We go to an Experience

Compassion Experience, Fashion Fair Mall, Fresno, California

I really need to get my passport renewed. Not that I have any place to go right now, but if something should come up, I’d like to be ready. Still, I didn’t need it to go to the Dominican Republic, the Philippines, and Uganda earlier this month. For that, we only had to go to the Fashion Fair mall’s parking lot.

Compassion International, a charity that allows people to sponsor poor children in other nations, hosted the four day event. Through this multi-media, immersive presentation, people to take a virtual tour of the life of a child in another part of the world. Compassion sends specially equipped trailers throughout the country to raise awareness of the needs of children in impoverished portions of the world. This trailer was open for Fresno-area people to visit from Friday through Monday.

We went to with our niece, Sarah, on Sunday after church. As we went inside, we had to choose the appropriate line: one for people who had signed up online ahead of time, and the other for dropins like us who hadn’t wanted to commit to a time. When it was our turn, we were asked if we had a preference for which experience we’d prefer; we said would take whichever had space available (each experience takes about twenty minutes). A minute or two later, we were sent on the Jonathan path to hear the story of a boy from the Dominican Republic.

On the provided iPod and earphones, we heard a child actor give a first person account of his life. As directed, we went from room to room, starting with the narrator's childhood home. We learned about his growing up, and about how a Compassion Center had been instrumental in his education, his health, and his survival. We learned that this care was made possible financially by a donor in another country. In the final room, the voice of the real Jonathan, now grown, took over for the actor. He told about his current productive life and about how much he owes to the people who gave to him through Compassion.

You know how in an amusement park ride, the ride ends in the gift shop? With The Compassion Experience, you  where end up in a room where you have the opportunity to sponsor a child, choosing from children from a number of countries.

One wall has a large map showing the countries where Compassion cares for children. (One country without Compassion’s work right now is India -- not because there aren’t still many children in great need in that nation, but because the current government of India has closed the country to outside aid.) We were there on the third day, and we were told that of the 150 children up for sponsorship that weekend, only about 50 remained.  

We made a second visit on Monday and took the two other tours, the story of Olivia in Uganda and the story of Kiwi in the Philippines (there are a number of other stories, too, but these three were available in Fresno this time). As we were getting ready to leave, we saw a group of students and teachers who we assume were visiting for a social studies or world geography class.

On our second visit, we noticed that some people working in the trailer were wearing blue shirts and some were wearing green shirts. We learned that the blue shirts (such as Scott, who talked to us in the sponsorship room) are local volunteers. The green shirts are people who work for Compassion and tour with The Compassion Experience (we met workers from Kentucky and Texas who’d been on the road, they said, for four or five months so far this year). This may not have been (strictly speaking) a church service, but many churches (and church people) support this and similar ministries. We wanted to make sure you were aware of this good thing.

Your Turn

We were surprised how connected we felt with the children profiled in the Compassion Experience, just by walking through three rooms, hearing a story, and learning how a relatively small donation could literally change a child’s life for the better, providing education, medical care, and a chance to meet Jesus. Technology can help us communicate and understand each other: how can it be harnessed for the good of these children?

There are many other organizations that have child sponsorship programs: World Vision, Samaritan’s Purse, and Save the Children are well-known. Last year, we visited the annual leadership meeting for Global Fingerprints. An acquaintance involved with their work recently posed this question for those who already sponsor a child with any organization: “What would allow you to feel more involved with your child?”

What suggestions do you have for allowing caring people to become more connected with those -- especially children -- they want to help?