WINTER 2010
FIRST ISSUE
VO L . 1, NO. 1
FOR KIDS
AFRICA
Safari Animals Puzzler
compassion.com
H ow to M a k e
a Soc c er Ball
Karibu, kids! I’m so happy you’re here. Karibu means “welcome” in the African language of Swahili. In this issue of Compassion Explorer Magazine, you’ll get to make African crafts and food, and learn about life in an African village! So come on in and check it out! COUNTRIES WHERE COMPASSION WORKS
Departments
Welcome to My World! See what life is like for a Maasai girl in Kenya. PAGE
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Big Dreams, Big Faith, Big God Read how one girl is helping babies and moms in a PAGE 10 village in Kenya.
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society ®. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
Compassion Explorer Magazine is published by Compassion International. © Compassion International 2010. All rights reserved.
EDITOR Leanna Summers
Compassionate Kids
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School Days
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Word Scramble
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3 7 7
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Artistic Kids
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Safari Puzzler
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12
Science Is So Fun!
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Health Matters
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Crafts, Recipes and Projects
What Does God Say About … ?
PROOFREADING AND EDITING Colleen Keeffe and Suellen Wenz
PRINTING Michelle Dana
DESIGNER Josh Lewis
QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS? E-mail us at compassionkids@us.ci.org or write to Compassion International, Attn: Compassion Explorer Magazine Editor, 12290 Voyager Parkway, Colorado Springs, CO 80921.
PHOTOGRAPHERS Chuck Bigger and Elizabeth Karanja WRITERS Lorie W. Barnes and Leanna Summers
Kaitlyn Maher
Age 6, from Virginia Kaitlyn Maher’s got quite a voice! She sang on the television show called America’s Got Talent. She also sang for President George W. Bush and is in a Disney movie! And Kaitlyn just released a new music CD. Kaitlyn was sad when she learned some kids don’t get enough to eat. With her parents’ help, she figured out one thing she can do for these kids. She’s giving some of the money she earns from her CD to Compassion to help kids who don’t get enough to eat! Now that’s one girl who’s taking her talent to a whole new level!
Karibu kids,
I’m so happy you’re here! Karibu means “welcome” in the African language of Swahili. This is a language spoken in many countries in eastern and central Africa. In this issue of Compassion Explorer Magazi you’ll get to make African crafts, food, and learn about life in an African village! So come with me. I can’t wait to show you around!
Kendra and Isabella Age 12 and Age 7, from Colorado Kendra: I think
it’s important to teach other kids about poverty because they might want to help too, and there are lots of people out there who need help.
Kendra and Isabella are two girls on a mission. They wanted to teach Bella: It made me happy I could their friends about what share with kids life is like for poor kids. because if we didn’t So they made a poster sponsor Vianca, she and brought it to a wouldn’t get to go Girl Scouts event. The to school. poster showed what life is like for Vianca, their sponsored child in Peru. What compassionate kids!
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BY LORIE W. BARNES WITH ELIZABETH KARANJA, PHOTOGRAPHY BY ELIZABETH KARANJA
Irene gathers sticks to make a fire to cook dinner.
What’s life like in a Maasai village in Kenya? Read on to find out! Meet Irene Natumoi. She is a Compassionsponsored child. She is 11 years old and is part of the Maasai tribe in Kenya. The Maasai raise cows and are nomadic, which means they move from place to place in search of grass and water for their cows.
The Maasai Region
Sponsorship is the best thing that has happened to Irene. This is because many Maasai families are too poor to keep their girls in school. Some girls get married as young as 11 years old. But because Irene has a Compassion sponsor, she does not have to marry. Instead, she can learn at school and play at the Compassion child development center!
Life in a Maasai Village
The Maasai live in houses called inkajijik. Many houses are made of mud, sticks, grass, cow dung and cow urine. Women and girls make the houses, haul water, collect firewood, milk cattle and cook. Men who are warriors watch for wild animals to help keep everyone safe in the village. Boys are responsible for herding livestock.
My brother Joshua
My dad Daniel
My brother Lemiso My sister Mercy
My sister Lorna
THE MAASAI REGION
Cattle are very valuable to the Maasai. These nomadic people eat beef and drink cow’s milk. The wealthiest Maasai families own the most cattle.
My mom Kingasunye
My brother Oisula
Meet my family! This is my family in front of our old house. Turn the page to see my new house!
Me
This drum is made out of animal skin. WINTER 2010
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1
Here’s my new house!
My Compassion sponsor sent some money and our family used it for what we needed most — a new house and a bed! The house is made of bricks and has iron sheets for the roof. Our old house had a grass roof so it leaked a lot when it rained. This new house doesn’t leak at all! 2
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My old bed. I used to sleep on these animal skins before I got my new house and new bed! Sheets cost $3 in Kenya, but my parents did not have enough money to buy them for me.
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Time to do some homework! We don’t have electricity in our house, but my sisters and I can do our homework by a lantern Compassion gave us.
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Cool water bottle!
The Maasai use a dried squash to make a bottle for milk and water, and they decorate it with leather and beads.
Friends are great! Here I am with my friends at Compassion’s student center. We are in our school uniforms and are studying.
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compassion explorer
Here are some similarities and differences between school in Africa and school in the United States. Can you think of other similarities and differences?
Get tin g to Sch ool
Sc ho ol Su p p lie s
driving
walking
slate and chalk
Lu nc h
notebook, pencils , pe paper and more ns,
H om ew or k
Š STEVE GRAY
beans and a banana
peanut butter and jell y sandwich, an apple, chips and a drink
tern studying with a lan
sk studying at a de with a computer
What does Compassion provide for many sponsored kids? Unscramble the words to find out. If you get stuck, look on the back cover for the answers.
1. DOOF
2. ICINMEED
3. LOHOSC
4. NELCA RETAW
5. SBIBEL
6. OLTHESC
7. TORDOC
8. DNGRUOYALP
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Discarded plastic bags are a big problem. They often drift into the ocean and kill or disable thousands of marine animals and seabirds each year. You can help keep more bags from ending up in the trash! Recycle your bags — or better yet, use cloth shopping bags instead.
Grocery Bag Balls Don’t forget to ask your parents for help! African kids who are poor can’t afford to buy toys, so they make them. See if you can make a ball like kids in Africa do!
Supplies:
4
2
1
3
Wad 5 bags into a ball.
6 plastic shopping bags
Place the wad of bags into another bag. Close the bag.
(grocery size)
Yarn or twine
Wrap the handles of the bag around the wad and tie the ends.
Wrap the twine or yarn around the ball and tie the ends. You are now ready for a game of soccer!
Paper Beads Supplies: 5 pages from old catalogs or magazines
wider than the top of the strip. Make the strips 1/2 inch at the base and 10 inches long. 2
Take 1 of the triangles you have made. Tightly roll it around the skewer. Glue down the tip. Continue rolling your triangles onto the skewer and leave them to dry.
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Ta-da! Your beads are now ready to be made into beautiful, colorful creations!
1 bottle of glue or one glue stick
Africans often use recycled items to make beautiful jewelry, like these beads made from recycled paper. Try making the beads, and then string them together to make necklaces or bracelets. 8
compassion explorer
1 wooden skewer
How to: 1
Cut triangle-shaped strips out of your catalog or magazine pages. The bottom of the strip should be
Baked Plantains Ask an adult to help you!
Ingredients 2 very ripe plantains 3 tablespoons of butter, melted 3 tablespoons of brown sugar 1/3 cup shredded coconut, toasted 1 9-inch square of aluminum foil Note: You can find plantains in the grocery store, but you can also use bananas for this recipe.
Directions 1
Heat your oven to 375°F.
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Peel and cut each plantain in half, then cut the halves in half.
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Mix the brown sugar and melted butter together.
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Arrange the plantains on the aluminum foil. Brush the butter and brown sugar mixture onto both sides of the plantains.
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Make a pouch for the plantains with the aluminum foil and bake them for 40 minutes, or until they are soft.
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Arrange your baked plantains in a bowl, sprinkle with coconut, and enjoy!
Note: If you are using bananas instead of plantains, cook them for only about 10 minutes, or until they are soft.
Rotten Bananas? Nope! Plantains are a type of banana popular in Africa. They are not usually eaten raw. Ripe plantains look rotten because they have black spots or are completely black, but that’s when they are sweetest to eat!
Carolyn
Age 6, from Massachusetts
Do you have a drawing of your house, family, pets or friends? How about a picture of what you’d like to be when you grow up? Send it to us! We might feature it in an upcoming issue of Compassion Explorer Magazine! Include your name, age and where you live. Send them to: Compassion International Attn: Editor, Compassion Explorer Magazine 12290 Voyager Parkway, Colorado Springs, CO 80921 Or e-mail them to: compassionkids@us.ci.org
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BY LEANNA SUMMERS, PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHUCK BIGGER
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compassion explorer
When Emily Blake was 12, she dreamed of helping sick babies. She never thought her dream would take her as far as it did — all the way to Africa! Where is Embu? Emily learned that millions of babies in Africa die every year. They die because they don’t get enough to eat or don’t get medicine when they’re sick. She also learned that Compassion’s Child Survival Program helps poor moms “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and babies stay healthy.
as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
Emily wanted to raise enough money to start a Compassion Child Survival Program in Embu, a village in Kenya. It wouldn’t be — Matthew 17:20 easy because she needed a lot of money: $40,000. “I didn’t really know how God would work it out,” says Emily. “So I prayed about it.” With her mom’s help, Emily wrote letters to her family and friends. Emily asked them to send money. She had a bake sale. She had a car wash and a bowl-a-thon. She even had a concert at her church. In just a few months she raised $12,000! Emily wasn’t sure how she could raise the rest of the money. But she kept praying — and God answered her prayers. A friend heard about Emily’s plan and gave her the rest of the money! When Emily found out, she jumped up and down. “It was awesome! I was so excited!” she says. But Emily had just one more thing to do. She wanted to visit the moms and babies she helped. It wasn’t as easy as she thought it would be to get to Africa. The year she was supposed to go her trip was canceled. Finally, three years later when she was 15 she got to go! She stuffed her suitcases with baby bottles, blankets, and toys and took a long plane ride from her home in Atlanta, Georgia, to Kenya. Her family went with her. When Emily arrived in Embu, babies giggled as she handed them the toys. Their moms hugged her and said, “Thank you.” One mom told her about how her baby was sick but Compassion’s Child Survival Program provided the medicine she needed. Emily is so happy she can help babies and moms, and says other kids with big hearts can help poor people, too. She tells kids, “Find your passion and go with it, and God will really bless you with it.”
Emily serves lunch to moms and babies in Embu.
Is God calling you to do something big for Him? You can do all things through Christ!
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Do you know the names of different groups of African animals? For example, a group of leopards is called a leap. Good luck! Answers are on the back cover.
1. GIRAFFES
2. HIPPOS
3. WARTHOGS
4. ZEBRAS
5. LIONS
6. CHEETAHS
7. CROCODILES
8. ELEPHANTS
Animals in Swahili! Swahili is one of the many languages spoken in Kenya. See if you can pronounce some of these animal names in Swahili!
Lion = Simba Elephant = Tembo Giraffe = Twiga
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compassion explorer
Hippo = Kiboko Crocodile = Mamba Cheetah = Duma
BY LORIE W. BARNES
Š STEVE GRAY
Supplies:
How to Do the Experiment: Assemble your supplies. It’s a good idea to place the bowl in a sunny spot and assemble the materials in that location.
1 LARGE CLEAR BOWL
DRINKING GLASS WITH 1 CUP OF WATER
Mix the water in the bowl with the salt, a few drops of food dye, and a few teaspoons of the spices until the water looks dirty!
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Place the drinking glass in the center of the bowl.
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Cover the bowl with the plastic wrap so that it is a little loose. Place the pebble on top of the plastic in the center so that it is exactly above the top of the drinking glass. Make sure the bowl set up is in a sunny location in your home.
4
Leave the bowl in the sunshine for two or three hours and check on it regularly to note what is happening.
CLEAR PLASTIC WRAP
1 PEBBLE
2 TABLESPOONS OF SALT
1
FOOD DYE, (ANY COLOR)
OPTIONAL: Spices such as garlic or chili powder.
The temperature in the bowl will increase. This heat will evaporate the dirty water. When the water vapor reaches the plastic sheet, it will form water droplets. This water will run down the plastic sheet and drip into the cup. Now this water is clean and good to drink!
Dirty water makes kids sick. Around the world more than 5,000 kids younger than 5 years old die every day from diarrhea.
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Malaria is a disease carried by mosquitoes. The kinds of mosquitoes that carry malaria aren’t found in the United States, but malaria is a big problem in Africa. Follow the numbers to learn more.
3 Mosquitoes bite kids.
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Kids live near dirty water.
Mosquitoes hatch in the dirty water.
4 Kids get sick.
Nets keep kids safe!
Mosquitoes that carry malaria bite only at night. Compassion provides sponsored kids with nets and kids who sleep in mosquito nets don’t get sick!
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compassion explorer
Malaria kills more kids in Africa than any other disease. About 1 million people die every year from malaria. Most people who die are African children under 5 years old.
BY LORIE W. BARNES
Start Exploring!
Compassion Explorers are always asking questions and searching for answers. They find them in God’s Map for Life, the Bible! Read or listen to Psalm 139:1-16. Put YOUR name in every place where you read the words “I” or “me” in the Bible verse. Now, read or listen to Psalm 139:1-16 again and this time use the name of your sponsored child or an African child’s name instead of your name. What did you learn about God’s love for you and all kids from this Bible verse? How do we know that we are special to God? Now read the Bible verse below, then answer this question: What was God’s first plan and best idea for every kid?
“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” - Jeremiah 29:11 This is God’s first and best idea for every child. But many poor kids can’t go to school, get medicine or enough food. Many of these kids get help through Compassion. But compassionate kids know that God wants them to help all kids in need. It’s easier than you think. All you have to do is pray for them!
Dear Jesus, Thank you for giving me hope and a future. I pray for kids in Africa who need to know Your love today and need to discover You, Jesus, as their Savior and Lord. I pray for those kids who are hungry or sick or don’t have clean water. And I pray for (name of someone you know) here in my country who needs Your love, too. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
You don’t have to travel to Africa to find kids in need. How can you help someone who might need to have a friend to play with or talk to?
Now you can help kids see how much God loves them! WINTER 2010
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Compassion International 12290 Voyager Parkway Colorado Springs, CO 80921-3668 (800) 336-7676
In Ethiopia not everyone can afford a car, so they use camels like this one to help carry everything — even suitcases and furniture!
Can you write a caption for this picture? Send it to: Compassion International, Attn: Compassion Explorer Magazine Editor, 12290 Voyager Parkway, Colorado Springs, CO 80921. Or e-mail it to compassionkids@us.ci.org.
Word Scramble, page 7 1. food 2. medicine 3. school 4. clean water 5. Bibles 6. clothes 7. doctor 8. playground
Answers
Safari Puzzler, page 12 1. herd, corps or tower 2. bloat 3. sounder, drift or herd 4. herd or zeal 5. pride 6. coalition 7. bask or float 8. memory or herd
Check out Compassion’s Web site for kids:
.org IN188 (1/10)