23/07/2024
โI know this sounds extreme, but if I did not join Compassion, I would have been dead. I would have just been a statistic in the environment. So generations and generationโs of my family just being stuck. And it just becomes a cycle of endless poverty.โ
Meet David. His story is one that gives me hope when it feels like the world is so unendingly bleak. ๐
We met David on our shoot in Nairobi back in March. He actually works for Compassion International and as he led a team from the US, showing them the work that the org does, David just happened to mention that HE was a Compassion kid. โWhat?! No way!โ We came to find out that he started in the program when he was just 5 years old. He was sponsored by a Canadian man, who then sponsored him for SEVENTEEN STRAIGHT YEARS. 17 years! We then found out that Mathare, the incredibly impoverished slum we were visiting, is exactly where David grew up. ๐ฐ๐ช
This was not in the shoot plan, but I said, โWE HAVE TO TELL THIS STORY.โ Nathaniel Sigamoney agreed! Compassion agreed! And so, we captured Davidโs experience โ his hunger, his suffering, his struggle, and his eventual growth and transformation. Iโve been editing this video and crying my way through it because it is so deeply moving. It shows the power of , the power of sponsorship, the power of changing one life. Davidโs whole family made it out of Mathare because of that sponsorship. He can now help change more lives because of that sponsorship. It is impact on a generational scale.
David said he started working for Compassion because of โa passion to do exactly what someone did for me.โ YOH. We can change lives. It is possible
Yes, this is Amy, and no it won't always be me on the socials in the future. :) But I have to tell you that when I am in my darkest places, Davidโs story is the light. Fifteen years in, I am still so grateful for the good I get to see. Yes absolutely, there is deep suffering and struggle, and it is devastating and it still breaks me. And yes, there is light too.
Thank you, Compassion, for the privilege to witness and tell these stories. ๐งก
Video coming soon!