A Child Is Waiting

My boyfriend recently returned from a trip to El Salvador. It's always interesting when people ask what he was doing down there, because it was an unusual trip. Gary went with a group through Compassion International, an organization that does work all over the world. Gary has been sponsoring a young girl named Karen through Compassion for several years now and had been saving money to make the trip down to El Salvador to meet her. He had an incredible experience and is now a bigger Compassion advocate than ever.

I've sponsored Compassion children in the past, usually via my dad. I recently took on a 6-year-old Kenyan girl named Gakii on behalf of the youth group at my church in Durham. Since I'm no longer on staff there, I finally changed my information with Compassion so that I have sole responsibility for sponsoring and writing to Gakii--I want to keep sharing her letters with the youth and telling her what they're up to, but it was just easier to switch things over so I could keep sponsoring her even after I finish seminary. I finally wrote her a letter, the first one in a while, and hopefully will be more consistent about writing to her in the future.

Gary's stories from his trip inspired me, so today I started sponsoring another child, this one in El Salvador. Realizing that the adorable 4-year-olds probably get sponsors more easily than perhaps older children, I looked for a teenager and found one who had been waiting for a sponsor for over 6 months. Cesar is 13 and enjoys singing, soccer and playing a musical instrument. Sounds like a good kid for me, even if I stink at soccer. :) Maybe Gary and I can go to El Salvador together someday.

In addition to Gakii and Cesar, my dad sponsored a child in my name for Christmas. His church, Myers Park UMC in Charlotte, has been very involved in the community of Bayonnais in Haiti--the poorest part of the poorest country in the western hemisphere. One of his church members started the organization World of God, which is sort of a localized version of Compassion. World of God so far establishes sponsorships in Haiti and Liberia, two countries where Myers Park has relationships with churches. I like that approach--the church taking initiative to be more intentionally engaged in a place where they have already established connections. Anyway, Choudeline is my sponsored child from Haiti, and I have been a horrible sponsor and haven't written her yet, so this morning I got myself together and wrote her a letter. It would probably be pretty easy for me to visit Bayonnais, since MPUMC sends groups down there pretty regularly--both my dad and sister have been there.

I'm grateful for the sort of nudging I've gotten towards being more intentional about this means of reaching out. I've been pretty turned inward for quite a while now, and though in many ways I have needed to be that way lately, it's time for me to start moving past myself.