The world is getting smaller. At GHNI, we intend to help it keep shrinking.

That’s what our Compassion Trips are all about.

Compare the following two scenarios:

1. You were in the checkout line yesterday at the corner store. As the clerk handed you your change you noticed a small box on the counter with the words, “Help Poor Children Worldwide.” You paused for a moment, considering tossing your change in. Did you do it? Why or why not?

2. You were in Ethiopia yesterday with other volunteers on a GHNI Compassion Trip to help a specific developing village for a week. After the trip you go home, gather a bunch of your friends, and help that village over the next couple of years by raising several thousand dollars to help the village climb out of poverty. Some of your friends from the group also go on Compassion Trips to the village. Why?

Which scenario gets your heart rate escalating and spreads a smile on your face? Why? What’s the difference between these two scenarios?

The difference is relationships. Relationships make the world small.

I’ve never met anyone who didn’t care about the concept of world poverty. We all know about it and see it in the news. But it’s hard to relate to a concept. It doesn’t have a face, or a story, or a smile, or a challenge.

But once you have friends in a poor developing village; once you’ve danced with villagers and eaten village food and worked in the hot sun alongside villagers who are trying to improve life for themselves and their children… well, everything is just… different.

That’s what our Compassion Trips are all about.

Consider going on a GHNI Compassion Trip soon. You just might make friends 10,000 miles away!