Tag Archives: Child Survival Program

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Hope

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The home we visited and surrounding area.

Our group waits at the entrance to the small lot, calling out a greeting to those living there as several skinny dogs run toward us.

The afternoon heat has been relentless, the humidity soaking our bodies and our clothing as we made the short walk from the nearby Compassion project just minutes earlier.

We are six sponsors, a translator, the Compassion Nicaragua tours specialist, and a local project worker with her daughter. And we are all here to visit one young woman, who is enrolled in the Manos de Compasion Child Survival Project.

The project gives this young mother training in parenting and job skills, and in doing so, it gives her something even more valuable in an area overtaken by poverty… hope.

The young mother’s name is Magdalena, and she is 19 years old. She shyly invites us into her home, where we crowd in to ask her questions while admiring her beautiful daughter, 6-month-old Maybelline.

As Maybelline sits on the bed slapping at the blanket and grabbing her own feet, Magdalena tells us that her husband couldn’t be here for the visit today because he is picking up his final paycheck from a job he recently lost. We tell her we will pray for him to find work soon.

The floor is hard-packed dirt, and the red brick room holds a bed in the corner with a few feet to spare on two sides. There is a tin roof and two doors to the room, but no windows.

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Magdalena in her outdoor kitchen.

Magdalena takes us outside to show us her kitchen area. She has potable water, an area to cook and wash dishes, and a hammock for the baby to rest in while she works. She explains that through the CSP, she learned to bathe her baby safely in this area. Wet babies are so slippery, it is hard to imagine wrestling with one on the cement surface.

In the distance, she points out a river that floods sometimes. She says it has never reached her home, but has come close.

Her little family lives on this lot with her mother-in-law, who has her own home just a few steps away. We jokingly ask her if she gets along with her mother-in-law, and she smiles and says she does.

Before we leave, we are able to give Magdalena a gift bag from Compassion. It is filled with essentials like flour, sugar, rice, beans, dehydrated milk, cereal, cooking oil, soap, laundry detergent and toilet paper.

We pray for Magdalena and her family, and say our goodbyes, trusting that God will watch over this young woman and thankful that she has the support of the CSP as well.

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Carlos, Compassion translator, holding baby Maybelline.

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Magdalena with the items supplied by Compassion.

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Magdalena’s home.

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Manos de Compasion

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A young mother works on a project in the Hands of Compassion sewing room.

In a room buzzing with activity, young mothers are busy cutting patterns from cloth, sewing new outfits, practicing and perfecting a trade that may give them financial support in the future.

There are young children running in and out of the room, and babies playing in a crib in the corner, as the women work. Many patterns hang from a nearby wall, and the women will learn to make each one.

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The sewing instructor, holding a pattern, explains her program.

These women are part of Compassion’s Child Survival Program (CSP), which currently has 30,269 mothers and babies enrolled worldwide. This project near Leon, Nicaragua, called Manos de Compasion (Hands of Compassion), is serving 43 women. Of these, five are still pregnant, while the remaining have had their babies already. Mothers can stay in the program until their children turn three years old, when the child is registered in Compassion’s sponsorship program.

The sewing instructor teaches the women using five treadle sewing machines. She shows us some items they’ve made, including a toothbrush holder for the children at the project, and a nurse’s outfit for the CSP director, Julissa, who is going to nursing school.

When the women aren’t learning to sew, Julissa teaches them valuable parenting skills and covers topics like nutrition and health and shows them how to stimulate and teach their babies.

Julissa keeps a three-ring binder for each mother in the program, tracking each baby’s milestones and medical appointments. She also makes home visits to the mothers and babies, giving both much-needed care and attention.

If you are interested in supporting a CSP similar to Hands of Compassion, please click here. Your donation will help to prevent illness, give children a healthy start, provide training to mothers, and offer spiritual nurturing while Compassion ministers to the whole family.

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Julissa in the baby room.

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A mother and baby in the sewing room.

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A toddler napping at the CSP.

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Dreams of Mothers

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Jose, 6, of Bolivia, and his mother.

Love, happiness, good health and a relationship with God – those are the things I want most for my children. After all, they already have the basics like food, water, clothing and a home.

But many children around the world do not have those basics. And without those, how can their mothers move beyond the basics and dream for more for their children? How can they work toward those bigger dreams?

Compassion’s Child Survival Program can help. This program operates in Africa, Latin America and Asia, providing both education and support to mothers in need. This includes prenatal care, growth monitoring, oral rehydration therapy, breast-feeding support, immunization, female literacy, food and family planning.

Today this program serves 27,652 children and 28,373 mothers, giving them the help they need in those critical early years. Statistics show it’s working. While 12 percent of babies are premature in the developing world, only 3 percent of babies are premature in the Child Survival Program. Also, an infant in Compassion’s program is six times a likely to be a healthy weight as a child in the developing world.

With a monthly donation of $23, you can be a child survival advocate by supporting this program. Click here for details, and please consider helping mothers around the world to have bigger dreams for their children.