Compassion Experience gives people a first-hand view into global poverty

Immersive display gives people an insider’s look to global poverty and how a child’s life can be changed through sponsorship.

“Being blessed is not enough, we have to become a blessing,” Samuel Orlando of Compassion International said.

People walked through the lives and experiences of two children going from poverty to a better life.

“Our objective is that everybody would go through this to really get a perspective that the world does not live the way people live here,” Justin Sogoian of Compassion International said.

Compassion International, a global child sponsorship organization brought The Compassion Experience to Indian Wells to give people a first-hand view on what poverty is like in another country. The tour has a previously sponsored child share their story growing up. The experience is narrated with iPods and headphones, immersing people with visual displays to connect with the story as they move from room to room.

“This was a real story and if this is representative of millions of kids then there’s a great opportunity to make a difference. Just looking at the names and all the faces, super compelling,” Mingo Palacios said.

Orlando is one of 1.8 million children that are helped by the organization’s sponsors. He said growing up in the Dominican Republic was difficult for him and his mother until he got a helping hand.

“Every time I go through the mobile experience I get to see, remember when I was living in a very tiny house with no running water and no bathroom in the house. It reminds me of how god is amazing,” Orlando said.

The Compassion Experience is free and open to the public until Monday at the Southwest Church in Indian Wells.

More information on Compassion International can be found here.