In early 2020, Mary & Martha made the decision to expand its partnership with Compassion International by helping to launch a child development center alongside Compassion’s local church partner in the Arusha region of Tanzania. The Anglican Mang’ola center, which opened in the spring of 2020, serves 149 Compassion-sponsored children.
These 149 children are sponsored by our generous Mary & Martha community including our leadership team, consultants and customers. How will sponsorship change the trajectory of these children’s young lives?
The story of Vivian Adam provides a beautiful and powerful testament to the impact of Compassion sponsorship.
In 2001, Vivian recalls vividly waking up to find her father dead in their home and her mother frozen in grief. It was young Vivian who ran outside to the neighbors to find help, but it was too late to save her father. During that same year, Vivian also lost her mother. Now orphans, she and her younger sister were taken in by an aunt who registered them with the local Compassion center.
It was at the center that Vivian’s life began to take shape and purpose. Not only was the center a safe haven from the crime and gangs that plagued her neighborhood, she also found faith, fellowship and a sense of belonging.
“My sponsor wrote to me often and would call me her ‘first-born’ child,” says Vivian. “This gave me back my sense of family knowing that someone thought of me and loved me as a daughter.”
During her darkest, bleakest days where food and clothing were scarce, the Compassion center was always there for Vivian. With the center’s support, Vivian completed her education and today works as an administrative assistant in Compassion’s Tanzania office. She also is an active volunteer with her local church as a youth leader.
Learn more about Vivian and her story in this short video produced by Compassion from her home community of Arusha:
There are many more children across the Arusha region in need of sponsors whose lives, like Vivian’s will be forever changed. If your heart is drawing you to consider sponsorship please visit our website to learn more.