She was too young to remember the feeding sessions, the health checks or the parenting classes her mother attended at the local church. She has no memory of the vitamins she received or the volunteers who weighed her tiny body, making sure she was growing as she should.
But Emma remembers.
Emma remembers what it felt like to hold her hungry baby without knowing where their next meal would come from. She remembers walking to the local health centre with empty pockets, praying Kristine wouldn't get sick because there was nothing left to give.
She remembers the feeling that tomorrow would look exactly like today.
Statistically, it was unlikely that Kristine would survive her first month of life. In fact, in 2023, 2.3 million babies didn’t. Emma knew that to give Kristine the life she deserved, her first year was critical; what she didn’t know was how to do it alone. With no resources, no family support and no steady income, she walked with her head down, her hands shaking and anxiety building to the church down the road.
As she walked through the doors, the knot in her stomach weakened. She lifted her head and saw a community with arms open wide, ready to help. Emma joined Compassion’s Mums and Babies program that day—a decision that began a legacy she could have never foreseen. For the first time, tomorrow looked more hopeful than today.
For Emma’s first year of motherhood and Kristine’s first year of life, there was a village of support that had been building for years, waiting for a woman just like Emma. Through the Mums and Babies program at her local church, Emma learned how to feed Kristine, help her sleep, watch her grow stronger, learn to crawl, speak her first words and eventually walk confidently into her next years of life. Long before Kristine took her first steps, Emma was paving a safe way for her.
Suddenly, she wasn’t facing motherhood alone and she could see a future that didn’t feel hopeless.
The recipes Emma practised with the local staff became meals on the family table, and each day she learned which were Kristine’s favourites and which might not be touched. The regular health checks gave her confidence that Kristine was growing as she should, and each year she watched her daughter get taller and stronger. The tear-filled conversations she had with other mothers became reassurance on the days she wondered if she was getting it right.
When Kristine was old enough, she joined Compassion's Child Sponsorship Program run by the same local church. There, she was supported as she grew into her teenage years and adulthood, and she was given the opportunity to know the gospel through church worship services, Bible teaching and prayer. The place that had walked alongside her family through her earliest months continued walking with her as she grew, surrounding her with people who encouraged her education, nurtured her faith and reminded her she was deeply known and loved.
But while she felt hope within the walls of the church, Emma and Kristine’s life at home was getting more dangerous.
Kristine grew up watching her father struggle with alcohol. Most evenings followed the same pattern. He would leave home to drink before returning hours later, loud, dangerous and unpredictable. Emma and her children would often lie awake listening for his footsteps, unsure what version of him was waiting on the other side of the door.
One evening, he didn't come home. Kristine searched the streets until she reached the local market, where a crowd had gathered around a fight. Her father was in the middle of it, being beaten close to death. Kristine begged the men to stop and managed to pull her father away from the chaos. Carrying the weight of his body on her shoulder, she limped her father home. By the time they reached the house, he was bruised, bleeding and barely conscious.
Standing beside him, Kristine didn't know what to do. So she did the one thing she had been learning to do since she was a little girl.
She prayed.
"Lord, please change my father. Please help him stop drinking and make him join me at church."
The next morning looked much like the one before it. But over the days and weeks that followed, something changed. Her father stopped drinking and never turned back. He began attending church with his family. Over time, the man whose family once waited anxiously for him each evening became someone they could rely on. Today, he serves on the church board and leads the men's ministry.
When Kristine tells the story now, she doesn't dwell on the violence or the fear. Instead, she smiles.
Today, Kristine is 18 years old and studying pharmacy, with dreams of becoming a physician. She still attends the same local church where her story began, although these days she's no longer the baby being carried through its doors. She's a youth leader, investing in younger children with the same care that was once shown to her.
Looking at Kristine today, Emma still sees the baby she carried into church with empty pockets. She remembers the little girl she prayed would survive and the young daughter she hoped would have opportunities she never did.
Emma couldn't have known what was waiting on the other side of those church doors. She was simply trying to keep her baby alive.
What she found was a community that walked alongside her family through one of life's hardest seasons. They helped her care for Kristine in her earliest months, equipped her as a mother and continued investing in her daughter as she grew. Years later, Emma can see the legacy of that support in the young woman Kristine has become. Somewhere today, another mother is walking towards her local church carrying the same fears Emma once carried, not knowing the legacy they are beginning for the child in their arms.
As they walk into that church, you can leave a legacy with an impact far beyond what you can imagine.
That’s why many Australians are choosing to leave a legacy of faith by including a gift to Compassion in their Will. Like Emma's decision all those years ago, it's a choice with an impact that reaches far beyond the moment it's made. Long after we're gone, children living in poverty can continue receiving practical support, including nutritious food, healthcare, education and the care they need to grow, learn and thrive. Not only that, but through their local church, every child has to opportunity to know and follow Jesus—a decision that can change generations to come. Families facing impossible circumstances today can be supported to build a different tomorrow.
If this story inspires you, here are three ways you can move with compassion:
- You can find out more about how to leave a gift in your Will to Compassion by contacting our team at bequests@compassion.com.au or calling us on 1300 22 44 53.
- You can write a free, legally binding Will online through EveryWill, Australia’s leading online Wills platform. You can start today and leave a legacy of faith that lasts for generations.
- If you’ve already included a gift for Compassion in your Will, thank you. Please let us know so we can thank you personally.
