Dignity

This week our Compassion Blog Month assignment was to write about what we feel the following sentence means to us:

The presence of dignity doesn't mean poverty is absent.


To me, this has a lot to do with Compassion International.  Just because someone is poor, doesn't mean they lack dignity.  They may work long hard hours to provide for their family, which gives them dignity in their hard work, yet with low wages, they may remain below the poverty line. 

This is also shown in the pictures of sponsored children with Compassion.  Even though their family is poor, they might have one good outfit (or borrow one) that they meticulously keep clean for church and pictures.  They wear that outfit for picture day in order to try to impress a sponsor.  Some people might look at that child and think "they don't look poor, why do they need help?" but in reality they are poor, just with a lot of dignity in how they present themselves.  They take pride in keeping their appearance as clean as they can. 

Below is a children who needs a sponsor who did just this.  They present themselves with such dignity and presence, yet are obviously below the poverty line to need the help of Compassion International.  Please consider sponsoring her today.

Fidele Afi Alokpo

She is 4 years old and was born on April 24, 2009.  She lives in Togo and has been waiting 326 days for a sponsor (you would probably be her first!).  There are 3 children in her family and she lives with both of her parents, who are sometimes farmers.  Just look at that cute yellow dress that she is showing off in.  Such a sweet girl.

Click here to learn more about Fidele