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Shining World Compassion Award:
Caring for Kaela – Helping Children and a Nation Reach Their God-given Potential
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Everywhere in the world,
we can observe
and be touched
by acts of kindness.
People from all walks of
life, faiths, and cultures
extend themselves
beyond the call of duty
to help others
unconditionally.
Through their noble deeds,
humanity as a whole
is elevated.
To commend
virtuous actions and
encourage more people
to be inspired
by their examples,
Supreme Master
Ching Hai
has lovingly created
a series of awards,
including the Shining
World Leadership
Award, Shining World
Compassion Award,
Shining World Hero and
Heroine Awards, Shining
World Honesty Award,
Shining World Protection
Award, Shining World
Intelligence Award,
and Shining World
Inventor Award,
to recognize some
of the most exemplary,
Generous, caring,
and courageous people
who walk amongst us.
Caring for Kaela is an
international organization
working to empower
children’s lives in Chad
so they can reach their
full God-given potential.
Founded in 2004
by Belgian citizen
Ms. Nathalie Losson,
the non-profit was named
after her Chadian
God-daughter Kaela,
and is inspired by
the spiritual message of
transforming compassion
into constructive action.
Kaela is every child,
often victims
of war, abuse, or crime.
Helping them
goes hand in hand with
boosting their communities,
and even the country,
to rise out of poverty.
Caring for Kaela
came out of the church.
I was inspired
by my pastor who
always used to say,
“Don’t sit if you know
you need to be standing.
And don’t stand if you know
you need to be walking.”
And for him, he was
calling the lost to Christ.
But he was also calling
Christians to action.
And this organization
was created to
take people’s compassion
and put that into action.
Oftentimes we see
on television, visions of
horror, poverty, famine,
and something tugs at us
but oftentimes we move on
to the next thing.
And so we wanted
to take this compassion
that people felt and
really try to harness that
to have an impact in Chad,
where we work.
The approach used by
Caring for Kaela
is holistic: It not only
works with the child
but also focuses
on the environment
around the child.
It offers youngsters
the security of a home,
while assisting them
to acquire the skills
necessary to grow
into independent adults.
Chadian children are
in a context
that is extremely poor.
Chad is one of
the poorest countries
in Africa, if not the world.
Children are subject of
child trafficking, because
of the ongoing conflict
they’re often recruited
as child soldiers.
Poverty often drives children
to leave their home
and try to find a way to
make money on their own.
But oftentimes,
this doesn’t work and
children find themselves
either addicted to drugs
or homeless and
with nowhere else to turn.
So there’s great need
for these children.
How can people help them?
We link somebody here
in the US
with a child in Chad,
where the person can
help support
this child’s education
through our local partner,
the Bethesda Center.
And the Bethesda Center
is a psychosocial
rehabilitation center
that looks for children
in the streets, tries to
identify a family and
helps to cater to the child
in a holistic way.
So taking care of
its social needs,
its spiritual needs,
its educational needs,
its health needs.
And so the sponsors
would be able help assist
with one child’s education
in life.
The Bethesda Center
works with
Caring for Kaela
by teaching youngsters
conflict resolution skills
and providing health
services and job training.
Ms. Losson is currently
working to secure
a safe residential facility
for the children to stay in
until a family
is able to take them in.
Yet another project
of the group is
a micro-credit service.
A lot of people said,
“You can’t give money
to street children.
They will disappear with it.”
And so, we tried
a couple of youth that
were recommended to us
and it was amazing.
They had a start-up fund
to build.
One of them wanted
to sell candy.
And so he had been
trained as a carpenter
and he built himself
this table with drawers
and things to clothe and
it was just this amazing
thing that he built
and ended up selling
throughout the summer
enough money to pay
the entire credit back.
The other person wanted
to sell leggings and shirts,
and so he ended up
making some money
and being able to repay
the whole credit back.
It was a very
successful experience
that we hope to continue.
Amazingly,
Caring for Kaela is an
all-volunteer organization
in which the helpers
perform a variety of tasks
such as teaching,
event-coordination,
fund-raising, and so on.
They work closely with
an advisory committee of
native Chadians who help
to prioritize the goals.
We selected five Chadians
from the diaspora
who had a vision
for their country
and knew that
the Chad could do better
than what it was doing.
We were able to provide
them with a platform
so that they could
interact with
the US Administration,
with the United Nations,
with the European Union,
with stakeholders
around the world.
And it wasn’t so much
that Caring for Kaela
provided any training
or technical expertise
but we allowed them
to harness the power
and the capacity
that was in them
to be able to affect, and
engage in, the governance
of their country.
And so through that,
we were able to affect
the peace process in Chad,
and in a small way
maybe render Chad
a little better than it was.
Remarkably,
Caring for Kaela
has made solid initiatives
at four levels: individual,
community, national,
and international.
At the individual level,
we have our local partner,
the Bethesda Center,
that does education
to employment, to make sure
that the children
receive an education
that eventually
leads to their ability
to sustain themselves
financially independently.
At the community level,
we work
to reinforce the capacity
of the local community.
And so we’ve worked
with youth;
at times we’ve worked
with a radio station.
We’ve worked
with civil society,
the youth project with
the “Wakith Tamma”
(It Is Time) project
that engage young people
in the development
of their country,
and really taught through
that newspaper, non-violent
conflict methods.
Because at that time
so many youth were
drawn by the rebellion,
it was necessary
to provide another choice,
and to say
that dialogue can work.
Nationally,
we’ve worked very much
on peace-building.
Now it’s changed to
a phase of reconstruction
because we’re at the end
of a cycle of violence.
And internationally,
Caring for Kaela
does advocacy.
We lead a Chad working
group of 30 some NGOs,
where we harmonize
the advocacy strategies
for the US government
and then UN.
And then we collaborate
with EU Non-governmental
organizations
who advocate in Brussels
with the European Union.
So, the vision
to be able to impact
the total environment
so that child can blossom,
and then reinvest
what it has learned
into the development
of his own community.
Indeed, the vision
of Caring for Kaela
is far-reaching in time
and in distance.
So how can we achieve
sustainable peace in Chad?
Chad is at a very critical
time in its history.
We’re at the end
of a cycle of violence,
and it is an opportunity
right now
for the government
to be able to
eradicate injustice
and provide equality
to all its citizens,
to really unite a people
that has since now
been divided.
The international
community
has a role to play, too.
This is not the time
to abandon Chad.
This is a time for donors
to invest in this country,
to invest
in the education system,
in the health system.
Now we have
several good years
where really donors
need to be investing
and rebuild this country.
Chadians themselves
have to be willing to
create this nation together,
and that’s going to be
a challenge for them.
Chadians are extremely
generous and hospitable.
You don’t need much
to be able to make it
in Chad for a long time.
They will open their homes
and their heart to you
and provide you with
everything that you need.
Their generosity
is really something
that we could learn from.
What have you learned
by doing this work?
I mean, how has it
impacted your life?
What has marked me
the most is just
the ability of individuals
to effect change.
We are all volunteers
with very few resources
and even Chadians
that worked with us
gave of their time
and their finances
and took off from work.
And we had meetings here,
and meetings there.
It was
tremendously touching
to see people sacrifice
for a greater vision,
just to see
that 11 million Chadians
could have a better future.
That’s amazing. (It is.)
So do you have a message
for our worldwide audience
that you’d like to share?
Certainly.
I would like to say
that never underestimate
the power of the individual
to make a change
in this world.
Turn your compassion
to action. Act.
Do something
in your local community,
in your school, it doesn’t
have to be far away.
But we are all responsible
for the world
we leave our children.
And so each of us
has been given so much,
we’re expected
to give that back.
For Ms. Losson’s
dedicated love in action
for the Chadian youth,
Supreme Master Ching Hai
has honored her
with the Shining World
Compassion Award,
along with a donation
of US$10,000
to further the noble work.
“…For building
the foundation of
new harmony, wellbeing
and social development
in Chad, for advocating
equality and justice,
for your benevolence
and kindness,
and for being a dedicated
and a noble role-model,
we hereby applaud
and celebrate
the compassionate deeds
of Caring for Kaela
staff and volunteers,
and with special thanks
to founder
Miss Nathalie Losson.
With Great Honour,
Love and Blessings,
Supreme Master
Ching Hai”
Ms. Losson expressed
her thankfulness for
the award and contribution
of US$10,000 from
Supreme Master
Ching Hai.
Dear
Supreme Master Ching Hai,
I’m just so touched and
grateful for your donation.
This is such a… This is…
It’s difficult
to put in a word
what this means for us.
Your dedication, your
vision for peace on Earth
is something that we share.
And we hope
that with these funds
we can join and empower
and share your message
that you have shared
throughout the world.
And you have,
with this support
that you’ve given us,
touched one more heart,
and for that I thank you.
Later, Ms. Losson wrote
a thank you letter to
Supreme Master Ching Hai,
the following
of which is an excerpt:
“Supreme Master Ching Hai,
Please allow me to
express my most sincere
and heartfelt gratitude
for receiving
the “Shining World
Compassion Award.”
It is truly an honor
to be acknowledged.
Your generous
$10,000 donation will
used by Caring for Kaela
to share in your vision
of building
a more peaceful Earth
where people
of all walks of life
can live in harmony with
each other and nature…
Your dedication
to humanity and your
commitment to peace
are an example
for many to follow.
Thank you wholeheartedly
for your support.
Nathalie Losson
Executive Director”
Thank you,
Ms. Nathalie Losson
for being the bright light
of shelter, love
and protection for
this and future generations
of children in Chad.
May your work
be blessed evermore
to expand in assisting
countless youth and
communities to realize
their great potential,
and for a nation to
further peace in our world.
For more information
about Caring for Kaela,
please visit
Gracious viewers,
thank you for your company
on this program.
Coming up next is
Words of Wisdom,
after Noteworthy News.
Please stay tuned
to Supreme Master
Television.
May we all be blessed
by the daily sharing of
kindness and tolerance.
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