Recent Posts

A new hope through independence

Posted on July 5, 2011 by Nate Jones, World Vision U.S. in Conversations

Southern Sudan preliminary results announcement celebration in Juba, South Sudan on January 30, 2011. ©2011 Abraham Nhial/World Vision

It’s a long journey from the backyard barbecues and fireworks of our own Fourth of July festivities to the Republic of South Sudan, a new country that will be born in just days from today on July 9. I’m willing to bet, though, that our traditional summer celebration will seem downright routine compared to the life-changing nature of South Sudan’s first birthday. At first glance, it may seem as though future citizens of South Sudan don’t have much to be grateful for or much to celebrate. They will be receiving the poorest corner of one of the poorest countries on earth — a place beset by hunger, disease, and war. According to a 2007 government study (pdf), mothers in Southern...

12 challenges for your summer bucket list

Posted on July 2, 2011 by Kurt Rahn, World Vision ACT:S in Conversations

Children in Laos. ©2010 Nila Douanesouvanh/World Vision

When I was in college, I spent my summers visiting family and friends, journeying on cross-country road trips, catching up on extracurricular reading, or traveling internationally (if I could afford it). I always started off my summer vacation with a desire to make my summer really count — to do something purposeful and intentional to help other people. But after a few weeks in the sun, I often resorted to all my summer norms. College students aren’t getting away with that mentality so easily anymore — not with resources like our World Vision ACT:S Summer Adventure Bucket List. It’s 12 challenges meant to get you out of the house and experience the world around you....

Where kids’ books meet the real story: Building a healthy village

Posted on June 30, 2011 by Katie Smith Milway, World Vision board member in Microfinance, Stories

Emily, the successful beneficiary of a World Vision microloan, with her children and niece in Zambia. ©2011 Collins Kaumba/World vision

In the afternoon of our first day with World Vision in Sinazongwe, Zambia, Emily Syabubila, a widow and mother of three, gives us a tour of her compound. It consists of a one-room house with two beds for her and her daughters; another one-room home for her son; three raised chicken coops; an outdoor cook hut; and a raised drying rack for her corn. In my last post, I shared how microloans (similar to those described in my book “One Hen“) had enabled her to restore her family to economic and food security after malaria claimed the life of her husband. She now invites us to share in rituals of harvest and shuck dried maize with her. Hard. Then she...

Participating in protection

Posted on June 29, 2011 by Kevin Jenkins, president, World Vision International in Causes

Nepalese youths discuss their hopes for child protection in the country's new constitution with Kevin Jenkins, WVI President. ©2011 World Vision

Editor’s note: The following is a message that was shared with our staff around the world from Kevin Jenkins, president of World Vision International. As we share it here, we hope you find it as intriguing and worthwhile as we do. What helps children to prepare for — and cope successfully with — disasters? Why not ask them? With that simple question in mind, five organizations who regularly deal with crisis situations — including World Vision — asked 600 children in 21 disaster-vulnerable countries around the world what they thought. The answers were so powerful and informative that we turned them into a Children’s Charter for Disaster Risk Reduction, and presented them on May 12 to the third session of...

BOLIVIA BLOGGERS: Exploring sponsorship

Posted on June 27, 2011 by Lindsey Talerico-Hedren in Child Sponsorship

In Bolivia, Arminda, age 6, whose family's fortunes were dramatically changed by the gift of two pigs from World Vision's Gift Catalog. ©2011 Jon Warren/World Vision

You’ve probably read stories — on this blog or elsewhere — of how extreme poverty can create a vicious cycle of hardship and despair for families and communities. And maybe you’ve even heard of how World Vision child sponsorship helps break that cycle — by providing essentials that empower families, like nutritious food, clean water, healthcare, education, training, and more. But where does sponsorship become more than just a simple explanation? Here at World Vision, we’re constantly asking ourselves: How do we make sponsorship a personal experience, where poverty and its remedies are embodied in the stories of real people and real places? And how can we connect our supporters with that?...