From the 1st to 6th March, Dave and Helen Bull from All Saints Church in Marlow travelled to Kolkata as guests of Compassion UK, a child sponsorship charity that cares for 1.4 million of the poorest children in 26 countries around the world. They visited three different projects and met graduates of the programme. Every one of Compassion’s projects is run by a carefully selected local church. Every child is known by name and receives support for body, mind, heart and spirit. The results are truly inspiring and this is their story.

1. Kolkata Trip – 2015
4U team and Compassion UK

2. Where?
Delhi
8 ½ hours

3. Where?
Kolkata
(Calcutta)
2 ½ hours

4. Who?
16 church leaders,
guests of Compassion UK

5. Why?
To see the work of
Compassion in East India
Compassion works through a
local church to deliver
programmes to the poorest
children they can find.

6. Why?
Compassion works with the poorest of
the poor in 26 countries.
They have1.4 million children in their
programmes but need more sponsors…

7. What did we see?
• Three church-based projects
– Including visits to see where the children lived
• 21 year old university students who have
been sponsored since the age of 4
• The Compassion East India office
• Mother Teresa’s house

8. Every Compassion project aims to meet the Social,
Physical, Economic and Spiritual needs of every child
Project 1:
A Child Survival project
out in the countryside

9. Compassion selects children from the poorest
families within a 2 mile radius of the project

10. New mothers are educated in hygiene, vaccinations,
nutrition, and disease prevention

11. We travelled by rickshaw right out
into the countryside…

12. …to visit this
family in their
home.
This little girl
has recently
joined the
project and
lives with her
mother and
mother-in-law.

13. They showed us their home – including their kitchen.
A fire is lit in the holes to heat the pans on top.

16. Project 2:
A Child
Sponsorship
project for
immigrant
families
There were about 200 children in the project, each of
them sponsored by a family through Compassion

17. We joined in their assembly where the girls
performed a traditional dance for us.

18. Then they invited us to dance for them…
…a decision we think they regretted!

19. At break time we played frisbee and cricket with the
children and heard from them about the huge
difference the project makes to their lives.

20. This family of 6 live in a 3 room shack sandwiched
between a busy road and a swampy pond. Above the
bed you can see school books from the project.
The daughter plans to become a doctor.

22. Project 3:
A Child
Sponsorship
project in the
middle of a
Kolkata slum

23. We met and
played with the children

24. Helen joined the girls
making crafts

25. Dave played football
with the boys

26. We visited this girl’s home
down the end of an alley in
the slums. Her family of 4
lives in this room, which has
no natural light.
She loves dance and wants to
become a dance teacher.

28. This young lady has been sponsored from the age of 4.
Now aged 21, she came from a very poor background but
is now at university to study a Masters in social work.
Her ambition is to return to her community and work to
improve life for others.
Her story was utterly inspiring.

30. Mother Teresa’s room.
From here she changed the world,
by loving one person at a time.

31. The lesson of our trip
We can’t change the whole world.
But we can change the whole world for one child.

32. What next?
1. We are exploring 4U team involvement in child sponsorship (both
as churches and via our church schools). People are already
expressing an interest.
2. Compassion can arrange for us to sponsor children from the same
area, and even through the same church. This would make it
possible for us to arrange visits in the future to visit sponsored
children and support the church.
3. Find out more from www.compassionuk.org
4. Watch this space… and please let us know your thoughts.