Assignment: gather all your pictures

As you should know by now, I have been sponsoring a child through Compassion, International, for eight years. Just a few weeks ago, I lost my first child, Neela from India, and was given a little waif Mueni from Kenya. I received my first letter from Mueni this week, and I am so excited to build our relationship.

In the meantime, Compassion has got me involved in something else. Blogging. Imagine that! Every so often Compassion emails an idea for a blog post to all of its Bloggers. Sometimes I can do it, sometimes not. This month, I thought, I can do this. So here we go.

The challenge was a Scavenger hunt, finding a whole list of items that are in some way a part of life for many children in third world countries. Believe it or not, I already had pictures of most of these things, taken in my world travels.

A Baby Scale

I really did not think that I had a picture of baby scale, but thought that this picture was even better. It was taken at the clinic in Ayacucho, Peru, and shows the developmental milestones your baby should be making. But then I looked down in the bottom left corner. 

The device behind the blue train looks like a baby scale to me. 

Braided Hair

This is my daughter with Beautiful Anna, taken when I was in Kenya with her this May. 

Children playing Soccer

This is at the Compassion center in Nairobi. Mwazunga is from Mombasa and made a 12-hour bus trip to meet his sponsor, Kari. (Their story is in chapter 6 of my book.)

A Church sign

Ayacucho, Peru, is known as the city of churches. Evidently it is not the city of church signs. Of all the pictures of the churches that I took, this is one of few with any sort of sign. You'll have to trust me that that is a sign above the door and another one to the right of the door. 

Flag of a country where Compassion works

This is the flag of Uganda. This picture was taken at Lifest this year. It is in the Compassion Experience, where you walk through different rooms set up like life experiences your Compassion child may be going through.

A farmers market or food vendor

I had such a selection of farmer's markets and food vendors from my travels to Peru and Kenya, but none of them really showed the food. But this is still from my travels. It is at the airport in Amsterdam, where we had a six hour layover. Lots of time to look at Bread. 

A Flip phone

Ok, so probably my least creative. My very own flip phone. Please don't ever break on me. I am not smart enough for a smart phone. 

A food staple common to the developing world 

Maasai making chapati at Mosiro in Kenya. Chapati is common throughout India, East Africa and many other parts of the world. 

A goat or cow

The herd of goats we bought at Mosiro. Every day one of these guys left the herd. To show up later in our stew. 

A sewing machine

Can you find all three sewing machines? These are the WEEP women of Mathare Slum. (You can read about them in Chapter 4 of my book.) 

Seeds or grain

These are seeds and other things at a market in Ayacucho, Peru. 

A stethoscope

Yes, I had lots of options for a picture of a stethoscope. I wear one around my neck every day. But I had to be more creative than that. Of course. This is another picture taken in the Compassion Experience. Here, the Compassion girl from India is telling how Grandma was very sick and in the hospital. The rest of the family was praying to thousands of Hindu gods, while the little girl was praying to the one true God which she learned about through Compassion. 

So, how did I do? Here is the Compassion link of the assignment. I will tell you this blog took the longest of any to compose. You can probably imagine. And I hope no one considers me a cheater because I didn't take any new pictures. I think it is an even more amazing accomplishment that I had them all!

God bless you this week. Now get your camera out and start taking pictures!