In twenty days Christy, Edie, Traci and Kelly will write their first words from Nicaragua.
We’re counting down the days to those first words one smiling face at a time…
You can help if you want. Download all 20 countdown images here and post them on your blog, Instagram, Facebook, wherever – one each day starting today. (If you tweet them, please use hashtag #compassionbloggers.)
The trip to Nicaragua will be different from any Compassion Bloggers have taken before. The hope we’ll see is familiar – moms learning to sew and parent, children eating at tables in rows, kids in desks hunched over open books, teachers explaining scripture, little ones measured and weighed and healed.
The backdrop of this familiar hope is different in Nicaragua though. Children forced to work. Some in fields. Others in brothels.
Child labor and human trafficking is a problem in Nicaragua so Compassion works to prevent it.
There are things we could show you on our trip to Nicaragua that would move you to sponsor a child (or ten!). There are people we could introduce you to, things we could say that would move people to give in record numbers. But Compassion won’t let us. No, compassion won’t let us.
We won’t interview little girls who live in brothels. We won’t even go to one. We won’t talk to mothers whose children are forced to harvest our produce. Compassion and compassion forbid us from doing anything that even might come across as exploiting those who are already being exploited.
But we will travel through the neighborhoods and past the fields where children serve as slaves. On the way to hope.
Hope is the central character in the story we have to tell. Starting June 18th. I hope you’ll read along at compassionbloggers.com/nicaragua, and pray us to Nicaragua and back, and help us spread the word online.
Thanks in advance.
Jill Foley says:
And this is why Compassion stands out among others – their integrity and their commitment to preserve the dignity of everyone.
I’m looking forward to following this trip. My husband went to Nicaragua last year and met Josseling, the girl we’ve sponsored since 2003.
Kris says:
This is just another example of why Compassion is such a worthy and beautiful ministry. I will be praying for these bloggers, for you, for the lives that will be changed both here and there–for the children that will be sponsored,… Just praying circles around this trip.
Kelli says:
I’m praying for you guys as you prepare, particularly for your hearts as you will be seeing some tough images. Can’t wait to follow along. I’ll probably blubber through every post. ๐
Cheri says:
Praying for all involved in this trip to be covered in God’s grace now leading up to the trip, during and after to have the strength to witness what God has for all of you and to speak through you to shine His light and hopw through your words. I am praying that I will have the strength to read. Will be sharing this and look forward to what God has to show me through this trip. These are life changing not only for those on the trip but those who read. They are for me at least. Can’t wait to learn more about the people of Nicaragua. We really have no idea of how bad things are in different parts of the world. Thanks for bringing it closer at the cost of losing part of yourself for God’s kingdom.
Crissy says:
Praying for this trip. Would love to go on a compassion trip one day but guess I need to start a blog for that!
Yvonne says:
Praying for all of you as you prepare for this trip and praying that many people will be moved to sponsor a child by the words and pictures that each one of you will be sharing with all of us.