When it comes to giving Gifts of Compassion, there are some clear fan favourites!
In this past year, some of the most beloved gifts to give included Bicycles, Academic Scholarships in El Salvador, Food for Malnourished Children and Backyard Farming, to name a few.
But, there were also some that were, well…unpopular gifts.
Do you want to know what our most and least popular gifts have in common? They’re both equally impactful in releasing children from poverty in Jesus’ name!
Sometimes, the lack of understanding of their power and impact causes these amazing gifts to fly under the radar. So today, we wanted to share some of our most unpopular, ungifted gifts and give you the inside scoop on how amazing they really are.
Here are the top 3 unpopular gifts that need your love!
3. Body Image and Self-Esteem: A Workshop for Teen Girls in Brazil
Body Image and Self-Esteem: A Workshop for Teen Girls comes in at number three for one of our unpopular gifts.
Did you know that Brazil is ranked as the worst country in South America in terms of girls’ development (Save the Children)? Factors like child marriage begin a cycle of disadvantages and deny girls the opportunities for learning, development and just being kids.
The Body Image and Self-Esteem workshops are working to reverse this tragic reality by empowering 5,000 girls to see their worth and pass that along to the next generation!
Through workshops covering topics like self-esteem and self-worth, mentorship, income generation, honour, development and teen pregnancy, Compassion’s local leaders in Brazil are confident this gospel-centred content will work to reverse the mistreatment of girls in Brazil and allow them to change the story for themselves, their daughters and their daughter’s daughters.
Imagine the impact empowered girls can make!
2. New Classrooms and Community Kitchen in Honduras
Coming in at number 2 for least popular gifts is New Classrooms and Community Kitchen in Honduras.
Today, due to the amazing growth of the programs, two Compassion centres in Honduras lack sufficient facilities for their program. One centre does not have a dedicated kitchen.
Food given to children at the centre is prepared at the pastor’s home and transported, which presents a number of risks and complications to the process. The pastor is also not always at home as he is attending to other duties, which can result in meal delays.
In addition, at the other centre, there are not enough classrooms to accommodate the 343 attending children. This means that children must attend their classes in spaces that are either shared with other groups or learn on uncomfortable and unhygienic cement floors. Overcrowding in the classrooms causes much disruption and distraction, making it difficult for children to concentrate and learn.
Once fully funded, this gift will ensure a brand-new facility kitchen is built at one Compassion centre and three additional classrooms are built in the other, allowing for safe environments for Compassion kids to eat, learn and grow in!
1. Disaster Preparedness Training
If you are one to cheer for the underdog, this would be your contender! Disaster Preparedness Training stands at number one as our least popular gift. At the time of writing this blog, this powerful gift is truly flying under the radar at just 4 per cent funded.
Floods in the states of Pernambuco and Maranhao—where the 13 Compassion centres impacted by this gift are located—have become increasingly recurrent. However, there is no adequate infrastructure in place to serve communities affected by floods.
In May of 2022, Pernambuco had its greatest flood in history, leaving the city underwater. Neighbourhoods were left without power, 9,302 were left homeless and 43 landslides caused 22 missing people and 135 deaths. Tragically, public resources to serve these poorer regions in Brazil are scarce. Communities must often find solutions to disasters on their own.
So, for this very reason, Compassion Brazil has set out to equip and enable its neighbours to respond to these disasters. Thirteen of Compassion’s church partners will increase resilience to disasters through preparedness training. The training will include a contingency plan focused on coping with floods specific to the community, first aid and accident prevention. Also, the training distributes basic equipment to help locals with disaster preparation.
Surely this is community development at its finest!
Each gift featured in Gifts of Compassion is specifically chosen by our church partners across the globe. They represent the needs that are the most current and pressing. By giving any one of these gifts, you are directly impacting a community in poverty in a specific and targeted way. You can be confident that with any gift you give, you are changing the lives of children in poverty!
