Work Attachment with Compassion International, Indonesia

Compassion International is a world-wide Christian organisation aiming to combat poverty, especially among children in villages. It was pioneered by a US Missionary in South Korea, Everett Swanson in 1952.

Now, they have already had 27 country offices and 12 partner countries, mainly in Asia, Africa, Central America and The Caribbean, and South America.

In Indonesia, they have worked together with 347 church partners, benefiting approximately 57493 children by 2010.

I was deeply impressed by their 4 main values which are strongly embraced in their way of blessing the community:
1. Christ centered
2. Child focused
3. Church based
4. Commit to integrity

To know more about this organisation and how you can contribute, please visit www.compassion.com



The picture above was shown right in front of the office. The sentence "Membangun Anak untuk Membangun Bangsa" translated to English means "Nurture a child to build a nation". It has already shown their focus on children. Through further interviews with one of the Head Department, they have a holistic programmes for children from 0-22 years old.

They have 3 main programmes, focusing in spiritual, intellectual, physical, and socio-emotional growth of the beneficiaries.
1. CSP ( Child Survival Programme) for 0-3 years old infants.
2.CDSP (Child Development Sponsorship Programme) for 3-22 years old child.

3. LDP (Leadership Development Programme) only for talented individuals to go to top universities in Indonesia.

My job throughout this work attachment was simple.

In Compassion International, every child from recipient countries (Developing countries) will have one family in sponsoring countries (developed countries) to sponsor them by giving them money every month, prices during their birthday, or cards and letters during special occasions. Since now is Christmas period, many of the sponsors write a lot of letters for their sponsored children and give different varieties of gifts, such as, stickers, cards, books, bookmarks, photos and many more.


I have to separate the letters to be translated and the gifts, put it in a special letter, and write the different code for every child in the envelope. There are 4 big boxes of letters that i need to finish with two of my other colleagues. Although it sound simple and easy, doing the same thing for 8 hours continuously for 6 days are tiring. I have to continuously remind myself that i am doing this for the children who will be very happy to receive these letters. That thought was the only driving force that keeps me going.

The picture below was the letters from 2 out of the 4 boxes that i need to separate.
The picture below is some of the letters that have been neatly separated based on sizes
This is my working space.


Here are some pictures of the gifts and letters that i took.
Overall, the biggest lesson i learnt was not from the people i worked with, but the beautiful letters i read, the gifts i saw when i separated them. They really show strong and big hearts of the sponsors who really regard these children as their own. They have taught me to always consider things from others' perspectives as some of the sponsors really think through about the presents they give and not just buy any gifts to give.

For example, one sponsor bought soccer players bookmarks and football related stickers for her child who loves soccer.
Another one bought a huge book about Moses as the child loves story of Moses.
From the stories i heard, last year one of the sponsor postponed her surgery as she wanted to spend the money to visit her child in Indonesia.

Their hearts for the poor and the lost are amazing. They willingly share their life, their family stories, and pictures, showing care and writing letters consistently. It shows what the true meaning of compassion is. Compassion is showing love and not merely love. Compassion is an action of loving.

I used to think that monetary support is more important than social and emotional support. However, as i opened those letters one by one, i imagined myself to be the children receiving them, knowing that someone on the other side of the world is loving them, i felt something that is so priceless. A feeling that cannot be bought by money. Now i realize, monetary and non-monetary supports are equally important.

At the end of the day, I am more motivated to do more for the community. When i shared some of Saints Advocate's projects with them, they are so grateful that the young people in Singapore, unlike in Indonesia, are rising up for the community. They fully support us to continue our works and be "the Ambassador of the lost".