The Tigray Crisis in Ethiopia was a deadly civil conflict that lasted from 2020-2022. Hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians, including thousands of children, lost their lives, and the region still faces challenges due to unresolved territory disputes and implementation failures relating to the removal of troops.
Compassion International Ethiopia (CIE) partners with over 500 local churches to serve over 130,000 vulnerable children and youth. Operating in the country since 1993, the organization provides holistic, Christ-centered child development—offering education, nutrition, medical care, and clean water to fight systemic poverty.
The ministry saw the effects of the fighting on the local communities firsthand, and Jeff Martin, chief strategic officer for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), says while working with the children who were scarred by the past, a simple art exercise gave CIE an idea.
When they asked the children to draw conflict, they used a lot of red, symbolizing blood, and drew stick figures doing things like hiding under a bed.
The kids were then asked to draw hope.
"What they started seeing over and over was these stick figures of soccer and … playing sports," Martin relays. "That's how they drew hope."
CIE noticed the stark differences in the drawings, but church partners lacked ways to engage them.
As a result, FCA and Compassion International now serve as spiritual and athletic guides for over 1,250 local youth in Ethiopia. They distribute sports equipment and resources, and they host tournaments, camps, and training coaches to be mentors to the young kids.
Bearing in mind hope's comparison to a ball that bounces back if you keep it moving, FCA and Compassion International are work to keep that ball moving all across the globe. By utilizing sports and "the power of play," FCA equips local coaches to lead sports camps, tournaments, and Discovery Bible Studies that help youth process trauma, build character, and learn about the gospel.
