Last Thursday Calvary sponsored a showing (at the State Theater) of the film, They Call It Myanmar: Lifting the Curtain.  My first Myanmar experience was in 2005.  I journeyed to Myanmar with my two then-teenage daughters, Sarah and Katy.  I’ll never forget reading a publication — just days before we left — that listed their leader as one of the top three worst dictators in the world!

Calvary now supports children from four different orphanages north of Yangon.  Of about 200 children in these orphanages, some of the children are true orphans, no mother or father.  Some are poverty orphans, often coming from a family where one of the parents have died and the remaining parent simply cannot afford to care for the children.  Some are children who lost their families in the Nargis Cyclone.  All of them are beautiful, in need, and filled with potential.But to be honest, our nervousness disappeared like early morning fog, when we met the children.

If you viewed the film — the website is now selling dvd’s if you were unable to come — then like most of us, your heart was grabbed by the struggles of the children; non-existent health care, lacking food, child labor, and no education were simply a few of the battles they face.  If you study Myanmar, you will also find there is a thriving sex-slave trade, a high incidence of AIDS and in the past it has been a country with one of the highest numbers of child soldiers.

As I watched the film, one of the thoughts that came to me was that the children in the orphanages that we support are so blessed.  They get at least two meals a day.  They have a higher degree of health-care.  They go to school.  They have adults in their lives who love them.  Some of them even have sponsors who pray for them and send letters to them.  They are blessed.

The other thought that came to my mind was that we can do more.  In the last few months those words have had a certain resonance, “In retrospect I could have done more.”  We could probably speak those words over dozens of areas of our lives, but when it comes to kids, the words seem to have a deeper impact.  Many of you who read this already sponsor a child, or give to help those in need around the globe.  Some of us do not, but all of us can ask ourselves the question, is there something more I can do.

We have started a ministry called Calvary Global Kids.  It’s a sponsorship program that gives us the ability to connect kids to hope around the world.  For $40 a month you can help a child eat, go to school, get health-care, and have a place to live with people who love them.  In other words you can make a difference, and not many organizations can say this, but because of Calvary’s commitment to these kids, every dollar you give goes to the children.

Check it out and consider making a difference in a child’s life.  If you can’t sponsor a child at this moment but would like to make a one-time gift to help our partnership in Myanmar, click CGK Donate and select Calvary Global Kids fund.