(Image courtesy of Compassion)

But one thing you may not know about Compassion International is what they do beyond sponsorship–from water and sanitation programs to disaster relief and HIV/AIDs efforts.

Herbert Ehresman, Program Director for Complementary Interventions, says the focus is always the wider context of the care of the child.

“Our distinctives are Christ-centered, Church-based, and Child-focused. So while we don’t do broad community development, we do serve and support that local church, but that local church then does reach out into their community.

“For example, if a church community needs clean water or they lack sanitation and latrines, or let’s say the student has now grown into a beautiful young teen or adolescent and they have an opportunity to go to vocational school or even university: that’s where funding over and above the $38 a month becomes important.” Ehresman says both sponsors and donors then invest in the additional grass-roots programs that are identified by the partner churches themselves.

(Image courtesy of Compassion)

The health and safety of children are always at the forefront of every need that’s identified by the local churches serving the nearly 2 million Compassion children worldwide.

With the global celebration of World Water Day, Ehresman says water is priority for Compassion’s complementary intervention efforts; but water is not a stand-alone. “Clean water is only partially effective; there’s also the sanitation side which is latrine and waste disposal. Some of the communities we work in– particularly some places in Africa and India–still practice open defecation. Flies feed on the feces, and then if [those flies] get in your food or even land on open containers of water, it will spread disease. So there is a cycle of clean water, waste disposal, and a hygiene component that are embedded into Compassion’s curriculum.” WaSH — which stands for Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene — all work together in Compassion’s complementary intervention model.

“For us in Africa, the programmatic issue is not simply about water or sanitation/toilets, but water and sanitation/hygiene. It is a false developmental dichotomy to focus on one while neglecting the other elements. Often times, the sanitation/hygiene aspect gets lost when the conversation is limited to water only.” – Sidney Muisyo, Compassion Africa Regional Vice President

While sponsorship is predominately featured on its website, Ehresman says there are other ways to get involved with Compassion’s work worldwide on this World Water Day. “Right next to the tab that says ‘Sponsor a Child’ is also a button that says ‘Ways to Donate,’ and that will open up more ways to give to more project-based work, be it clean water [or] educational opportunities.”

This is “clean” water supplied
by the government to remote villagers.
(Photo credit India Partners/John Sparks)

India (MNN) — Approximately 780 million people worldwide lack access to clean water, and around 20% of them live in India.

India Partners President John Sparks is in the field right now, laying a foundation to bring clean water to unreached villages. He and a team of national and U.S. believers are meeting with leaders of isolated villages, assessing clean water needs and Gospel presence.

Along with clean water, India Partners will also be bringing Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) training to each village.

“When you bring in water, you’re also bringing in the Living Water,” notes Sparks. “Every step of the [WASH] lesson includes different parts of the Gospel.”

This trip isn’t just about identifying needs, though. Sparks and his team also visited some of the villages that received wells and WASH training last year.

“It has increased their quality of life as well as given them clean water,” Sparks reports.

Life before clean water

This woman is harvesting water
for her family from a dry stream bed.
(Photo courtesy India Partners/John Sparks)

Before they received wells from India Partners, some of the villagers were boiling their water, a process which consumed most of their day. Water was collected from a source usually located about two kilometers (1.2 miles) outside the village. Then, wood was collected from whatever source was available, be it trees or brush.

Villagers who lacked resources or time to boil their water simply drank it as-is. This resulted in an abundance of water-borne diseases; children missed school because they were sick, and some even died.

Life after clean water

(Photo credit India Partners/John Sparks)

Thanks to the WASH training and wells installed last year by India Partners, remote villagers have a much greater quality of life.

“All the time that is saved in not having to boil [their] water changes their life,” observes Sparks.

“It improves their ability to cook their food and do some other chores, earn some more money, help their children with school, or whatever it may be.”

Can you help India Partners bring this type of change to even more villages?

A family Sparks and his team spoke with while surveying villages on this trip lost two children to illnesses caused by drinking dirty water. Their third and remaining child is currently in poor condition.

“All of these things combined just leave [villagers] with a quality of life that is horrible, but there’s nothing they can do,” says Sparks.

“They live on the edge of society; they’re impoverished, some of them are internally displaced.”

(Photo credit India Partners/John Sparks)

Once they finish surveying villages, India Partners and their cohorts will decide which ones need Jesus and clean water the most. Then, WASH training will begin, and wells will be dug.

You can sponsor one of the wells here.

For now, the India Partners team needs your prayers as they finish up their trip. Please pray for good health and traveling mercies.

More about India Partner’s work here.

63 out of every 1000 children will die by age 5. One way to lower this number is through village health clinics. (Image courtesy Gospel for Asia)

“If…God’s called you to these unreached people groups, this is a very rare opportunity to go and use your skills and expertise,” states Fiedler.

In November, India Partners is taking a group of medical and health professionals to help remote tribes in an area known for persecuting believers.

Foreigners traveling in and around the region will be safe, but revealing details ahead of the trip could put their indigenous ministry partners in danger. To protect them, India Partners isn’t disclosing names or a specific location.

“This trip is really special because it’s not often that we get permission to go in this remote area of India,” Fiedler explains.

The communities they’ll be serving have very little contact with modern society or the outside world. As a result, there’s no modern medicine and health needs are tremendous.

“This is truly the unreached,” she says. “We’re going to go in and help share the Gospel is by meeting specific medical and health needs.

India Partners’ health programs provide services that remote villagers would have if they had access to a hospital.

“Those programs take very basic medical concepts and train people on how to take care of themselves physically, and it also interweaves the Bible,” explains Fiedler.

“When you’re imparting information about healthy bodies, you’re also teaching them about how to have a healthy spirit through the Word of God.”

For November’s trip, doctors, nurses and dentists are needed to provide professional care. But, Fiedler says people who can teach health are needed too.

They’re looking for “somebody that has the experience to go and teach and train people about taking care of themselves, and introducing the concepts of health, sanitation [and] hygiene into their communities.”

Interested? Sign up here.

“If you can come with a heart of Jesus, and serve people with your medical training, that is going to reach and touch people’s lives in ways that others can’t do,” says Fiedler.

“The way that God’s gifted you, with your hands and with your mind to bring physical healing to people, is going to bring a touch of God. Your time will not be wasted.”

In fact, you may get more than you bargained for. Fiedler says many volunteers return from India ‘abundantly filled.’

“That person that went and volunteered, they’re the ones who get radically transformed,” she explains.

“They get to see God move in a new way in their lives, and they’re seeing the work of God in these remote places.”

Some volunteers have been told they’re an answer to prayer — literally. Fiedler says in the past, remote villagers have recognized the faces of team members, people they’ve never met before. How? They appeared in a dream of vision the villager had prior to the team’s arrival.

“You just never know when you may be the fulfillment of somebody’s dream,” Fiedler shares. “Or, the fulfillment of a vision…that will bring peace, that will bring Jesus, and may bring salvation to that person.”

Pray God would bring the right people together for this trip.

“God does command us to ‘go’, whether it’s here in our own backyards or whether it’s abroad,” says Fiedler. “But if you feel God calling you…respond! Don’t be afraid.

“Step out, get out on that ledge, and you’ll find that He’s right there, ready to carry you through.”

In late June, we told you about an early monsoon in Uttarkhand that killed around 6,000 people. Earlier this week, the government released official figures for the first time: over 580 have died, while 5,474 missing are feared dead.

Now, MNN is following a similar situation in Andhra Pradesh.

"Monsoon flooding is an annual event, but this is the worst they've ever had," says Donna Glass with India Partners.

An estimated 150,000 people in the state's northern region have reportedly been affected, losing both their homes and livelihoods. Nearly 30 rain-related deaths throughout Andhra Pradesh have been reported so far.

In the area in which India Partners cohorts are working, over 5,000 families are stranded by the floodwaters. Some families haven't eaten in over 20 days because they can't get out of their homes.

India Partners associates held a relief camp in recent days, giving out food, cooking oil, soap, and hygiene training.

See a video of it here.

These simple, yet vital, items are giving survivors a reason to hang on.

"They're given a lot of hope since someone is bringing food in," says Glass.

Since the water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) training is based on biblical principles, people don't just get hope for today: they get hope for tomorrow, too. Help India Partners make hope contagious by clicking here.

"$14 will provide the supplies we talked about–the rice, the vegetables, the cooking oil, and soap–for a family," Glass explains.

Pray that WASH training will keep the spread of disease down. Pray for relief to come quickly to families in need.

Pray also that more organizations would become aware of the need in Andhra Pradesh and would focus their efforts there. Help spread the word by hitting the "Share" button at the top of this page.

There's a worm in Southeast Asia that enters the human brain and causes seizures. It's a disease called NCC epilepsy, and it's the leading cause of epilepsy deaths in the developing world.

According to the Baylor University Medical Center, irrigating vegetables with contaminated water, consuming infected pork, and coming in direct contact with disease carriers all result in high rates of infection.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says 40 million of the 50 million people with epilepsy worldwide live in developing countries. Most NCC infections occur in Latin America, China, some parts of Africa, and Southeast Asia, including India and Nepal.

A 2009 article published in the South African Medical Journal says NCC "can only be controlled and eradicated by improving living and sanitary conditions." Baptist Global Response is doing just that in Southeast Asia.

BGR partners are both building and promoting household toilets. These everyday household items reduce infection rates in affected villages and improve general health.

Pray that villagers will catch the vision and that more toilets will be installed.

BGR's healthcare ministry does more than care for physical needs. All around the world, Southern Baptists are bringing physical, mental, and spiritual wholeness to hurting individuals in Jesus' name.

Learn more about projects like this one and how you can get involved by clicking here.

On this trip, Kaytie Fiedler and her teammates shared Christ’s love with over 200 orphans like this one. (Image courtesy India Partners)

India Partners’ Kaytie Fiedler led a team to work on projects in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Her team helped disabled students prepare for interviews and trained villagers in WASH – Water, Sanitation and Hygiene.

Last but not least, the team got a chance to share Christ’s love with over 200 orphans – a highlight for Fiedler.

“When you live in that massive of a community with very few adults, it is just a joy [to see] big people that want to play with you and spend time with you, and do crafts,” she explains.

“I absolutely love bringing that kind of joy and the love of Jesus to those kids.”

However, Fiedler says working with adults is equally gratifying. On the team’s first week in India, they spent time at the Agape Rehabilitation Center helping graduating students prepare for job interviews.

“Some are deaf, some are blind, some are in wheelchairs; so, the variety of disabilities is [huge] and this organization has an incredible way of meeting the needs of those people,” says Fiedler.

Disabled students receive helpful tips on how to create a great resume. (Image, caption courtesy India Partners)

The group’s sessions geared toward helping students prepare for a future job: resume writing, interviewing skills, how to be an excellent employee and video production.

“When you are put up against able-bodied employees, you have to do your very best to try and out-do any other employee,” Fiedler explains.

Fiedler and her cohorts hope video production and the other skills they shared will give students an edge over their competition.

“They were excited and empowered, and I know they’re really looking forward to getting the opportunity to put those new skills into practice,” says Fiedler.

Using those skills to overcome prejudice will be a sweet victory for Agape students.

“If [the disabled are] seen out on the streets they’ll be spit on, they’ll be shooed away, people yell at them and mock them and ask them to go back home, [saying] ‘We don’t want to see you’,” says Fiedler. “It’s very sad.”

Pray for opportunities in their lives and open doors to share the Gospel.

On the second leg of their journey, Fiedler and her teammates ‘trained the trainers’ in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene practices. Around 50 community leaders came from three different centers to become WASH program trainers.

“Their creativity and the enthusiasm in which they embraced that information was really inspirational and a lot of fun,” Fiedler says. “They came up with the most creative skits, dramas, songs – they got the information and then embellished the ways that they could educate others.”

One of the skits was caught on tape – watch it here.

And, leaders aren’t just learning skills to prevent disease and save physical lives. Fiedler says each lesson is “peppered with Scripture and biblical principles.”

Learn more about the WASH program.

In addition to helping with India Partners’ field projects, the team was also able to attend an English-speaking church service. In 20 years of journeying to India, this opportunity became Fiedler’s first chance to share God’s Word in her native tongue.

“My message was to encourage them to really seek and understand what [God has] called them to do and get out there and do it, because it is going to revolve around meeting needs,” says Fiedler.

“Your purpose in life is always going to be about how you can love and serve others with the best of your abilities and the skills and talents that God has given you.”

She says many individuals approached the team for prayer after the service concluded.

“There were teachers, there were moms; there was a huge beautiful blend of people there, just like here in the States, that are on these walks of life wondering, ‘What am I doing here?’ and ‘How can I best serve God where I’m at?’,” Fiedler notes.

“There was one young man who just got his pilot’s license and he wants to go work for Mission Aviation Fellowship, and was trying to figure out a way to do that.”

Pray growth for each believer in the knowledge of Christ and His will.

Would you like to share Christ’s love in India? The next trip goes in November; learn more by clicking here.

Kaytie Fiedler with
India Partners led a team to work on projects in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Her team trained villagers in WASH–Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, and helped disabled students prepare for job interviews.

Last but not least, the team got a chance to share Christ's love with over 200 orphans–a highlight for Fiedler.

"When you live in that massive of a community with very few adults, it is just a joy [to see] big people that want to play with you, spend time with you, and do crafts," she explains.

"I absolutely love bringing that kind of joy and the love of Jesus to those kids."

However, Fiedler says working with adults is equally gratifying. On the team's first week in India, they spent time at the Agape Rehabilitation Center helping graduating students prepare for job interviews.

"Some are deaf, some are blind, some are in wheelchairs, so the variety of disabilities is [huge]. This organization has an incredible way of meeting the needs of those people," says Fiedler.

The group's sessions geared toward helping students prepare for future employment: resume writing, interviewing skills, how to be an excellent employee, and video production.

"When you are put up against able-bodied employees, you have to do your very best to try and out-do any other employee," Fiedler explains.

Fiedler and her cohorts hope video production and the other skills they shared will give students an edge over their competition.

"They were excited and empowered, and I know they're really looking forward to getting the opportunity to put those new skills into practice," says Fiedler.

Using those skills to overcome prejudice will be a sweet victory for Agape students.

"If [the disabled are] seen out on the streets, they'll be spit on, they'll be shooed away; people yell at them and mock them and ask them to go back home, [saying], 'We don't want to see you,'" says Fiedler. "It's very sad."

Pray for opportunities for the Agabe students and open doors to share the Gospel.

On the second leg of their journey, Fiedler and her teammates "trained the trainers" in Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene practices. Around 50 community leaders came from three different centers to become WASH program trainers.

"Their creativity and the enthusiasm with which they embraced that information was really inspirational and a lot of fun," Fiedler says. "They came up with the most creative skits, dramas, songs; they got the information and then embellished the ways that they could educate others."

One of the skits was caught on tape: watch it here.

These leaders are not only learning skills to prevent disease and save physical lives: Fiedler says each lesson is "peppered with Scripture and biblical principles."

Learn more about the WASH program.

In addition to helping with India Partners field projects, the team was also able to attend an English-speaking church service. In 20 years of journeying to India, this opportunity became Fiedler's first chance to share God's Word in her native tongue.

"My message was to encourage them to really seek and understand what [God has] called them to do and get out there and do it, because it is going to revolve around meeting needs," she says.

"Your purpose in life is always going to be about how you can love and serve others with the best of your abilities and the skills and talents that God has given you."

Fiedler says many individuals approached the team for prayer after the service concluded.

"There were teachers, there were moms. There was a huge beautiful blend of people there, just like here in the States, that are on these walks of life wondering, 'What am I doing here?' and 'How can I best serve God where I am?'" Fiedler notes.

"There was one young man who just got his pilot's license and wants to go work for Mission Aviation Fellowship. He was trying to figure out a way to do that."

Pray for each believer to grow in the knowledge of Christ and His will.

Would you like to share Christ's love in India? The next trip is scheduled for November. Click here to learn more.

A team from India Partners began a three-day training course in Andhra Pradesh yesterday, educating village leaders on the importance of maintaining a safe water source and practicing good sanitation and hygiene.

This training teaches villagers practical solutions to keep their water safe. Leaders will learn about the transmission of diseases when fecal waste is not disposed of properly. They'll also be taught the importance of handwashing after using the bathroom and before preparing or eating food.

Over the past several years, through partnership with a local Indian non-profit, India Partners has provided access to safe water for over 73,000 people living in 92 villages. But safe water isn't enough to keep people healthy.

In rural India, an estimated 67% of villagers have no improved sanitation facilities and practice open defecation.

“Thousands of people hopelessly die every year from diseases such as diarrhea and cholera,” says Prahbhakar Jena, an India Partners field representative living in India.

Jena believes educating Indians on WASH has the power to transform the health of an entire community. When safe water is combined with good sanitation and hygiene, the number of deaths caused by water-related diseased can be reduced by up to 65%, according to the World Health Organization.

“I am really excited about the WASH training because it will create an awareness among the people about the impact of having unclean water and poor sanitation,” says Jena.

“Take care of your health, and your health will take care of you,” he adds.

India Partners works alongside indigenous Christian grassroots agencies focused on alleviating poverty and injustice. They work together to utilize the entire Body of Christ and seek answers to the problems facing India today.

To come alongside India Partners in WASH training and save lives in a simple way, click here.

According to the Indian Association of Pediatricians, babies in India account for 25% of the world's total deaths, simply because their moms don't have clean water to drink.

"India has major problems with unclean water and lack of sanitation," says Brent Hample of India Partners.

The World Bank says approximately 21% of all communicable diseases in India are related to unsafe drinking water. It's estimated that 665 million people in India defecate in open sewers or fields, infecting water sources with diseases like stomach worms, typhoid, and cholera.

Poor sanitation and hygiene practices hasten the spread of disease from village to village.

"We are working with Waiting for Water not only to provide a well, but also to educate the villagers in sanitation and hygiene practices," says Hample.

You can get involved, too. Just take the money from something you're giving up for Lent to help India Partners build clean water wells. For example, if your morning coffee costs $4.00 and you decided to give it up for Lent, that's $180 you could set aside for a water ministry like this.

Hample says, "It only costs $155 for one well to provide clean water for an entire village–around 1,000 people usually."

Wondering what Scripture says about issues like this?

At WaitingforWater.org, you'll find free resources such as "individual Bible studies, devotionals…sermon notes, group Bible study resources that tie in Scripture with water, sanitation, and hygiene," states Hample.

Lent begins this year on February 13–Ash Wednesday–and ends on March 30.

"Make that a time of devotion to learn more about this issue and what the Scriptures have to say about it," Hample says. Ask God what He would have you do during this time of remembering His sacrifice.

Click here to learn more about the opportunities with India Partners.

"Pray that people's hearts are open, that churches will want to go deeper and learn more about clean water and sanitation," requests Hample.

"Pray that God will mobilize the Church to unite and help provide Living Water, as well as physical water, around the world."

"Why not give up something during this season of Easter, and give that money for safe water for the world with organizations like India Partners?" asks Dan Stevens with Waiting For Water.

"Easter is a great time for Christians to come together and give safe water in Christ's name, because Easter's a time for compassion and understanding what God's done for us."

Together with seven other groups, including India Partners and Living Water International, Waiting for Water mobilizes Christ-followers to fight the global water crisis during the Lenten and Easter seasons. They encourage you to use the money from something you're giving up for Lent to give safe water in Jesus' name.

For example, let's say your morning coffee costs $4.00 and you decide to give it up for Lent. That's approximately $180 you could set aside for a water ministry. In fact, $155 provides water and sanitation training for an entire village in India.

"If somebody just gave up their Starbucks (and I know that's painful), but God gave up a lot more for us," says Stevens. "If every Christian in the world gave $10…there would be enough money to give everybody a drink of safe water and Living Water [all] over the world."

Stevens says Waiting For Water chose to mobilize Christians during the Easter season because it's a time of remembering what Christ did for us on the cross.

When Lent began with the early church, "There was a time of preparation…and often giving up something to remind themselves of what God gave up for them to come to the earth and die on the cross," explains Stevens.

"We're just trying to encourage people to think about that season and do something that is compassionate. Easter is a launch pad to do compassionate [works] locally and globally."

The need for Christ's compassion is vast in our world today. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), over 3.4 million people die each year from causes related to water, sanitation, and hygiene. Nearly all of those deaths occur in the developing world.

"75-80% of all hospital beds in the developing world are occupied by people with waterborne diseases," says Stevens. "A child the age of those little children that were killed in Sandy Hook dies every 20 seconds from a water-related disease."

While the crisis may seem overwhelming, Stevens says it is solvable.

"I think some people think, 'Well it's just never going to go away.' But if we would focus and do just one little thing, it will make a difference," he states. "That's why we're focusing on Easter and saying, 'Okay, let's make Easter the season where Christians around the world solve the global water problem.'"

Click here for free resources that will help you and your friends get involved. India Partners is one of the groups participating in this Easter project, and we'll get their input tomorrow.

In the meantime, pray.

"We need to pray and have our hearts broken over, and over, and over again for the poor of the world who are suffering, whose little children are dying every single day," Stevens says.

"Pray that our hearts would be broken, that we would grow in our compassion for the world, that we would seek justice and mercy, and that God's compassion would roll down like Living Water for the poor."