Do you make meals or buy food at the store with your parents? Kids all over the world help their families just like you do — in lots of important ways! Sometimes it can be hard to buy food where they live, so here’s how these kid leaders make sure their families have enough to eat!
Nicole's Pig Farm (El Salvador)
This is 9-year-old Nicole (pictured left) and her sister Mabel. Their family raises pigs and sells them to pay for food and other needs, like school costs. (Where they live in El Salvador, families often have to pay a fee for kids to go to school.) Their dad had to sell all their pigs because they didn’t have enough money. Thankfully, someone donated to Nicole’s Compassion center to help her family buy more pigs.
Now, Nicole helps care for 16! She is happy to help since she knows that the pigs are the reason her family has food every day. Nicole likes to think about what she wants to be when she grows up because she knows the pigs will keep her in school. She can study long enough to get a good job someday. If she has kids, they won’t be hungry. All because of pigs!
Hosiana's Harvest (Tanzania)
Hosiana has big dreams. At age 11, she already wants to be a teacher! A few years ago, Hosiana was just worried about what she would eat for dinner. Her grandmother was selling vegetables from her garden to buy food for Hosiana, since she needed other food besides just what they grew. But there still wasn’t enough money.
Then Hosiana’s Compassion center gave her grandmother another garden! Hosiana helped her grandmother plant seeds and water them. Soon, the vegetables grew big enough to harvest and sell. With the extra money they are now earning, Hosiana has enough to eat. She can keep going to classes at school. One day she will teach a class of her own!
Ten-year-old Alongkorn wakes up when it gets light. He has eggs to collect! He helps his family make money selling eggs from ducks on their farm. Alongkorn knows how important his job is. Before Compassion gave his family supplies and training for their farm, he often wondered if he would have food the next day. Now, the family grows lots of food, and Alongkorn’s ducks lay eggs to eat and sell. He has enough to share with children at his Compassion center!
Chickens for Valentina (Mexico)
Valentina is 6 years old, and she lives in Mexico. Listen as she tells you about a gift from Compassion that changed her life!
“Do you want to know something cool about my family? We own a chicken farm. It’s true!” Valentina says. Her Compassion center gave the family cute, fluffy chicks so they could start a chicken farm. “I still remember the day when we received the first 50 little chicks,” she says. Her mom learned about caring for chickens from an expert at the Compassion center. Valentina helped give food and water to the chickens before she went to school each day. Soon, her family had 700 chickens! Valentina always has enough food because her family can eat the chickens or sell their eggs for money.
In Indonesia, where Marisya lives, catfish is a tasty food to eat for dinner. But 10-year-old Marisya knows that’s not the only thing catfish are good for! She and her brother Dika are sponsored through Compassion, and their center helped them start a catfish farm.
Now, Marisya works hard with Dika feeding and caring for the catfish. She knows the money they make will provide food for her family. When Marisya grows up, she will have enough money to go to school. Selling catfish is a lot more fun for Marisya than just eating them!
Gilbert Cares for God's World (Kenya)
10-year-old Gilbert lives in Kenya, where many families farm to have something to eat every day. But the land around Gilbert’s home hadn’t been taken care of, so his family wasn’t able to grow enough food. His Compassion center started a program to plant trees, which makes the ground better for growing things. More trees keep good soil from being washed away by rain, so Gilbert decided to begin watering baby trees to help. He knows that more trees mean that his family will have more food. “My teacher kept telling us that it is because of trees that we have a nice climate and clean air. I liked this very much. I am happy to be taking care of God’s creation,” he says.
Emiliana Bakes a Difference (Ecuador)
Emiliana lives in a village high up in the mountains of Ecuador. People from her village often have a hard time making enough money to buy food every day. They are too far away from big cities with lots of jobs. But 10-year-old Emiliana is not going to let that stop her! She will be able to provide for her family when she grows up because she wants to be a baker.
Emiliana’s Compassion center just started a class to teach kids how to bake. When she gets older, Emiliana can use what she learns in the class to make bread to sell. With the money she’ll be able to earn, she can buy other foods (like fruit and meat), clothes and other things she needs!
Clarisse's Special Bank Account (Burkina Faso)
Twelve-year-old Clarisse’s family lives in a village in Burkina Faso, where most people raise animals and grow food on farms. One day, Clarisse received a gift from her sponsors, Nathan and Kristin. With the gift, Clarisse and her family decided to buy two sheep. Now she has 12 sheep and two lambs!
Clarisse’s dad calls them her “bank account.” A bank account is where someone can keep money until they need to use it. If Clarisse needs to buy food, a new dress or medicine if she gets sick, she can sell one of her sheep. Clarisse wants to be a hairstylist when she gets older. With her special bank account, she can!
Piyeston the Chef (Sri Lanka)
Piyeston, age 14, loved cooking with his mom. He looked forward to creating meals for his family. But in Sri Lanka, many families like Piyeston’s don’t have food every night. Thankfully, Piyeston’s Compassion program taught him and his friends about jobs they can do when they grow up. He realized that he could be paid to make meals for other people by becoming a chef! Piyeston decided that he would be a chef when he is old enough so he can feed his own family too. He started learning how to cook like a chef. Soon, he could be making fancy meals at restaurants!