Compassion

I have done book blogging for nearly two years. I select books for Christian publishing companies and they send them to me for free under the condition that I write a review about them (if you are interested in something like that, let me know and I'll get you the contact information). "A Dream So Big" by Steve Peifer was a book I recently reviewed that left a pretty big impression. Steve and his wife lost their eight-day-old baby to a genetic disorder in 1998. Consumed by grief, they began to feel a need for a change. Reconnecting with friends who worked with Africa Inland Mission, they ended up packing up their family and relocating to Kenya to be dorm parents at a missionary kids boarding school. A one-year stint became nearly 15 years. Over the course of their work there, Steve's ministry focus shifted slightly to include starting a food program at area Kenyan schools. He was overwhelmed at the impact of hunger on the lives of the children, how it affected every aspect of their lives, including education. The hunger that these children faced was essentially trapping them in a vicious cycle of poverty. With his food program, he was able to ensure that kids attending several area schools would receive one hot meal a day.

Reading about the very real plight of hunger prompted me to think about Frank, the six-year-old Rwandan boy we've been privileged to sponsor through Compassion for the last two years. We love getting to write to him and get letters back from him. We love to pray for him in our nightly family time since it helps connect the boys to another part of the world. As I was writing to him a few days after finishing that book, I reread Frank's most recent letter to us. In it, he had thanked us for the money we sent him for his birthday and he shared what he used it for:  to buy food for his family.

As I read that portion of his letter, my heart was stirred with a mix of emotions. When my boys receive birthday money, they want to buy a new toy with it or use it for some fun experience. When Frank gets birthday money, he uses it to help support his family. Such a contrast of cultures. We live in a culture of such excess; his is a culture of extreme need. Reading that book and Frank's letter were eye-opening and heart-wrenching for me.

Pondering the realities of hunger, it can feel a bit overwhelming because of the dire need in so many parts of the world. For me, I'm so grateful that we can help one little boy in Rwanda have a fighting chance in this world.