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Compassion is an<br />
organisation that supports<br />
children and their families<br />
all across the world.<br />
More than 60 years<br />
ago, the Rev Everett Swanson<br />
went to South Korea to minister<br />
to American troops fi ghting in the<br />
Korean war. He became troubled<br />
by the sight of hundreds of war<br />
orphans living on the streets<br />
abandoned by society. One day<br />
he saw piles of rags being<br />
tossed into the back of a<br />
truck. When he looked<br />
closer he found<br />
them to be frozen<br />
bodies of orphans<br />
who had died<br />
overnight on the<br />
streets. Swanson<br />
could not turn his<br />
back on this, and soon<br />
established a unique<br />
programme enabling<br />
individuals in the western world to<br />
provide education, food, clothing<br />
shelter and medical care for each<br />
Korean orphan for a few dollars a<br />
month. Today 12 partner countries<br />
continue to build a diverse network<br />
of caring sponsors around the<br />
world.<br />
For a number of years we<br />
wanted to sponsor a child, but<br />
it just did not seem fi nancially<br />
possible. Then one day it came<br />
to my mind that if I was prepared<br />
to give up a certain commitment<br />
I would free the money that<br />
we could put on sponsorship.<br />
Someone gave a talk at our church<br />
on the work of Compassion at this<br />
time and we knew this was what<br />
we would do.<br />
In 2003 we began to sponsor a<br />
little boy, and we have had regular<br />
letters from him over the years.<br />
He always tells me how he loves<br />
football and wants to play for<br />
Manchester United one day! He<br />
also tells us how he likes to help<br />
his grandad work in the fi elds. We<br />
were sent a lovely picture of his<br />
mother in their home and all the<br />
food they had purchased with a<br />
donation from my husband’s 60th<br />
birthday party.<br />
Our child (we are not allowed to<br />
mention his name) has become<br />
part of our family, and is now a<br />
handsome young man of<br />
15 years and his photo<br />
is on the fi replace<br />
alongside the rest<br />
of the family. He<br />
lives in Mexico<br />
and attends the<br />
Compassion project<br />
near his home. How<br />
he has grown! His<br />
letters and pictures<br />
have been a constant<br />
delight, and he loves to hear<br />
all about our family. A number<br />
of times he has written and said<br />
‘please pray for my mum’ which<br />
we do. Compassion has a vision to<br />
see four million children released<br />
from poverty by the year 2<strong>02</strong>0.<br />
As his face looked out on us<br />
from the fi replace this Christmas,<br />
we thanked God for this young<br />
man and his family who have<br />
touched our own in so many ways.<br />
The child sponsorship<br />
programme is in 26 developing<br />
nations today. The work of<br />
Compassion brings hope, fi nancial<br />
support, education programmes<br />
and the good news of Jesus<br />
to many struggling families<br />
across very poor areas of the<br />
world. Embracing children in<br />
need still remains at the heart of<br />
Compassion’s work, which has<br />
continued over six decades.<br />
Pauline Johnson<br />
Showing Compassion<br />
St Chad’s Church, Linden Avenue, Woodseats<br />
Church Offi ce: Linden Avenue, Sheffi eld S8 0GA<br />
Tel: (0114) 274 5086<br />
Page 19<br />
email: offi ce@stchads.org<br />
website: www.stchads.org