On Jan. 1, 2008, a mob of opposition supporters cornered dozens of women and children inside a church in an impoverished village in Kenya's Rift Valley. They burned the church to the ground, killing all inside. This act of deadly violence was the first that signaled to the world that the riots occurring after the Kenyan presidential elections had developed into a lethal crisis. Eventually more than 1,000 people died in the aftermath.

At the same time that the mob was killing innocent women and children, officials at the Compassion Kenya office were calling church partners in the affected areas. Their only thought: What is the status of our 5,000 Compassion-assisted children there?

Church Partnership Assists Response

Their questions would have gone unanswered were it not for these Compassion church partners. Whether a crisis occurs in Kenya or even in the Philippines, Compassion's long-standing relationship with churches around the globe allows a crisis response that is targeted and locally administered.

"A day after the election results were announced and the violence started, Compassion … called us to inquire about the status and whereabouts of sponsored children and their families," says Martha Odhiambo, Project Director of Kongowea Baptist Church Child Development Center north of Mombasa. "We were asked to go out and carry out a situational analysis."

Status of Every Child Is Reported

This "house-to-house" analysis of children and their families occurs whenever disaster strikes where Compassion works. Compassion church partners report on each child affected. The process can take hours or days, depending on the intensity of the crisis. Compassion conducts these extensive yet rapid assessments to get an accurate view of how children are faring during the crisis.

Once Compassion church partners complete a needs assessment, the information is relayed to our country offices. There, decisions are made on what type of response is necessary. These individual reports are essential to offering children and families relief that is specific and customized to their needs, instead of transporting general disaster supplies that may be redundant or unnecessary.

Engineering a Quick Response

In Kenya, for example, after receiving all the reports from church partners on children affected by the violence, Compassion Kenya mobilized a crisis team. Its job was to release funding to partners and to ensure that children's immediate needs were provided for. Its job also was to look toward the future to see what would be needed once the initial violence subsided. The team was created just two days after the crisis. Based on those reports, more than $10,000 was immediately allocated to Compassion church partners to provide the most-needed emergency items — blankets, food, water, medicines.

"Compassion was very efficient and effective in its response," says Valerian Mganga, a staffer at the Victoria Baptist Church Child Development Center.

How does Compassion customize its response to a crisis?

How is Compassion's crisis response long-term?

How is Compassion's response to a crisis different from other organizations?

What did you like about this article?