Sponsoring A Child

I’ll start by saying I’m bias. After doing my internship with Compassion International (the largest child sponsorship program in the world) in Uganda, I could not be more convinced in the effectiveness it makes. I just cannot get over how much a child’s life changes if he/she is sponsored. I have grown up hearing about Compassion and sponsoring children in general, and it has been easy to pass by children in need—because after all, I didn’t really know them. I believed there were needy children in the world, but I didn’t really think it concerned me—someone else will take care of them right? I have seen hundreds of faces displayed with a packet of information about how to sponsor a child, and I never occurred to me that I should do it. But I’m telling you that now things are different. I feel blessed with the opportunity to have witnessed the other side of servant hood; I am doing ground work here in Uganda literally watching lives be transformed. The oceans between a picture and a human face have been removed—and it has changed me. So as of this past week, I am officially a child sponsor.

                I wrote of him earlier in my posts as he was one of the first children I met because his father does some side work for our offices. I connected with him right away and we instantly became buddies. Every time I see him he comes sprinting towards me with a huge smile yelling, “Ali! Ali! Ali!” I am not a mother, but I understand a glimpse of the joy a child can bring simply wanting to see you. I knew that after interning with Compassion I would not be able to walk away from the experience without sponsoring a child. So I began to pray about sponsorship, and it so happened that Shahibu had been on the waiting list for almost 2 years to become sponsored.  When I found this out I talked to my project director to even see if it would be possible to sponsor him. They were ecstatic.  The month long process of communication with the head office and other officials is over, and I am officially sponsoring someone I know and love.

                I do not write this to guilt anyone into becoming a sponsor, listen to your own convictions and follow them please. But if you or someone you know is on the fence about becoming a sponsor, I am telling you how it changes lives. The way the system in the world is set up write now is tragic, and if a child isn’t sponsored, they have little to no hope of every going to get a college education and giving back to their community.

                Other than that all is well here in Uganda, rainy season has begun and the drought it over (funny how I have never been so thankful for rain before). I have also been training with the volleyball team and have made some great relationships here. Thank you for your ceaseless prayers and devotions to my journey in Uganda.

We do not have to go after crosses,but we have to take up the crosses we have been given all along.

Ali