Anna the Advocate

Anna, age 11, Ohio

Anna thinks everyone should be an advocate — a person who speaks up for someone else. By teaching people why kids living in poor countries have tough lives and by suggesting ways to help, Anna is an advocate for children in need. She inspired people at her church to become sponsors by explaining how Compassion’s program helps protect kids from danger.

Anna, fourth from left, and her sisters made friends in Honduras.

“To be an advocate you need a little bit of courage, confidence, faith, perseverance and knowledge in what you are doing,” Anna wrote in an essay posted on her family’s website.

To meet some of the children she speaks up for, Anna traveled with her parents, sisters and grandma to Honduras in 2014. There, they met two kids they sponsor and visited the Compassion center where registered children eat, learn, play and pray. After returning from Honduras, Anna inspired her Sunday school class to sponsor a child!