Before we go any further…it’s Mathare.

That’s MATH+(the letter)R+(the letter)E.

Imagine you’re trying to say “Mass sorry”, but you’ve got an awful lisp. Yeah…that’s it. Mathare.

Now take a look at what Mathare is.

Mathare is a slum. To be more precise, it’s the most dangerous slum in all of Kenya. It’s estimated that some 500,000 - 800,000 people live in this 3 square-mile area. There is no garbage collection. There is no running water. It is truly a disgusting sight.

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This is a store.

This is a street.

This is a home.

And this is a child. One of hundreds of thousands who live in the Mathare slums.

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We had absolutely no idea what we were getting ourselves into today. The weight of the most extreme poverty I’ve ever witnessed culminated as the stench of feces, rotting garbage, and the body odor of half a million people filled my nostrils. I stepped carefully over slippery rocks as I dodged used condoms, dead animals, and broken glass. Plastic bags known as flying toilets were everywhere. With no bathrooms to be found, we discovered that the normal process for nature’s calling in these slums consisted of expelling one’s waste into a grocery bag - swinging it around one’s head - and throwing it as far as you can. Culture dictates that wherever the bag lands is where it’s supposed to be. It doesn’t matter if it’s in someone’s home, or landing on a person. I truly wish that I were kidding.

In America, we believe that we have “slums”. We should stop believing that.

Mathare is a collection of sheet metal and cardboard homes, local businesses, and illegal operations. If there was ever a time when I regretted having my Tetanus shot renewed, it was now.

Compassion International has made it’s presence known in the slums of Mathare by setting up 3 different project areas. We visited one of those projects today. As we wound our way through the narrow openings between homes and businesses, I couldn’t help but think of this area as a living hell.

We eventually reached our destination, and when we did, I felt as if I had been holding my breath the entire way through. Finally we had reached some sort of sanctuary and I could breath again. I was never so happy in my life to reach this dingy project area.

Our spirits were conflicted as we were excited to see Compassion sponsored children moving about, and yet deeply troubled that there were Compassion sponsored children moving about. They lived there.

The room had many windows, but I have no clue why you would want to look out of them.

Beautiful children looked up at us and I found myself thanking God that they had shoes on their feet.

The heaviness of all that was around us began to lift as we got to the point of why we were there.

These children wanted to show some Compassion sponsors the difference that was being made in their lives since they have been sponsored. I can remember being excited in school when we got to break from our normal routine and host visitors of various sorts, but I was never as excited as these kids.

They even baked for us.

Then they sang for us to showcase their music classes.

Here’s a video I took of one of the songs:

Watch the video here.

They performed skits for us about crime and drug resistance.

People often wonder what their $38 a month is going towards with child sponsorship, but it’s not the easiest question to answer. What I’ve really learned during this trip is that the money goes towards whatever it needs to. Each project is different and depending on the area, it may go towards food, shelter, education, etc.. For these kids, it was clear that a lot of education was being implemented to help these children reach a goal of getting out of this place.

These kids were about as poor as you can get, but you couldn’t tell by the looks on their faces.

Psalm 34:18 says,
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

The weird part is…we were the brokenhearted! We were crushed in spirit! There was not one of us among our group that could keep tears from rolling down our faces as we saw these heroic children swim upstream towards a better existence. I could feel the compassion of God for these people as I’ve never felt before. His love and His presence filled the room and all of us were overcome with empathy.

My favorite part of the day was having plenty of time to talk with the sponsored kids about anything and everything. I had a group of 6 or 7 around me and they were firing off questions in perfect English.

“Is it true that you only study one subject at university in the United States?”

“How long do you have to go to school before you can attend college?”

“Is it winter where you are from? How cold is it?”

“What are your hobbies?”

“Do you have children? What are their names?”

“Do you sponsor children? Where are they from?”

These questions went on and on and I’ve never been so happy to be grilled in all my life. I must confess that I thought these kids would be less advanced than American children and I admit that I had that one backwards. These amazing children were getting everything out of school that they possible could.

Perhaps it is due to incredible people like Maurine and Rafael.

Maurine has just completed her fourth year in the Compassion International Leadership Development Program…or as they call it, LDP.

LDP is another opportunity for sponsored children to move on to become responsible and contributing members of society. It has to be earned, and so it places a strong emphasis on doing well in school so that you can move on to a university. Rafael has just completed his first year with LDP.

We were floored to find out that Maurine and Rafael have achieved success through sponsorship to the point that they are now volunteers with Compassion International - not only that, but they have pooled their resources with other LDP students to sponsor 10 children! They wanted to be sponsors themselves as they couldn’t imagine life without the opportunities given them through the child sponsorship program. To see something like this happening…in action…well, I’ll just say it. I cried. A lot.

To think, moving from SPONSORED to SPONSORING others. Incredible.

As we made our way out of the slums, it was interesting to see all the different containers lining the streets to collect rain water. A community of more than half a million people is living without any running water whatsoever, and yet - somehow - hope flows freely through the streets of Mathare.

One child at a time, we can change the world together. This isn’t fluff. I’ve seen it with my own eyes and you’re seeing it too. It’s time to stand up and make a difference. It’s time to do what is right and fight for those who are worth fighting for. In this case, impulse buys are a good idea.