Taking a trip to a developing country without leaving the U.S. is possible this weekend with the Compassion Experience in town. Visitors have the chance to see life through the eyes of a child in a developing country.
Meet Jonathan, he is a child from the Dominican Republic. Through the compassion experience, we get to live a day in his shoes.
"Life here in Via Roma is hard my friends told me to steal fruit from the cart, but I knew if I stole it, I would be part of their gang," said Jonathan on the recording during the interactive tour.
Visitors walk room-by-room with an iPod and headphones listening to three different children tell their personal stories.
These stories leave every person that walks through the rooms, with a different perspective of their own life.
"Sometimes it's easy for us to get caught up in our own worlds and think I want I want, and we forget the needs that we have in abundance that nobody else has,” said Linda Lackey, a Compassion Experience goer.
This interactive tour gives viewers an experience into another world without leaving theirs.
"Our goal this weekend is not only to raise public awareness of the need, but also we have brought 190 of these children that you can start your sponsorship today," said Scott Trotter, a Compassion Experience volunteer.
“We decided to sponsor a child so we get to bring her into our daily lives and pray for her," said Lackey.
The Compassion Experience helps to raise awareness for children just like Johnathan and gives people the chance to sponsor their own child and create a relationship with them to give them hope for their future.
The Compassion Experience is located in the Valley Plaza Mall's southwest parking lot now through Monday.
