Sponsoring a child is a good thing. Today I found out that you can never underestimate the importance of a sponsor in a child’s life, and that’s the way God designed it.
Often you don’t find this out for real until you make the decision to go beyond the “face on the fridge and monthly bill” stage. When you start writing regular letters, the child trusts you more and gradually opens up, and you find out more.
When you go even further and choose to enter their world by visiting their home, school and environment, all sorts of things can open up and be discovered, and often it gets very messy. It is a scary but exhilarating place to be, and you realise that for all “we” are doing as sponsors, the reality is that only God can bring them true freedom, hope and joy.
Today it got messy for me. I visited 10-year-old Yeymi in
Another tiny tear to my heart came when Yeymi said that she considers me to be like her Papa. She does have a father, but he’s two-and-a-half hours away in Guatemala City during the week, every week working in “construction”, sometimes earning 40 Quetzales ($5) a day.
During the visit to the house, which is owned by Yemi’s grandmother, I was given information that was like pieces of a disturbing jigsaw puzzle, which I didn’t put together until later. They have three rooms in their house which are used as bedrooms. They have some uncles that sleep in one room. All four sisters sleep in another room, in the one bed.
They have a third room – the “guest room” which is relatively well fitted out with a decent sized bed and mosquito net. We asked why a couple of the sisters didn’t sleep in this room. All they replied is “We are afraid of being alone.” Yeymi also showed me boxes of clothes in this room that belong to each member of her family. I found out later that these are the only things the family owns – the clothes on their backs.
We met all sorts of aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents (Yeymi’s abeula is 55, but looks about 70) as well as her GREAT-grandparents, who have been married 61 years, and are still working, feeding and looking after 3000 chickens.
Yeymi’s Mama asked if we could give her a lift toGuatemala City Guat City
For lunch I took 11 family members from four generations to lunch at Pollo Campero (“chicken country”), including the grandma and the great-grandmother. The only males in our group were me and a three-year-old cousin. It would have looked quite a funny sight.
They have a third room – the “guest room” which is relatively well fitted out with a decent sized bed and mosquito net. We asked why a couple of the sisters didn’t sleep in this room. All they replied is “We are afraid of being alone.” Yeymi also showed me boxes of clothes in this room that belong to each member of her family. I found out later that these are the only things the family owns – the clothes on their backs.
We met all sorts of aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents (Yeymi’s abeula is 55, but looks about 70) as well as her GREAT-grandparents, who have been married 61 years, and are still working, feeding and looking after 3000 chickens.
Yeymi’s Mama asked if we could give her a lift to
For lunch I took 11 family members from four generations to lunch at Pollo Campero (“chicken country”), including the grandma and the great-grandmother. The only males in our group were me and a three-year-old cousin. It would have looked quite a funny sight.
We said our goodbyes and my translator/lifesaver Mayra, Mama and I headed on our two-and-a-half hour journey to Guatemala City
Mama is about to turn 30, and her husband is 32. I am smack-bang in between them at 31, yet there could not be a greater chasm between our lives. They were married when she was 14 and he was 16, Mama was 15 when their oldest daughter was born. Mama did not finish school and has never worked. When she joins her husband every two weeks inGuat City
Meanwhile, four girls are without their Papa for five days of the week, and without their Mama for every second week, being looked after by their grandmother, with no male figure to protect them. The comments about me being like Yeymi’s Papa and the girls being afraid of being alone were starting to make sense, and it left a bitter taste in my mouth.
However, worse was to come. Eight months ago, the family was living in their own house. At one point, while Mama was in the city with her husband, her uncle, who is an alcoholic and a “bad man”, came into the family’s house when no-one was there, over a period of days, and stole all the family’s belongings. Everything. Even the kitchen sink, and he tried to take the doors off the hinges! I could not believe what I was hearing. Mama said that neighbours saw him taking things every day, but did not do or say anything to stop him. He was only discovered by Papa’s brother, but by then everything was taken.
They had no choice but to move in with Yeymi’s grandmother, which is where they are now. So this precious family of six owns nothing in the world but a box of clothes, and if the grandmother dies, they will be forced to rely on the mercy of family members to stay in the house. Otherwise….
Fair to say I was shellshocked. I’d only ever heard of situations like this in the Compassion magazine, or some documentary, but this was happening to my flesh and blood. We have been connected for two years through sponsorship – love, encouragement, letters and money and now God had brought us together to meet in person. Mayra, who works for Compassion was also almost in tears as she translated the sorry tale. Fortunately, Visit Hosts write a report of each visit, and any areas of concern, so she has the authority to intercede in this situation.
I am writing this only a matter of hours after experiencing it, and I'm wrecked in heart, mind and spirit, but God has given me a clarity of mind to be able to communicate it pretty succinctly (if I say so myself).
To challenge you, particularly if you are a sponsor at the “face on the fridge and monthly bill” stage. It takes courage to move beyond this. But if you do, you will more clearly see the heart of God for His prized creation – people! It is a relationship – a two-way thing. Children want their parents and sponsors to be involved in their lives. A good start is writing regular letters. Your children NEED to hear from you, even the smallest thing. In many cases you are like a parent to them, and the only positive person in their life.
Mama is about to turn 30, and her husband is 32. I am smack-bang in between them at 31, yet there could not be a greater chasm between our lives. They were married when she was 14 and he was 16, Mama was 15 when their oldest daughter was born. Mama did not finish school and has never worked. When she joins her husband every two weeks in
Meanwhile, four girls are without their Papa for five days of the week, and without their Mama for every second week, being looked after by their grandmother, with no male figure to protect them. The comments about me being like Yeymi’s Papa and the girls being afraid of being alone were starting to make sense, and it left a bitter taste in my mouth.
However, worse was to come. Eight months ago, the family was living in their own house. At one point, while Mama was in the city with her husband, her uncle, who is an alcoholic and a “bad man”, came into the family’s house when no-one was there, over a period of days, and stole all the family’s belongings. Everything. Even the kitchen sink, and he tried to take the doors off the hinges! I could not believe what I was hearing. Mama said that neighbours saw him taking things every day, but did not do or say anything to stop him. He was only discovered by Papa’s brother, but by then everything was taken.
They had no choice but to move in with Yeymi’s grandmother, which is where they are now. So this precious family of six owns nothing in the world but a box of clothes, and if the grandmother dies, they will be forced to rely on the mercy of family members to stay in the house. Otherwise….
Fair to say I was shellshocked. I’d only ever heard of situations like this in the Compassion magazine, or some documentary, but this was happening to my flesh and blood. We have been connected for two years through sponsorship – love, encouragement, letters and money and now God had brought us together to meet in person. Mayra, who works for Compassion was also almost in tears as she translated the sorry tale. Fortunately, Visit Hosts write a report of each visit, and any areas of concern, so she has the authority to intercede in this situation.
I am writing this only a matter of hours after experiencing it, and I'm wrecked in heart, mind and spirit, but God has given me a clarity of mind to be able to communicate it pretty succinctly (if I say so myself).
To challenge you, particularly if you are a sponsor at the “face on the fridge and monthly bill” stage. It takes courage to move beyond this. But if you do, you will more clearly see the heart of God for His prized creation – people! It is a relationship – a two-way thing. Children want their parents and sponsors to be involved in their lives. A good start is writing regular letters. Your children NEED to hear from you, even the smallest thing. In many cases you are like a parent to them, and the only positive person in their life.
The danger of staying in the “face on the fridge and monthly bill” stage is that you can become comfortable that you are “doing a good thing” and leave it at that. It can become about you. I have now visited 18 of my Compassion children and the one thing I can tell you is that in my own strength I alone am completely inadequate for the job of “releasing children from poverty in Jesus name.” It is God alone who can release them and give them joy, hope, freedom and an opportunity to dream, despite their circumstances. I am merely an instrument He is using to show these precious people His love for them. There is nothing I’d rather be doing.
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