Sponsor with Compassion

Sponsorship means more now than ever before
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176
Days Waiting
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Desire

  • Country: Rwanda
  • D.O.B: November 25, 2018
  • Age: 3

  • Gender: Boy
403
Days Waiting
child portrait

Cícero

  • Country: Brazil
  • D.O.B: January 2, 2019
  • Age: 3

  • Gender: Boy
946
Days Waiting
child portrait

Assalwe

  • Country: Burkina Faso
  • D.O.B: January 17, 2017
  • Age: 5

  • Gender: Girl
144
Days Waiting
child portrait

Adrian

  • Country: Mexico
  • D.O.B: November 18, 2016
  • Age: 5

  • Gender: Boy
Portrait of Desire
Meet Desire
Desire is 3 years old and lives in Rwanda.
RW051600024 | Days Waiting: 176
Country: Rwanda
Birthday: November 25, 2018 (3 years old)
Gender: Boy

Desire lives with his mother and father. Desire's mother is Not Employed. Desire's father is Not Employed. Desire has 1 sibling living in the household. Desire is not required to help with family duties at home due to age. Desire's favourite activities and interests include: Art or Drawing, Dancing, Listening to stories, Marbles, and Sports. Activities that Desire enjoys through the church are: Sunday School/Church. At the compassion centre Desire's favourite activities are: Listening to Bible Stories. Desire attends school. He is in the equivalent of kindergarten. Desire's favourite subject is Reading. His performance in school is Average. Desire's family lives in the area of Kinihira in Rwanda.

Desire's Country Details

Rwanda consists mainly of grassy uplands and hills that extend southeast from a chain of volcanoes in the northwest. It is divided by several rivers and has many lakes. The climate is temperate with two annual rainy seasons.

Rwanda's population density is the highest in sub-Saharan Africa, but few live in villages or cities. Nearly every family lives in a self-contained compound. There are three Rwandan ethnic groups: The Tutsis (14 percent) are pastoral, the Hutus (85 percent) are farmers, and the Twa (1 percent) are pygmies.

For more than 400 years, Rwanda was ruled by a Tutsi monarchy. In 1959, Hutus gained control of the government. A Tutsi-led insurrection in 1990 led to bitter civil strife, which culminated in 1994 with an estimated 800,000 people being killed and 2 million fleeing to neighboring countries. A new constitution was adopted in 1995, and many refugees have since returned, but the country still struggles with the devastating effects of the war.

African children playing

Compassion’s ministry is focused on what we call holistic child development. This means developing children in all the different aspects of their lives—their minds, bodies and relationships—while giving them the opportunity to hear about and experience the love of Jesus from caring local church staff and volunteers.

How does sponsorship help kids?

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Formal and non-formal educational opportunitiesCompassion assists children with their primary school education and gives opportunities to attend secondary school, as well as providing vocational training opportunities and extra-curricular activities such as sports, field trips, music and computer training.
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Health care, hygiene training and supplementary foodKids get a healthy snack or meal when they attend program activities, receive regular health check-ups, and learn how to take care of their bodies and form healthy relationships.
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The love and support of a local church and the opportunity to hear about Jesus Because Compassion partners with local churches, children are connected to a local Christian community where they have the opportunity to hear the gospel from caring church staff and volunteers.
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Personal attention, guidance and loveChildren are cared for and invested in by members of their own communities, who encourage them to discover their unique gifts, passions and abilities. Their sponsors also play an important role in this through their prayers and letters.

How is sponsorship impacted during the COVID-19 crisis?

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we are empowering the local church to use your sponsorship donations to meet urgent and critical needs of families with children/youth registered in the program.

Funds previously used at the child development centres can now be directed as needed to children and their families for necessities like food, clean water, shelter, clothing, household items, and even medical care and trauma counselling. You can learn more about the impact of the pandemic on our program and how our staff are responding to the crisis with great faith and creativity here.

Is sponsorship still relevant during the COVID-19 crisis?

It is! In fact, sponsorship during COVID-19 is needed now more than ever as it enables us to meet the very real and urgent needs of children and their families.

Sponsorship empowers the church to serve the children we love, ensuring they have the hygiene, medication and health supplies they need to make it through the pandemic. It ensures sponsored children have the food and housing security they need as their country deals with the ongoing impact of COVID-19. And it also enables our local partners to share encouragement from the Bible, tutor and deliver programming and deliver trauma counselling in these unprecedented times.

Why do you work with local churches?

Compassion works exclusively with local churches because they know the names and faces of the children in their community and can best understand and respond to their challenges. They are known and trusted by their neighbours and are able to reach those in the greatest need with compassion and through the love of God.

We equip our local church partners with the resources, training and expertise to help children escape poverty. Each church is empowered to implement the program in a way that meets the specific needs of the children they serve. In this way the physical, spiritual, emotional and relational needs for children are met as they are empowered to overcome poverty in all its forms.

Do kids need to be Christian to be in Compassion’s program?

Absolutely not! We encourage children and families of all faiths and backgrounds to register in our programs and would never require or coerce anyone to convert to Christianity.

Learn More

At Compassion, we take financial stewardship seriously.

As certified members of the Canadian Council of Christian Charities, Compassion Canada is committed to handling the finances entrusted to us with the utmost integrity. This year, 84.7 per cent of funds were used for program activities benefiting the children we serve, and 15.3 per cent for support services.

Today, children around the world are discovering that poverty doesn’t have to be their future. Help one more do the same by sponsoring with Compassion!

Children running and smiling