Part of my job is to let people know about the opportunities to help children who are in desperate poverty. Many times when I’ve spoken to people I’m asked about how much money actually goes towards helping children and how much is used in administration and for other costs. Most of the time that question is genuine, coming from people who want to ensure that their money is being used wisely.

So how do we really know that an organisaton is using money well and is doing what they say they’ll do with your money?

Charity Navigator

Charity Navigator is an independent charity evaluator which works to inform those of us who want to help others but need to know if the money we give is actually doing what it should be doing. They check the financial health, accountability and transparency of thousands of charities. Those put under the microscope range from faith based and secular agencies working in developing countries to organisations working within the U.S. for causes like fighting cancer through to a foundation giving grants to shooting sports. They’ve just released their 14th annual research findings.

As someone who works for Compassion, I’m more than happy to be able to point people to independent evaluations of our work. I know that what we do is making a huge difference because I’ve seen it first hand, but being able to say to people, “Don’t just take my word for it” is extremely important. It’s good to see that Compassion has once again found itself at the top of the ratings.

Compassion International’s outstanding financial stewardship and commitment to accountability and transparency has earned the ministry four out of four stars – Charity Navigator’s highest rating – for the 14th year in a row. Charity Navigator is America’s largest independent charity evaluator. The ranking places Compassion among the top 1 percent of nonprofits reviewed and first on Charity Navigator’s list of top 10 Charities with the Most Consecutive 4-Star Ratings. – Compassion News

Wow. Once again Compassion is in the top 1% of the thousands of charities that were reviewed. As you can imagine, that gives me extreme confidence when I talk to friends, supporters, pastors and churches about how Compassion truly is releasing children from poverty in Jesus’ name. Charity Navigator’s President and CEO, Ken Berger explains a little of what that actually means for those looking for an effective way of helping those in need of our help.

“Less than one percent of the charities we rate have received at least 14 consecutive 4-star evaluations, indicating that Compassion International outperforms most other charities in America,” said Ken Berger, president and CEO of Charity Navigator. “This ‘exceptional designation from Charity Navigator differentiates Compassion from its peers and demonstrates to the public it is worthy of their trust.” – Compassion News

I work for Compassion because I am convinced that there is no more effective organisation serving the world’s poor. I have seen no other method of working with those in poverty that even comes close to the way that Compassion is working.

That’s not the marketing spin of someone who works for the organisation, it’s the heartfelt conviction of someone who has seen the light streaming in to some very dark corners of this world and wants to be part of seeing more light and hope filling the lives of those around the world who are the poorest of the poor.

“Financial integrity is more than a priority at Compassion,” said Santiago “Jimmy” Mellado, president and CEO of Compassion International. “It’s a passion and deeply held value. Donors can rest assured that their hard-earned dollars are being used efficiently and wisely to serve some of the poorest children in the world. And we cannot forget that the ministry’s health comes directly from God blessing the passionate commitment of our children’s loving caregivers, partner churches, sponsors, donors, advocates and staff.” – Compassion News

If you are keen to see the end of extreme poverty, can I encourage you to do the research and find an organisation you can trust to do the job they promise to do. For me, the results are in and they point directly to Compassion. If you want to find out more about what Compassion does, just head to the website.



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