Shine Fm Blog

Ecuador Child Survival Program

Wednesday we traveled to a CSP, a Child Survival Program (I had no idea Compassion
did more than the child sponsor program)!!

The CSP´s are for mothers who are expecting or who have children 3 and under.
It is an amazing program that provides mothers with support. Care providers make
home visits to the mothers in the programs, all of which live in extreme poverty,
and teach them how to care for their children.
They bring in basic food supplies every month, they teach moms how to feed their
children, how to help them develop their senses and skills with games, books and
activities. They encourage the mothers (many are single moms) to keep the living
environment clean and healthy for their families and children.
And all the efforts pay off as we know they would. Children in the program show
signs of higher learning and better adaptation to their environment. They thrive
more and are healthier.

We traveled to one of the mothers homes. It was sad to see the environment they have
to live in. Literally, it was a square shack made of wood beams and metal siding and
roof. One room inside with two beds, a small cooking area and a bit of storage. They
did have a fridge, but it didn´t work and they basically used it to store
food...but not refrigerate it. The good thing was that this mother was working hard
to keep it as clean and healthy as possible for her family.

Wednesday was also a very touching day for me personally as I had the privilege of
sponsoring a young boy in the project we visited. His name is Eddy Rodriguez. He had
been waiting for a sponsor for over 2 years. I was blessed to be able to meet him in
person as well as his mother. He was elated to be sponsored, I was blessed to have
been able to do so and his mother who was there was thrilled to know that her son
now will have so many more opportunities in his life because of Compassion and all
the Churches that run the Compassion programs. (I will post pictures as soon as I am
back)
Eddy is 8, turning 9 on September 12th...he is less than a year older than my son
Tanin. He loves playing hide-and-seek and soccer.