Do you ever think about what it really means to live in poverty? To live in a third-world country? Many of us are not even fully aware of the dire state in which some families live in our own community. And most of us will never have the opportunity to travel to a poverty-stricken country at all.
That’s why a new event coming to Clovis this month is so interesting. The Compassion Experience is stopping at Clovis Hills Community Church from January 15th to 18th. It will bring visitors on a journey into the lives of two children living in Kenya and the Philippines whose course was changed through a Compassion International child sponsorship.
This is a fully-immersive experience in which visitors will walk through interactive recreations of these children’s homes, schools and lives while listening to them narrate their stories on an iPod with headphones. The tales don’t start out happy. There’s alcoholism, drugs and crime in their families, among other things. But through the help of Compassion, hope is introduced into their lives.
Event organizers encourage you to bring your whole family to this free event. If you’re afraid that the subject matter may be too mature for your kids, you can ask for a child appropriate version of the audio story. They like to say that if you’re old enough to wear headphones, you can learn from the Compassion Experience!
Each story takes about 20 minutes, and you can choose to do only one or both. Compassion recommends scheduling an hour for the event, because crowds and wait times fluctuate. You are encouraged to make a reservation here, but walk-ins are welcome. If you want to bring a group of 20 or more (like a youth group or a boy scout troop), e-mail changetour@compassion.com to reserve a space.
Though Compassion International is a Christian organization that specializes in facilitating people’s financial sponsorship of children in poverty and their values will be reflected in their message, their purpose in bringing the Compassion Experience to Clovis is not to push an agenda of converting people or fundraising.
“We want all our guests to feel comfortable and welcome because it’s our goal to increase awareness in each community about the realities of extreme poverty and the difference we all have the opportunity to make,” they say on their website.
According to Compassion, more than 700 million people in developing countries live on less than $1.90 per day, facing challenges most Americans never will. That’s a large portion of our world that we need to try and understand.
“We built The Compassion Experience in order to really bring the developing world to America,” Compassion’s Mark Hanlon said in a news release. “When people think of poverty, they often think of the lack of things, the lack of stuff, the lack of money. Those are all symptoms of poverty. The real issue of poverty is the lack of hope. Through our holistic child development program, Compassion stirs hope in children. And you’ll see that hope come to life at this event.”
I hope you’ll consider checking out this event just as a way to step out of your comfort zone and find out a little bit more about what it’s like to live in another person’s shoes. You can find out more about the Clovis Compassion Experience event, make reservations and ask questions here.
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