They say that education is priceless, but I disagree. For some, it might just be the cost of sacrificing 1 lunch per month. 

In my interview with Esther Yap (pictured second from right below), President of Compassion UNSW (2014-2015), read about how for just $10, your lunch money could transform the lives of children in need through sponsorship programs.

Links:

Compassion UNSW Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/compassionunsw?fref=ts

Compassion Australia Website: https://www.compassion.com.au/

Tell us a bit about yourself?

I’m in my fourth year of my commerce degree at UNSW. [It’s] normally 3 years, but I’m in my fourth year as I’m doing a cadetship at EY (Ernst &Young)…which means for the first 2 years of my degree I’m working full time and studying part time.

How did you get involved with Compassion?

In my first year of uni, a guy at church who is also the regional manager of Compassion told us about Compassion, child sponsorship and the issue of poverty. The video and the way he described it really broke my heart for the kids - the injustice and hopelessness of it all… It made me want to do something, and I sponsored the kid.

As I mentioned, I was a cadet so I had some disposable income (we both laugh). I was living at home, I was 18, I didn’t have anything that occupied my time…I thought, why don’t I sponsor 50 kids? But then I thought - from a strategic point of view, if my aim was to see lots of kids sponsored, the best way wasn’t to do it all by myself. The best way to make a difference… [was] organically, to tell other people about it so more kids can be sponsored... I thought I would find a group of people genuinely interested in what Compassion stands for and putting them together to sponsor kids.

For someone who hasn’t heard about Compassion before, how would you describe its overarching goals/visions?

“Christ centred, Child-focused, Church based”. The main focus of Compassion is to spread Jesus’ love in a really practical way that impacts communities and generations for the better. Giving them the hope not only in a tangible way like education, getting them out of the cycle of poverty, giving them a future; but looking at eternity, as Compassion is a Christian organisation.

Programs such as sponsorship look at children between the age of 3 to 22, putting them through school and giving them an alternative that they wouldn’t otherwise see in their communities. They see their parents living the cycle of poverty, people around them not having a future. Through the program they can get an education, the food and clothes they need.

Another program is a leadership program [which] identifies kids who show potential in school, puts them through university and [provides] other leadership opportunities so they can change their communities. One of the sponsor kids (Margaret Makhoha, a Leadership Development Program graduate) was elected as a member of the Ugandan Parliament in May 2011. She has the opportunity not only to represent her geographical district, but also a people living in economic and spiritual poverty. Compassion also does relief [including] look after water and sanitation, so lots of things, it’s pretty amazing!

Why do you think child sponsorship an effective way to give aid?

Child sponsorship is important as it’s there at every stage of the child’s development. It’s not only about giving them the physical things, the education, the food… it’s giving them hope, showing them love, that someone cares about them and believe they have a future beyond poverty…The children who get chosen for this program are the lowest of the low…their parents have died, people can’t afford to support them… Compassion nourishes the child not only in the physical sense, but in the emotional, spiritual, mental sense – they tell them that they’re loved, because they are. It goes off the Bible that says that God has put value in every person: it’s not adding value to them, its showing them the value that they do have. Compassion can do that because of individualised care, they have workers coming to their house and they get letters from their sponsors.

Do you have a story to share as an example of the long term impact of child sponsorship?

We had someone named Jane Alam from the program come to speak [at UNSW]. He’s from India and grew up in the Mollahati slums. God completely transformed his life and he has overcome poverty. One of the most amazing thing about seeing him in person was how human he is, how much he is like us. If we had been born in any other circumstance that could have been us...

[The program] makes people independent…not only for themselves but also to give back to their communities. Jane graduated with a Masters in International Business at Manchester University, and he came back to change the community that he grew up in. The impact of child sponsorship from beyond the child to their family, to the community…that’s the way you see long-term change. Like that saying, give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day, teach him how to fish and he’ll eat forever (laughs).

A lot of young people want to make a difference or do something good, and they might have doubts about whether they can indeed have an impact. What comment or advice would you give?

While our knowledge may limit us in the technical impact we can make, I do think that young people have a lot to contribute. The Bible says not to let people despise you because you are young - even young people can set an example in their actions for others (1 Timothy 4:12). We’re given value, ability, capacity to do things at any and every stage of our life - it looks different, say for when you’re a young person and a student, [to] when you’re older and working. Your capacity to make a difference doesn’t change.

It’s easy to view people in terms of their ability in just one area, but it doesn’t account for capacity. It’s important to make that distinction between ability and capacity... Capacity is about how much they are able to do, their potential, what they can give. Ability refers more to the technical side, and that might be what we’re deficient in [as young people]. But we’re mobile with social media…we can spread information. That’s something our generation does very effectively, and we shouldn’t discount the value of that.

Our generation is really accused of slacktivism, we’ve got information at our fingertips. You like something on Facebook and feel like you’ve done your part but you really haven’t made a difference. That’s why I love Compassion sponsorship – it really marries information and action, it gives a practical impact on the world. You know about the issues of poverty and you’re doing something about it – you’re putting your money where your mouth is. It shows how strongly you believe in something when you put a dollar value to it. Yeah, there you see where your convictions are…

I think everyone has something to give at every stage of their life. For us right now, the advantage of being young is that we have energy! We don’t have money, we don’t have knowledge, but we have time and energy... at the point later in our careers when we have money and knowledge but not time, that’s when we can help with the technical ability or funding younger people to accomplish the vision that you set out…When you’re retired, you don’t have the energy but you’ll have wisdom of your years, and that’s something you can share... Everyone has capacity, young people and old people.

Could you describe what Compassion UNSW does and how people can get involved?

Compassion UNSW is a society on campus that supports Compassion. Compassion offers a sponsorship program where one person sponsors one kid, at a cost of around $50 per month, which most uni students can’t afford. But there are still those who want to sponsor… even if they can’t afford giving such a big chunk of their income. At Compassion UNSW, we’ve had a look at people’s desire to sponsor and we’ve tried to mobilise that [by] facilitating a group sponsorship program… usually a group of 5 friends who give $50 collectively ($10 each) per month. It’s effective, $10 per month is basically giving up buying lunch at uni for one day to provide a child with education for one month.

Other things we do is fundraising directly for Compassion and advocating, such as on social media, sessions where people speak to inspire action and the drive for justice, and to educate people on how to do that in a practical way.

You can get involved by joining a group sponsorship program, or helping with our volunteering and fundraising. Bake for a bake sale, run in the City 2 Surf with us! (These events have since passed). Even if you can’t afford it yourself but you know someone who can or would be keen, tell them about it. It’s not just about how much money you have, it’s about what you do with the information you know!