Some hilarious parent posted a photo on social media that said, “How I disguise my snacks from the lazy, unemployed people who live here.” In her hand, she holds an ice cream sandwich, hidden behind a large leaf of lettuce. Her children play in the background, oblivious. Funny, right? I laughed too.
Later, I imagined what it might be like to show that picture with its caption to a family living in a place where children must work. Where if the entire family isn’t employed, they starve. Where the parent may not have eaten today because they gave their share to the child. No one in that family would understand the joke.
Experts predict half a billion more people are at risk of being pushed into extreme poverty due to the impact of Covid-19. My goal in sharing this is not to make you feel guilty if you’ve been able to eat and feed your family today. Rather, I want to encourage you. You can do more than you think from home to help those in dire circumstances, thanks to people in the trenches who were already doing great work before the pandemic hit.
You can read a wonderful example on Compassion Canada’s website which describes how a woman named Meseret and her 15-year-old daughter, Saron, sold everything they could and took any work just to cover another month’s rent on their tiny, primitive dwelling. Eventually, they were evicted. Meseret felt reluctant to turn to the Compassion center that Saron had been part of since the age of five.
“I didn’t want to bother them,” she said. “They’d already done so much when they provided food support for us at the start of the pandemic. I’ve always believed in working and overcoming my problems, but I knew I could not overcome this by myself.”
Then she received a call from the director of Saron’s Compassion center. She had called to check in, as she and the rest of the center staff have been doing regularly during the pandemic with all the families in their care. Compassion helped Meseret with six months’ rent on a new place—which to her, felt like six years.
“I felt seen and heard by God,” Meseret says. “Her phone call brought a sense of hope and a promise of a better tomorrow. They always know what to do.”
Wouldn’t you love to be part of those kind of stories? For the first time ever, Compassion Canada, World Vision Canada, and Food for the Hungry Canada will unite for a virtual concert led by incredible artists such as Hillsong, Toby Mac, Kirk Franklin, for KING & COUNTRY, Michael W. Smith, and more.
You can watch the concert live on Facebook or YouTube this Friday, August 28 at 7:30 p.m. Unite to Fight Poverty is a FREE two-hour concert event benefiting families in the developing world who are most vulnerable. You’ll receive an opportunity to support COVID-19 relief efforts in areas of the world with the greatest needs.
God put you here for a reason. You have a part to play in his kingdom work.
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