History of Compassion 4 Kids International

When Joseph Burke listened to the call made by John Colvin for helping very, very poor people by volunteering to help reach out to children and adults in a far away land, the seed that began to grow within in, began in January 2000.  Joe had to rush and get a passport and learn what was needed to go villages where they were not any cars or trucks, just a motorized dug out (tree) boat. A boat that was about 30 feet long, just a small board to sit on, knees up to your chin, water spurting through the small holes left from the knots that had disappeared.

Joe was to make sure that all the stuff and people got on the boat to go to the next village. In this boat there were usually 2 boatmen, one for operating the motor and the boat and the other to look for shallow water obstacles when arriving to go into the river openings that led to the village. Then we had our cook, the interpreter, and Joe along with pots and pans, eating ware, food for 5 days, 20 cases of bottled water (for personal use and patients to down their medicine, (4 cases of bibles the first trip), 6 days of clothing, boxes of medical supplies, and the hand drawn map.

Once Joe saw the drastic need of the children and adults, he continued to go to Indonesia twice a year from 2001 through 2003. So many adults and children die because of malaria, cholera, typhoid and other deceases that there was many broken families and many orphans. There are not divorces on the islands as they always work things out through the family or through the village leader. Both men and women learn their responsibilities to each other and to themselves . The average life span is about 48 years because of the high death rate. There is no such thing as drinking water from the ground, only by bottled water and that costs too much for these people to afford.

So boiling water for 20 to 30 minutes is sometimes not done and death will occur in less than a week for drinking unclean water. Milk from cows has to be boiled before it can be drank. You have to peel all fruit before eating, then wash your hands and then eat the fruit. If you do not follow that rule, you get the runs, dysentery sets in and if not treated, death will occur.

The average income on the Mentawai Island was less that 500,000 rupiah per month which is about $52 per month. School costs $5 per day per child so when the parents do not have the money, the child doesn't go to school. They have to purchase 3 sets of school uniforms per child which can be handed down to younger children.

So where do the orphans go when that occurs. On the Mentawai Islands they are taken in by friends of the deceased or other family members. But this puts additional hardships on these new added to families because of the new financial burdens. So Joe not only saw the plight of the medical needs but also the family and social needs.

After having 2 heart attacks, the second one 5 days after the first, and was a miracle that he lived through each one, he went back to the island of Nias to help these people after the big tsunami in March 2005, 5 months after his near death occurrence. Upon his departure from Nias, the team stopped in Medan where Joe was asked to check two patients into the Catholic hospital, which he did with the help of 2 of the interpreters that had gone to Nias with the team. Joe stayed in Medan for two nights where he was approached by a girl, about 3 foot tall, begging for money. When she left, Joe asked why this girl was asking for money as she was in a nice dress, cute as a button, and was told by one of the interpreters that "she is a street child." It was a statement of factual pronunciation like a passing thought. It bothered me that a child like this was being addressed as though she had no purpose to be in our lives.

So when Joe returned to the USA he got on the internet and did a search for "Indonesian street kids" and found website after website. With the seed that was planted within his heart and the guidance from our Heavenly Father, Joe began to formulate in his mind what he felt he was being prepared for and what his new outreach would be.

Before Joe had left Medan, he had left $300 of his own money with Ligna, an interpreter that had helped in for 3 trips to the Mentawai Islands and Nias. He had also given $300 to Angela Tobing who had been his interpreter for 4 trips. Joe had told them that he may be asking them to do something and whatever it was going to be, they would use the money at that time.

After leaving Medan at noon on the 28th of March 2005, an earthquake occurred just off of Nias with Angela Tobing and a nurse from Hawaii with her daughter and their chaperone from Evergreen, Colorado. Many of those hurt real bad were flown to the Catholic Hospital in Medan where Ligna had been returning to take food to the 9th month old baby's mother since she had no money. Ligna took some of the $300 and gave enough money for the 29 year old female patient to have transportation back to Nias and also the mother and child to do the same when they would be released. She also purchased some clothes for both of the adults as they only had the clothes they were wearing when they arrived at the hospital.

Then the money she had left, she gave to many of the patients that came from Nias to help them to be able to get back to Nias, and also with some under clothes and such.

A month after being rescued from Nias after the earthquake, Joe contacted her and asked her if she would like to become a CEO of an Indonesian foundation to start an orphanage. Within a week  she had said yeas and she began to get the documents through her government. Joe began the slow process of forming a non-profit corporation and obtaining the charity status with the IRS.

In June 2005 the non-profit corporation was registered with the Secretary of State of Colorado. On December 15, 2006 the IRS awarded Compassion 4 Kids International, Inc. as a 501 (C) 3 charity to raise support for orphanages.

Now you can be part of this outreach to provide the financial support and provide a home for orphans and street children. Get involved today for tomorrow means that a child may to be reached in time for a high percentage of street children die from malnutrition, cholera (bad water), and other deceases that they will not get in the children's home called Cikal Hope for Children. !!! Please do n't wait, they need your help today !!!

compassion4kids@compassion-4-kids-int.org

or

supportthekids@compassion-4-kids-int.org