December 27, 2016 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Compassion International employees often find themselves drawn into vulnerable and intimate family moments as they work to improve the lives of children in places like Colombia, East India, and Tanzania. Using snapshots taken by its workers, the organization recently compiled a photo essay showing where the young people it serves lay their heads each night.
The bedrooms — in huts, shacks, rough concrete structures, sometimes just a mattress atop a stone or dirt floor — can shelter siblings or even entire families. Yet the images burst with warmth, color, and the children’s expressions of pride and gratitude for having a place to sleep.
The photo essay has been shared more than 18,000 times on social media since it was posted on Compassion International’s blog in March, the organization says.
The charity has racked up significant increases in private support every year since 1999, according to The Chronicle’s Philanthropy 400. The nonprofit stood at No. 24 in this year’s rankings, thanks to a 7 percent jump in support, to $765 million.
While many of the families the group serves live in poverty, Compassion International’s visual storytelling relies heavily on positive imagery to bring donors closer to the children their gifts benefit.
Below, some of the images from Compassion International’s photo essay.
