Tunisia, at northern the tip of Africa and bordering on the Mediterranean Sea, has been inhabited by many of the greatest empires throughout history.  It is a melting pot of many civilizations and it is a more Westernized country in many respects.  The gap between rich and poor is significant as unemployment is high.  It is the needs of the poor and disenfranchised in this nation which has caught the attention of Compassion Corps.

Tunisia proclaimed its independence from France in 1956 and became an independent republic in 1957.  Tunisia is 98% Muslim and Islam is the state religion.  Desiring to maintain a stable and welcoming environment for its thriving tourism industry, Tunisian government keeps close tabs on religion, politics, and media, fearing that over-zealous behavior of any faction might upset the peace. In light of this, Christians are slowly but steadily living out lives of witness through many avenues of compassion.

Compassion Corps has been invited to partner with grassroots efforts in and around two major cities.  Our ministry has had an increasing interest and opportunity to work with special needs’ children through dance, music, and games and to provide specialized training from physical and occupational therapists. This is the approach that will be taken to sow seeds of remarkable love that are sure to find root in the hearts of many.  Compassion Corps is also helping poor children in the city to go to school by providing the fees and supplies for which their families cannot pay. And the opportunity to help elderly, stroke, and accident victims get basic necessities and live out their lives with dignity is also on the CC agenda.

Short-term teams will love exploring the ancient ruins of Carthage and marveling at the mosaics of the famed Bardo museum.  Side trips to lovely palm oases and desert caves where Star Wars was filmed make a compassionate trip to Tunisia a most memorable adventure.

Home of the ancient Egyptian civilization, Egypt is located in northeastern Africa.  The country is a very popular tourist destination with its pyramids, hieroglyphs, temples, statues, and the famous Valley of the Kings.  The Nile River invites the traveler to bask in its vastness and many enjoy vacations at Red Sea beach resorts.

One of the greatest civilizations in the world grew out of Egypt and lasted for nearly 3,000 years.  After its fall, Egypt was ruled by the Romans, Greeks, and Turks before being taken over from Britain for a time, finally becoming its own republic after World War II.  Egypt is predominantly Muslim, with a large Christian minority made up primarily of the Coptic Orthodox Church.

It is amidst the complex challenge of cherishing ancient culture while enabling progressive development that CC has come to partner with a seasoned and influential ministry which is involved throughout all of the Maghreb and the Middle East.  CC seeks to aid this ministry through scholarships that will allow young women to gain leadership training which they can implement in their own countries.  Retreats and training conferences are offered by our partner ministry in various places throughout North Africa and are not only invaluable to these women but to the thousands of others whom their lives can impact.

by Beth McMillen

“The great man is he that does not lose his child’s heart.”  (Menicus, Book IV)

Children are indeed, some of our greatest examples of love, of generosity, and of sacrifice.  Perhaps it is because life is still simple.  They don’t have to go out to work every day.  Their needs are provided for and they don’t have to think about bills and car repairs and all of the things that can weigh a person down.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful, though, to keep that child’s heart, to believe the best of every situation, to see good in people and give because it’s the right thing to do.  At Compassion Corps we’ve been blessed by children doing just that.

An elementary school in Downingtown has decided to help put a well in a desert village outside of Timbuktu.  Just recently they have had a walk-a-thon to raise funds.  Now, they could have raised money for something at their school.  Let’s face it, every school needs something….new bleachers, better equipment, expanded resources, but these kids are walking for the good of kids they’ve never met and probably never will meet.  They are walking because there are kids in Timbuktu who are thirsty today and have been thirsty for a long time.  Their moms can’t turn on a water faucet to fill up a glass for them.  Instead they walk to fetch water for their families using up 25% of their day just in this task.

In Liberia, children are exposed to danger, just walking to school. Education is the highest priority to young people after the civil war that has devastated their country, so they will walk up to 12 miles to get to a school.  There is no public school bus transportation system stopping at every hut, flashing their lights so no other car or motorcycle passes while the child gets on.  No, here it is every child for him or herself.  A motorcycle rushes past a car or truck with no visibility and a child who is walking on the side of the road (there are no such things as sidewalks in this rural area) is hit and seriously injured.

Two local schools heard about the dilemma of these children and decided to help raise the funds to purchase a used school bus for our partner school there in Nimba County, Liberia.  One little boy, after hearing about the Liberian kids, gave his tooth fairy money to help instead of using it to buy something for himself.  One school ran almost 10,000 laps in their gym classes and was able to raise over $1500 that will go a long way in helping raise the $10,000 needed to purchase this school bus.

The classes have written back and forth to one another.  One class of Liberian students wrote saying,
“We like going to school.  We like school because it has our future.  With education we will be able to help our country.”  Another class wrote, “Our class is serious about school.  We are serious for school because most of our brothers and sisters were killed during the Liberia war.”  In response, some of our American kids wrote back, “It makes our heart feel warm to know we are helping other people.  We know that we take our education for granted and forget how lucky we are.”

Kids helping kids….their generous giving has inspired us and encouraged our partners.  Now, here is the question.  How is your heart doing?  Are you still able to find that child’s heart in the midst of busyness and pressures?  Greatness lies within so don’t lose that simple, loving heart that was yours in childhood.

We’d love to have other kids’ groups get involved under your leadership.  We have curriculum for children and staff members available who love teaching kids.  And we still have a long way to go toward raising funds for our Liberia bus.  Maybe your child’s heart would like to help in that way.  Contact us at compassioncorps@gmail.com and let us hear how you want to recapture that heart of a child that’s been buried for so long!

by Beth McMillen

“One would give generous alms if one had the eyes to see the beauty of a cupped receiving hand.”                                                                Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Time magazine (Vol. 173, No. 16) recently ran a cover story about the “New Frugality” in which it was stated, “A consumer culture invites us to want more than we can ever have, a culture of thrift invites us to be grateful for whatever we can get.”  All of us, in some way or the other, have been affected by the economic crisis that has gripped the US.  Yet in the midst of it, Compassion Corps has been truly overjoyed to see continued acts of generosity toward those in Africa who suffer so much more than we do.  On our recent trip to Mali, we stood in the middle of a village where the sand was so hot it burned our feet even through our shoes.  This village has no source of water and women must walk over an hour to another village to get the water their family so desperately needs.  All told they spend 25% of their day just retrieving water.  These kinds of experiences help us to keep our own “needs” in better perspective.

What can generosity do?  Take a look!

• 37 children in Liberia have the opportunity to be in school this semester because of scholarships purchased by many of you.
• Also in Liberia, construction has begun on the Compassion Corps’ Children’s Center that will have an impact on 300 + children in the capital city.
• 60 special needs children, the castoffs of their society, are being cared for by 3 teachers whose salary some of you have paid.
• 2 wells in the Timbuktu region received a well cap & a manual pump, making life just a little bit easier for the women of these villages and helping to keep the villagers more healthy with clean water.  (I wish you could have seen their appreciative faces when we visited them a few weeks ago…their joy was overwhelming!)
• A young man in Morocco received new prosthetic legs, & a young woman and her family are little by little building a home after being left homeless.
• Bricks were purchased to build an elementary school at the Village of Hope in Morocco that will educate 200 children.
• In Tunisia, children are enabled to attend school with the purchase of a bus ticket, & home-bound elderly receive vital care and provisions.
• The 67 children of Elijah House will receive a set of clothing to replace the rags (& I literally mean rags) that they are wearing right now.

This excerpt from a letter written to some grandparents who gave the gift of bricks for the Moroccan school building to their grandchildren sweetly gets to the heart of the matter:  “I will always remember that Christmas when I opened up the card.  I have hung the picture up on my wall and pray everyday.  That out of all was the best present I got.  It really touched my heart.  I don’t know how to thank you enough for this present.”

Our prayer & hope is that this amazing generosity will continue; that even in the midst of cutting costs, people like you will increase your giving to aid those who don’t have a spigot to turn on their water, a home to protect them from the elements, enough food for even one meal a day, or a spare set of clothing, let alone a closet full of outfits.  You may have never been able to see it, firsthand, but imagine, if you can, that cupped hand receiving your gift with a depth of gratitude that spills over in hugs and tears and laughter.  Please accept our humble thanks along with theirs.  You have made a difference….let’s keep on in this noble pursuit.

Check our Tender Hearts Club or consider becoming a part of our team!  Go to the “How To Get Involved” section here on our website.  Contact us at compassioncorps@gmail.com with questions.

by Jason Price

On every Compassion Corps trip, our workers are equipped with a sundry of items shared in common with each other’s team member.  It is almost guaranteed that in every back pack you will find an emergency roll of toilet paper, a half consumed bottle of warm water and, without fail, a digital camera and a notepad.  The water and toiletries are for the satiation of our accustomed and immediate western comforts, but the camera - that is of lasting effect.  It is the pictures, the journal entries and the good old memory that allows us to retell the stories of these short term trips in hopes of engaging your hearts.  Those images captured on film and those stories jotted on paper reshaped our lives and redirected our purpose.   We need to share and hope to inspire.  We caught a bug and I believe it to be infectious.

I’m sure it is safe to say that most, if not all of you reading this have sat through one of our extensive slide show presentations, with picture after picture exhibiting the many faces of North Africans whom we have flown many miles to serve.  You’ve intently gazed upon the innocence of an orphan, the determined countenance of a Berber woman and the strain apparent on a Senegalese shepherd’s face.  You’ve heard their story and undoubtedly been affected.  That’s all it takes sometimes.  A quick anecdote and a digital image and your heart is put into action.  We are moved with compassion, but how much more moved if the image had a name.  If those pictures flying by the bed sheet movie screen were not just Orphan X, but an image equipped with a life story and a personal plea, how would you respond?  We’ve seen the result.

Back in August, 2008, we asked you to come to the aid of Rachid.  For the past three years, Rachid has been one of our Moroccan translators at our Compassion Corps summer camps.  Each day at camp, Rachid herds 30-50 children from station to station.  He loyally leads the way from crafts all the way down the hill to sports and back up the hill, leading capricious children to the games field.  In fact, every translator does this; it is part of the job.  It is only Rachid that does this on two prosthetic legs.  It came to our attention last year that Rachid was walking on legs that had become compacted and in dire need of replacement.  Having been a part of our team the previous two years, Rachid approached one of our team members and ask for help.  Would we be willing to help him raise the money he needed to get new legs?  I hope that his confidence in asking such a delicate question was asserted with his assurance of our friendship.  What did he see in us?  I hope he saw extraordinary love and concern motivated by genuine compassion.  This turned out to be a success story for both Rachid and you.  It was because of your response to a face in a picture, a story in type and a name to recite that we could help give Rachid two new prosthetic legs.  We thank you.

We work in a unique environment.  Our voices are soft, but our message is loud and designed to be clear. Even without proclamation, compassion finds its way to the heart of another.

by Jan Bean

The ratio of We’s to I’s is the best indicator of the development of a team.
Lewis B. Ergen

No, it is not “core”, meaning what would be at the heart of compassion, or “corpse”, as some pronounce it (a less than lovely image!)… It is an unusual word with a silent “p” and a silent “s.” The choice of the word “corps” for our name was made after much deliberation, as we sought to capture the essentials of our identity in the fewest words possible.

Many of you know that I was a Latin teacher for 5 years, and that I have an insatiable delight of languages. I love words and especially love to study word origins and meanings. I taught my students that the Latin word, “corpus”, means “body”, and from it we get the derivative, “corps”, which is used as a military term. The Roman legions were renowned for employing specialized bodies of soldiers who, when working together in excellent precision advanced their empire over thousands of miles and hundreds of people groups. Our English word, “corps,” surely calls to mind the urgency and intentionality of military action. Enlisting a corps of devoted souls with the energy and drive of an army, intent on carrying good news of love and peace and hope along with substantiating deeds of compassion to those in great need would certainly be a worthy enough aim.

Equally important to us, though, is the inherent meaning of “corpus” as a “body”, in our case, a body of concerned individuals, a living and growing network of those who would purposefully join together to make a difference. Thus we aim to engage our “corp”orate body in the business of loving – in our case, loving the least loved in Northern Africa. Each member of our corpus is just as essential as the next; a head is only as good as it has hands and feet to fulfill its work, and a mouth to express its intentions, and a back to carry the burden of its conceived responsibilities.

Our “Amazing Grapes” event of this past fall is a perfect illustration of how our Corps functions healthily and effectively. Just look at many of our essential body parts in action:

Jason, willing hands doing hours of set up and take down & a willing voice to serve as emcee; Ruth, getting there early to use her eye for detail to see that all the jewelry was arranged well in the marketplace and all the tables were ready; Craig (my husband), shuttling seemingly endless boxes of crafts and supplies to Gap and allowing his living room to be “Amazing Grapes Central” for weeks in advance; Lois, Barry & Jared, using their artistic talents and voices to prepare the slide program about Mali and their generous hearts to provide the costs for the Alternative Gift Cards; Chris, inspiring us with his passionate heart to see water brought to West Africa and working tirelessly on the website to help be a cyber voice for our work; Marge (enlisting her sister), sewing up over a hundred little bags for the coffee promo effort as well as some of the tablecloths, and using her creative hands in other ways to help with last-minute decorating; Kathy, gifted with an artistic hand, writing out the lengthy menu on our dinner board and adding finishing touches to each table; Alison, a master scrapbooker, lending her talents to preparing some of the country displays and helping Ruth & Cassie get all of the crafts inventoried; Deborah, enlisting her entire small group to help cut out the fabric for our tablecloths & do some tedious prep work; Chip & Trudy, showing their servant’s hearts as they assembled countless tags & labels on 200 water bottles for the West Africa fundraiser; Carla, gracing our event with a warm smile and welcoming greeting at the door for each person who arrived; Rita, Laura & Karen, creating all of the pretty centerpieces by working the grapevine and fruit with their creative hands; Mark, Ben and Matt, bringing the authentic sounds of Africa to us as they played their djembes and rallied our hearts; Al & Beth, helping behind the scenes to direct guests out in the parking area; Janet, Laurie D. & Kate, donating “think time” as we brainstormed the event details in advance; Dianna, Ellen, Mark M., Joe, Sara, Suzanne, Ed, Lori, Wes and many of the folks above, jumping in to help set up, make or serve tea, serve food or beverages, clean or pack up…so many hands and so much joyful service; Ed & Sarah, laboring in the kitchen making unique dishes at an amazing discount; Tim & Melissa, donating the use of their beautiful greenhouse & grounds;  BJ, Sheila & Alex,  giving of their time and energy to drive from NYC to bring us challenging messages; 12 generous table sponsors, enabling 125 people to be blessed by the event & hopefully inspired into action; and then there was Beth, at the heart of things, organizing and laboring on everything from the crafts to the decorations, to the set up, to the alternative gifts, to the slide presentations…

What a team! Andrew Carnegie said, “Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.”  What a privilege to be one part of a body of ordinary people making an extraordinary impact!

Carpe diem, Corpus Compatiens!

by Chris Carr

Timbuktu, Mali, is clearly like no other city in the world.  There is a famous quote that says “only in Timbuktu is the water not wet”. When you land in Timbuktu you can clearly understand why quotes like that are famous. Timbuktu is a large, sandy village surrounded by a desert that feels endless. The days are hot. The conditions are hard. Poverty is everywhere you look. But you would never know that by the people who live there. Never have I met a more resilient group of people than the people who live in this region…they are truly amazing.

“Everywhere we looked we saw Malaria”
The main purpose of our trip was to serve as many people as possible in Timbuktu and the desert communities that surrounded the city through a medical clinic. We had two nurses and a nursing student who traveled from the US, along with an American medic who lives and serves in Mali who had the noble task of treating individuals who most likely will never see medical attention in their entire lives. We also worked alongside a native Malian doctor who took the job of treating his people very seriously. The rest of us served in the pharmacy busily filling the many prescriptions that came our way.

Over the course of our 14 days in Mali, we would serve 1500 men, women, and children in six medical clinics. Several of the clinics were in nomadic Tuareg camps in the Sahara Desert. People were coming for miles just to be served, and the lines to see a doctor/nurse were just unreal.  The poverty and malnutrition was staggering. It seemed as if every child, every mother and every father had malaria.

“Water, water under us but rarely a drop to drink”
One of the most prominent issues that poor people face in the desert is the lack of access to clean drinking water. The strange part of  Timbuktu is that due to its close proximity to the Niger River they are standing above one of the biggest water tables in all of Western Africa.  The people there know that the water is right below their feet but the cost to drill down to this water is beyond their reach. Imagine generations of people whose lives will be completely different if they had access to some of the most basic needs you and I share.

Two of the villages that were served by our medical team were also the recipients of two new well caps & pumps. These communities have had access to water through an existing well but have not had the benefit of purely clean water.  These wells had no cover, no protection from the elements, and no ability to keep sand, debris and rocks from falling into the drinking water. The women did not have buckets with which they could properly draw water. They would use a bag made of animal skin to pull the water up the well to the surface.  The bags were broken and dysfunctional. The water that was retrieved was commonly full of mud, sticks and rocks. Imagine working for hours just for water, then having to clean all of the contaminants out before you can provide it for your family. This is the daily struggle of most Malian women.  One of the highlights of the trip surely was seeing the women, particularly at Ala Amgalalay, dance & clap & sing at the well when they saw us coming.

Thank You
It is for reasons like these that partners like yourselves are invaluable. With your support we were able to serve a very large number of people both with temporary medical care and with a pump and cover for each well. Not only have we saved women hours of time each day but we have also provided a system through the re-fitted wells to provide clean drinking water for those who have none. Without your love, care, and support none of this would be possible.

You can see from this excerpt of Chris’ trip report that the work of Compassion Corps continues to affect the lives of North Americans as well as bring hope & relief to many in Africa.  He told us it was the best trip he’s ever been on!

by Jan Bean

“Engaging hearts”…one of the driving purposes of Compassion Corps…what does this look like, and how difficult is it?

In the USA, the hearts, souls, and pocketbooks of many Americans are “engaged” in the pursuit of pleasure or “entangled” in the briars of busy-ness. Upon hearing of the great needs of our neighbors in West Africa, most of us can do no more than sigh or hastily send off a check. But to learn of poverty, extreme suffering, and destruction of political, economic, and social infrastructure as a result of prolonged civil war and to determine to do something about it – this is noteworthy! This is “engagement” of heart.

First Baptist Church of Collingdale, PA, a predominantly Caucasian church, learned firsthand about the horror and devastation being endured in Liberia, West Africa, through the stories shared with them by Liberian men and women who visited the church and sought to take refuge in the U.S. Some of them settled in Collingdale and became a part of their church family. Awareness grew of how families of these Liberian brothers and sisters were still suffering and making courageous efforts to rebuild their nation and churches after the war ended, and the hearts of church members began to prompt them to do something to help. Hearing of their concern, the pastor of Lighthouse Baptist Church in Monrovia, Liberia, extended and invitation to Pastor Perry Messick of FBC Collingdale to come and to bring a team who would be able to teach, train, and encourage them.

Almost simultaneously, but completely unaware of their neighbor church’s newfound commitment, First Baptist Church of Oakeola, an African - American Church, felt moved to step out in a gesture of compassion for brothers and sisters in Liberia. They, too, had learned of the hardships faced by Liberian brethren through new members who had fled from the war-torn land. Pastor Lonnie Herndon had received an invitation, similar to Pastor Messick’s, from the pastor of a different church in Monrovia – Providence Baptist.

Just over a year ago, at a combined service, the two Collingdale-area pastors shared their concern for Liberia with one another. They immediately began to sense that their mutual endeavors were no coincidence. They had actually been forming a local neighbor-church partnership in community outreach and music ministry, and now considered how they might serve in Africa together. They wondered if this might not be the perfect way to communicate the transforming power of sacrificial love as two churches lay aside ethnic differences, join hands, learn to appreciate one another and to work together to serve those in critical need of hope, forgiveness, and restoration?

Over the past year a combined team from the two churches met monthly to prepare for the journey of love to Liberia that finally took place from June 4th -16th, 2008. Pastor Messick, knowing of Compassion Corps’ experience in West Africa, asked Jan and Beth to assist the 16-member team administratively and to help carry out training and activities for men, women and children while on the field. What a privilege it was to help facilitate their efforts, and what a thrill for each one who was able to participate, to feel more fully alive as lives, souls, and treasures were invested in a labor of selfless love.

While in Liberia the near-daily meetings were filled to overflowing, and one wondered if all of Monrovia wasn’t encouraged by the powerful, joyful songs that erupted from every gathering. What a hopeful sound for those who have for so long fought against the inner haunting of bitterness, remorse, and fear.

Beth organized a day of fun and games for the area children, and each member of the team was assigned a duty, whether it was running a carnival game, mobilizing relays, serving snacks, telling stories, or just doing crowd control. It was the first event of its kind at the church; the kids were completely delighted, and the church children’s workers gained the vision, resources and encouragement they need to continue serving the hundreds of impoverished children in their region.

The team grew in understanding of the magnitude of the economic devastation and needs as they traveled to the far north and west of the country on two excursions. Visits were made to regions that had endured some of the worst conflicts of the recent war. There they would be honored to meet courageous Liberian men and women who are rebuilding schools, running orphanages, and rehabilitating former child soldiers; there they would feel their hearts awakening and yearning to do something – anything - to help. For many days and now weeks afterwards, thoughts of these things weigh heavily and promises both made and unspoken agitate for faithful and compassionate action in the year ahead.

A heart that is engaged in selfless acts of love for those in need is never quite satisfied with lesser things afterwards. It is a taste of joy that leaves us longing for more…

by Beth McMillen

On any given Sunday morning around the United States you can turn on your television and watch some of the most compelling, heart wrenching shows there are.  You know what I mean.  As a beautiful song plays in the background your eyes are besieged with images of babies that are so thin there is nothing left of them or stomachs bloated because of the worms inhabiting their tiny little bodies.  The camera zooms in and you see a child with flies surrounding his eyes and it makes you flinch because the little one doesn’t even seem to realize they are there at all.  The images are painful and the question arises:  what do you do when you see such things?

Some of us never watch these programs.  When we see one on the TV we quickly find an interesting sermon or an old episode of “I Love Lucy” on TV Land.  Some of us watch with a feeling akin to hopelessness.  There are so many children.  There are so many needs.  Even now with cyclones in Burma and earthquakes in China we can feel completely overwhelmed because the need is greater than ourselves.  And some, like myself, force ourselves to watch because this is a true reality show.  As the tears stream down our faces we wonder how simple folks like ourselves can make a difference when there are literally thousands upon thousands in need of hope.

The fact is, we can make a difference even if it affects only one life, with compassionate concern lived out one person at a time:  one woman who longs for relief from constant back pain, one man who needs sunglasses for his dry & hurting eyes, one child whose face is covered with dirt and dust in need of physical touch.  This is what we experienced in a real life drama in Timbuktu, Mali, one of the world’s poorest cities.

Our little medical team was serving the people that live in the Belt of Misery, a region full of squatters’ huts that surrounds the city.  The people there have no easily accessible water, no sanitation, and little availability to the food needed to feed their large families.  We saw middle-aged men and women who looked elderly.  We saw children with ringworm covering their heads and eyes so red from dust that is made us squirm with discomfort.  We saw women whose feet were so cracked and dry that just giving them lotion brought a smile from ear to ear.  And then we saw him.

He was brought in by a neighbor friend because the mother had to remain at home with his twin brother.  He could have been on any Sunday morning TV show, but there he was in front of our eyes.  He was a perfectly formed little boy, ten fingers and ten toes, a precious little face, and beautiful dark hair.  But he was dying right there before us.  His breathing was so shallow that it was imperceptible, his body so thin that the tip of a sock fit as a hat on his little head.  He was unable to breastfeed and was literally starving to death.  Our doctors quickly went to work giving him the simplest life saving technique -a rehydrating fluid fed to him drop by drop from an ear syringe. Little by little his breathing became steadier and he was stable enough to be taken to the hospital and placed on an IV which our doctors paid for, along with his twin brother.

He is only one child after all, but he is a child who is alive today because we didn’t “change the channel” or throw up our hands in overwhelming hopelessness.  He was sick and we cared for him.  And who knows what great things might be in store for that one life!

On a side note, sadly his little brother passed away just a few days later.  The story that is circulating is that the baby for whom the team intervened is miraculously still alive.  In the grim reality of malnutrition, sickness, disease and death, we are thankful to have served as channels of life and hope for many.

by Beth McMillen

In the United States, 1.8 million elderly live in nursing homes.  In Africa, no such entity exists.  The elderly and infirmed live at home with their families.  In North Africa, this may mean that an elderly stroke victim may have to lie on some mats or a bed all day while their family members have to go off to work or school.  Or it may mean an accident victim in his mid-thirties will develop bed sores because he has no one who can change his position for him as he is unable to do it for himself.  Or a man whose legs are so swollen that they are almost unrecognizable must drag himself to the “bathroom” or suffer the embarrassment and inconvenience of incontinence.

Enter onto the scene a 50-something dynamo of a man, small of stature, but huge of heart who has decided that he wants to do works of compassion in these later years of his life.  Having diabetes himself, nothing stops him as he begins to really see the needs all around him in the large, rather prosperous city that he lives in.  First he notices the many children who don’t go to school simply because their families cannot afford the bus pass that every child must have to journey to school.  He begins to buy bus passes and little ones are now getting educated.  Then his eyes fall on children with special needs who for so long have been looked on with shame.  He arranges an opportunity for them to watch a Korean dance troupe perform and children who had barely moved for months are now swinging back and forth and laughing with glee.

But then his attention is captured first by a young man who has fallen from a ladder and is now a quadriplegic.  He has been in bed since the accident and the bed sores on his buttocks are so deeply infected that it takes months of care before they heal.  This one relationship then develops into others and our friend begins to visit precious elderly men and women who are just longing for a little bit of dignity.  It comes to him that simple things like Depends, jugs of water, and fans to ward off the afternoon heat are just little ways of showing unconditional love.  And it’s not just the things.  It’s the love in a person that comes with it-a smiling face, a warm handshake, someone other than family who actually cares to make them feel like a person.  Put simply, it’s loving your neighbor.

What happens when people begin to extend love in compassionate, caring ways?  It becomes contagious to others.  This man noticed that some of his elderly friends needed some medical care as well.  He persuaded a local doctor to begin going with him to do a few checkups.  It so touched her that now she has “adopted” some of these people and goes to see them on a regular basis.  He is multiplying himself as others see and hear of his work and want to help make a difference too.

He does need our help though.  The Depends cost about $70 a month in country which provides 2 Depends a day for one person.  It’s a little thing that makes a huge difference in someone’s life.  Think of the people in your own world whose dignity you guard so carefully.  Would you consider doing the same for another son or daughter who can’t afford the very thing that would bring some sense of self-respect to their mother or father?  Please contact us for more details.