On 11 October 2019, World Vision held the second in a series of church engagement forums on The Connected Generation, a pioneering global study, co-commissioned with Barna Group, on how the outlook, experiences, and values of millennials and the leading edge of Generation Z should inform the Church’s efforts to make in-roads with, disciple, and activate an emerging generation living in a digital, sceptical and experiential age. Mr. Daniel Copeland, a Research Associate from Barna Group, was invited to share the results from Singapore.

Many of these kids aren’t used to choosing, so picking their sponsor is a huge leap forward for them. Research shows that when kids in poverty have a voice in decision-making, they take action for lasting change.  

"I believe our small effort could turn out to be a great support for our country to beat COVID-19,” says Saru. “People in my community have started to recognise me. I belong to a low caste but now people address me [as] ‘Miss’ (considered as a title of respect for women).”

Having shared in the experience of Chosen – not once but twice, Lilian Chung, World Vision Singapore’s National Director and child sponsor share her experience and journey as a #Chosen sponsor. 

“Right after the event, he ran home and showed me his sponsor’s photo and talked so much about him. He said that he will keep the photo of his sponsor safely and if his sponsor visited him, he will show them the photo,” continued Hanh. 

“I did not even know [the] ABCDs back then, but now I know,” shared Suresh. With his newly developed skills, Suresh’s outlook on education and life has changed drastically as well. 

Hailing from a village in Zambia that did not have hold a clean water source, Jeneta and other women in her village would often travel to a river to fetch water – albeit dirty and possibly contaminated – to meet their needs. While it may sound simple enough, fetching water is often a difficult and dangerous task, especially for women, who are further vulnerable to threats like harassment and sexual assault.

On 9-12 December 2019, students and young professionals from Cambodia, Myanmar, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, Nepal, Vietnam, China and the Philippines came together for the fourth edition of our annual Youth For Change Conference (YFCC), which was held in Cebu. 

“They could not realise that a girl child also can support herself as well as her family. They felt I was kind of a burden. They tried to get rid of me as early as possible by forcing me into marriage,” recalled Nasima.