The 2021 Nazarene Compassionate Ministries Christmas Project supports children caught in crisis.
Being a teenager anywhere in the world can be a challenge. For Siva*, a 16-year-old boy who attends a child development center in Nepal, the last year and a half has been in and out of restrictive lockdowns.
Instead of growing frustrated, Siva wrote to his sponsor to tell her that he was using the time in lockdown, “as a great opportunity to learn creative things.” So, always a creative soul, Siva is teaching himself how to play the ukulele.
Daniel* has been sponsored through Nazarene Compassionate Ministries in the Philippines since he was young. When the pandemic hit, the 8th grader wanted to serve other families who were part of child sponsorship, too. And serve he did.
For the last year, he has visited the Nazarene church next-door to his house to help pack relief goods and distribute relief goods to those struggling through the necessary lockdowns. He shared that it made him happier to be able to help other children have enough to eat.
Facing a cancer diagnosis is frightening at any age. Facing it as a child is unimaginable. In Belarus, a child diagnosed with cancer often receives care at the Belarusian Research Center for Pediatric Oncology, Hematology, and Immunology. Patients come to the hospital from all over the country.
In Sri Lanka, the coronavirus-associated shutdowns and curfews are bringing extreme hardship to many residents, especially those whose businesses or factories closed down. As has become an increasingly familiar story, people were unable to buy food without any income. The pandemic is creating dangerous situations in more than one way.
Some of these families in need have students who attend Nazarene child development centers. In response, NCM Lanka mobilized to provide several weeks’ worth of food to 2,504 families from the centers during the month of April.
Colossians 3:12 says, “Therefore, as God’s choice, holy and loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” (CEB)