Compassion International Kolkata, India – Darkness Has An Enemy… And She Knows Karate!

Oh my gosh!!!! Can we say hot!!!! I don’t mean Africa hot. I mean India hot! Over 100 degrees in the shade with the humidity at LEAST 100% and there hasn’t been a heat wave like this in 29 years!!! Welcome to India! Make sure you wear clothes to absorb all that sweat!

Even in the heat though, I must say… I’ve been to a lot of projects all over the world with Compassion International and this one was definitely a bright spot in the middle of a dark community. 95% of the people in this area are Hindu and there were just over 300 children in this particular project. Amazing work when you consider Christians make up less than 1% of the population. Christ seems to have a way of reaching every corner of the world here. Even the sweaty ones.

These kids are so full of life! A little reserved until you get them playing Criquet then the gloves come off and the ball starts flying! I was impressed with Pete Wilson’s skills to master a good game of Criquet though. His wife will be proud and his boys will think he is whacked for misinterpreting baseball.

As we talked to the kids, especially the girls, there was a great amount of self-esteem, which for this community and their culture was saying a lot!! This is where sponsoring a child is amazing. The work being down through this church in such a dark community is teaching these kids that not only is Christ the Lord, but He is not like all the other gods in the Hindi religion. God is the only god they need. These kids are seeing it and living it. Humbly living as God as called them to live – to be the bright spot and the enemy of darkness….Even if you have to pull out the karate chop!

I get to see this work all the time, but today was one more indication that the partnership between Compassion and the Church is working. Not only are lives being changed, but communities are being changed from the inside out.  This is just one of the many reasons to sponsor a child. It’s just the beginning of truly playing a part in the development of children. Without the compassion program in these communities, most of these kids would be destined for the nothingness of drugs, prostitution and the simple concept of no hope… no opportunity. Education and The Word of God  = the chance to break the cycle of poverty in the life of not only a child but the child’s family. It’s an amazing concept so few people understand about the opposite of poverty.

One new thing I saw this time around was a different kind of skill being taught at the project and it was for the girls. They were teaching them Karate! I know… what? Karate? Why? Well… because these communities aren’t that safe for young innocent girls. So just in-case you’re a guy looking for a little trouble to get into with a girl… think twice or else you might get what these bricks below had coming to them. Shaun posted a great video he shot of this Karate demonstration. Click Here.

This sponsor child is about to break these flaming breaks in two with her karate chop.

Smack!!!

Eat your heart out Brock Gill! This was no illusion! No need to let a little fire scare you...

Sponsor a child… You’ll be glad you did!

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4. Mother Teresa’s Home For The Destitute and Dying – Our Last Day In Kolkata, India
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