Compassion Translators - a Conversation with Cecilia Torres in Peru

If you've ever gone on a Compassion trip or even written a letter to your sponsored child, you know the importance of Compassion's translators. They are literally our voice when it comes to communicating with our sponsored children.

When I was in Peru, all our translators were excellent, but one in particular was super nice and I've kept up with her over the past four years. 

I asked Cecilia some questions about her job as a translator and she was kind enough to let me share her responses with you.

My name is Cecilia Torres and I have worked as a freelance translator/interpreter for Compassion Peru for about 12 years.  I don’t do much interpretation much now but I really enjoy to host visits, meeting sponsors from different countries is such a blessing.  The job laws in Peru changed a little like 3 years ago and I was given the opportunity and was asked by key people in Compassion Peru to start my own translation business to provide Compassion Peru translation services.  Back then I have been also working on and off helping in the PC area (Sponsors and Donors Ministries) evaluating other translators’ work, etc…  So I knew what the whole work involved and God led me to start my little translation business.  This is my second year providing translation services to Compassion and my business is named Global Voice S.A.C, I chose that name because many times I was told by sponsors “thank you for being my voice here in Peru”.  I enjoy managing Global Voice and so far I have 13 translators working with me.  [You can find us in Facebook and like our page].  God is good and I am grateful for this challenge and opportunity to be a blessing to others translators, Compassion Peru, children, and translators.  

1. How long have you worked for Compassion?

About 12 years as a freelance translator

2. What are the different aspects to your job as a translator?
As a translator I have to pick my packages of letters every Monday from 9:30am to 11am and drop off the packages I translated already.  I have to check every letter while I am translating just in case I find some content that Compassion wants me to observe or highlight.  I have to print each letter carefully (letters written by children) so I don’t mess up a letter, for this I have to be very alert while printing.  I also have to work with a manual/handbook mostly done by Compassion.

with Denise of Point of Grace

3. What is your favorite part of translating?
 It is to see, especially in the sponsors’ letters, how much of an encouragement they can be for their sponsored children… sometimes it is something I need to hear that that day as well.

4. What is the hardest part?
The hardest part would be when there aren’t many letters to translate or when you read that a child or a sponsor passes away L

with Darlene Zschech of Hillsong

5. Is there a particular letter that stands out to you in your memory?
There have been many through the years but I especially like the graduation letters when the children say that thanks to the sponsor’s help she/he was exposed to God’s Word and now follows Him. This is what is Compassion about right?

6. What can sponsors do to make your job easier?
To make my job easier, keep writing and make sure your handwriting is clear.  Keep the level of the message age appropriate. If you don’t know Spanish well, it is better to write the letter in English otherwise we are trying to figure out what the sponsor is trying to say.

with James and John Micah of Kutless

7. Approximately how many letters do you translate each month?
Around 250 to 300 letters a week, but some of my coworkers can translate as many as 700 letters (children letters) per week.

8. How has being around Compassion and seeing their ministry in action affected you?
It has affected me in positive ways like: every time I host a sponsor visit and go to the poor areas, it reminds me to be grateful for the things I have (running water, a toilet, hot water, etc…).  Also how generous the sponsors can be with others, something I have learned.  I’ve also learned that being poor doesn’t mean sadness or misfortune, I have met many poor people through Compassion who have the joy of the Lord and are so grateful for what the “little” they have, etc…

with Compassion Korea

9. Do you sponsor a child? If so...could you tell us a little about him or her?
Yes, four translators got together, after working with Canadian advocates for a week, and decided to sponsor a little 4 year old boy from Dominica Republic named Adonis J This happened in 2010. Adonis is 8 years old and doesn’t write his own letters yet. We all are hope to visit him someday and that’s kind of why we chose a child for the DR, not too far from Peru (we were not allowed to sponsor a child from our own country)

with Jonathan Martin of The Martins

Aly's Compassion Story

Aly is a daughter of the King and a recovering school teacher who still loves to tutor. She's not a mom, but she is a wife to her ultimate fave who has a smart, funny little boy. She is also a sponsor mama to three children in three different countries. Each one holds a part of her heart. Aly is founder of onedaylighter.com and an author/minimalist/gluten-free/thrifter. Our Father gifted us with each other to lift up. Encourage. Be a light. Aly is devoted to making life lighter today. No guilt, only grace.

She hums “Jesus loves me” as she plays with her dolls made of dirty rags. She is sitting on the dirt floor her mama just swept. The last meal she ate was yesterday and her stomach is letting her know it. Her papa darkens the doorway after leaving not long before. She knows this means there was no work for him today. Again.

The heaviness that hangs between her parents doesn’t escape her tiny radar, but she keeps singing. Singing of hope and a Savior who will rescue her every day. Singing of a Best Friend Forever when playing companions are scarce. A Protector when darkness falls. A Provider when the hunger pangs are all she can focus on.

Singing of this man, the Son of God, because someone is sharing the Good News with her.

That someone is me.

Through Compassion International, I have the honor of raising up a daughter of the King. I am not her birth mother. I am a bonus mama who gets to pour into her all the love I have in my heart. Love for her and for Jesus.

In March of last year, I stood in a packed stadium excitedly anticipating the Rock ‘N Worship Road Show. What I didn’t anticipate was sitting in stunned silence listening to Bart Millard, of the band Mercy Me, speak an arrow of truth straight into my heart.

I was a teacher, living in an apartment with no savings account. But when those sponsor packets came out on the heels of Bart’s testimony, I closed my eyes and asked God to send the one he had for me. I raised my hand and the Creator of the Universe placed Bithi into my open heart.

“And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’” Matthew 25:40

See, this isn’t about 38 dollars per month. This isn’t about giving up a cup of coffee a day to sponsor a child in need. It’s about opening my hands and my life to the God who gives and allowing him to pour out his love on us both.

8 truths I have learned from Bithi and Compassion:
1. $38 is nothing to me. It is everything to her.
2. It’s not about the money. It’s about relationship. Revealing Jesus to her and giving her hope.
3. I can fall completely in love with a child while holding only a photograph and a crayon drawing of a purple flower.
4. Through praying for my sponsor child, God is revealing to me more of who He is.
5. A sponsor child is a beautiful way to teach young children about humility and selflessness and compassion.
6. I suddenly have an itch to start a vacation fund to Bangladesh (yes, they encourage you to visit your sponsor child and see what Compassion is up to).
7. One is just not enough.

And lastly, 8. I don’t have to travel overseas to be a missionary. I volunteer to help at Compassion tables in my area and attend the event for free (and so can you). This summer, I rocked out with Bart and Mercy Me on their new tour. We received 127 new sponsorships in one night.

Are you not in a place where you can afford to sponsor a child financially? Email or call Compassion to find out how you can be a correspondence sponsor. Many corporations sponsor a group of children with a lump sum. While it’s wonderful that these kiddos get to enjoy new clothes and food and scripture lessons that money provides, they crave the relationship more than anything.

I have been told that when these children hear they have been sponsored, they are overcome with joy. Some jump up and down and laugh, others cry with sweet relief. They begin praying for their sponsor immediately and as a recipient of these prayers, I can tell you with certainty this is the real deal.

Hey, no pressure here.

All I ask you to do with my story is pray. Pray for how this opportunity could grow you and your family along with that child who will owe so much to your support and love.

Pray for the children who have been waiting for more than a year, wondering when their sponsor will come (click here to see priority children).

Pray for the local Compassion project workers in many countries who are taking our few dollars and stretching them to care for the immediate needs and salvation of hurting families.

The question Compassion asks is not, “Will you give us your money.” 

The question Compassion asks is, “Will you give them Jesus? Will you give them your heart?”

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Would you like to share your Compassion Story at Compassion Family? Simply email Jill at fiddlejill(at)outlook(dot)com and we'll get it up here!