Around the world, kids sleep in many types of beds, rooms and situations. Some kids sleep on mattresses while others sleep on mats or in hammocks. For kids who live in poverty, bedtime can get crowded. Lots of family members may have to share a bed because they can’t afford more furniture or rooms. This can make it hard to sleep.
It’s important for kids to get enough sleep so they can have energy to learn and play at school. They need a safe, warm place to dream while they sleep so they can daydream about their futures when they’re awake.
Let's travel around the world to see how kids sleep at night!
This family lives in a small home in Brazil. Kauan, 6, shares this room and bed with his brothers Marcos Alexandre, 9, and Marcos Winicius, 13. Here they are on the bed with their mom and sister, who have a different bed. Sometimes the brothers feel too crowded at night, so they take turns sleeping in a hammock instead.
Speaking of hammocks … baby Sathinee is taking a peaceful snooze at home in Thailand. Sathinee’s family lives in poverty and can’t afford everything they need to be healthy and happy. So they receive help from Compassion, which makes sure Sathinee and her mom get food, vitamins and doctor checkups.
What do you think baby Sathinee is dreaming about? Draw a picture of it and ask an adult to take a photo of it and email it to [email protected]. We may feature it in a future issue of Compassion Explorer Magazine.
[Jacob] had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. — Genesis 28:12
In the Bible, God speaks to lots of people through their dreams. Read more about Jacob’s and Joseph’s important dreams in Genesis chapters 20 through 42.
This is Yorith and her brother Luis on their new bed at home in Colombia. They used to sleep on an old, used mattress that was uncomfortable and infested with bugs. Yorith used to cry because she had trouble sleeping in the bed, which gave her painful sores. But her mom could not afford a new one. They got help from Yorith’s Compassion center, which bought them a new one!
“Since the center gave me my mattress, I sleep well,” Yorith says. “I do not want to wake up in the morning. I do not want to stop sleeping in there. It is soft and comfortable.”
Sisters Yosaira and Ilsa learned how to pray at their Compassion center in the Dominican Republic. Now they pray every morning and night in their bed. The bed they share may look unusual, but there’s a good reason it’s lifted up. The concrete blocks help keep their bed dry if the nearby river floods. They store letters from their sponsors under their mattress to keep them safe.
An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” — Matthew 1:20-21
Ana, 11, reads one of her sponsor’s letters on the bed she shares with her older sister each night in Brazil. “When I read my sponsor’s letters, I feel so loved,” she says. “She makes me feel so special.”
Look closely at Ana’s room, and ask yourself:
- What do you see?
- How is it similar to yours?
- How is it different?
When 7-year-old Brighton got sick with a serious fever last year, his mom took him to a doctor. They learned that Brighton had malaria. It’s a disease caused by mosquitoes in certain parts of the world, including in Kenya where Brighton lives. He got medicine to help him heal, and now he sleeps under a net to keep out mosquitoes.
What Is Malaria?
- Malaria is a life-threatening illness spread to humans by some types of mosquitoes.
- There were about 247 million cases worldwide in 2021.
- It’s mostly found in tropical countries. It’s not a danger in the U.S.
Geremy, 9, used to sleep on a quilt on the floor. He and his mom were thankful for the quilt, which a friend gave to them. Still, Geremy woke up each day with aches and pains. Then his mom took a class at Geremy’s Compassion center in the Dominican Republic, where she learned to make mattresses — including this one Geremy now sleeps on! “Now I can sleep comfortably, and my body no longer hurts when I wake up,” says Geremy. “My mom makes the best mattresses in the world!”
Five-year-old Forgive draws a picture on her bed in Ghana. When Forgive was 1 week old, she became an orphan. Her grandmother started to raise her, but she didn’t have enough food for Forgive, who grew weak and sick. But her grandma got help from Compassion’s program at a church in their town. Today, Forgive is healthy and strong.
How often do you remember your dreams? Here’s an idea: Keep a notebook next to your bed so that when you wake up, you can write down what you dreamed about.