Introducing Melina!

I am so excited about this. I recently received information about the new child I will be corresponding with. As a reminder, being a correspondent partner means that I simply provide social and spiritual support to a child and in no way support him/her financially. Here she is! Melina Patrick Ndugai from Dodoma, Tanzania!

I could hardly contain my excitement when I found out. I'm really excited to start writing to her and developing my relationship with her.

I absolutely love lions and I have this dream to go to Africa, go on a safari, and see a real lion. One gentleman I went to Brazil with has been to Tanzania with Compassion and told me they go on a safari as a part of the trip. So since Melina is nine years old, my new dream is to go to Tanzania before she graduates, meet her, and then see a real lion :)

Letters: They're Important

One of the most important things a sponsor can do for their child is provide him/her with social support. With oceans and countries a part, how is this possible? The answer of course is letters. Writing letters to your sponsored child is absolutely vital. Why? Let me share a true story.

I recently heard the story of a formerly sponsored child in the Dominican Republic. He talked about how his family literally had nothing to eat and how he had no money for school supplies and had to sell cornbread in the streets from the time he was five-years-old. In addition to those types of challenges poverty brings he also brought up an aspect that I feel is easily forgotten.

He called it the "no hope monster". The evil, monstrous feeling that he was nothing, his life meant nothing, he wasn't going to go anywhere in his life, he was destined to sell cornbread his entire life, and that it was pointless to dream because none of his dreams would come true. These feelings are deadly. Giving up on yourself and your life leads to nothing but more pain, more suffering, more poverty. It leads to poor choices like gangs, drugs, and prostitution. And once the monster gets in your heart, it's hard to get rid of it. The monster keeps telling you that you're worthless, stupid, good-for-nothing, and that nothing will ever get better so it's pointless to try. Negative thoughts lead to negative actions which leads to more negative thoughts which starts a terrible cycle.

This is the reality of too many kids in this world and this was the reality of the formerly sponsored child I heard speak. For him it got better and his no-hope monster was crushed. How did this happen? It happened through his sponsorship and from receiving letters from his sponsor.

Throughout his entire sponsorship he only received about four letters (which is a very, very low number) but he said that he cherished those letters and the words they carried. His sponsor told him that he could do anything, that she loved him, that she believed in him, that she was praying for him. The no-hope monster was crushed because for the first time in his life he had someone rooting for him and he didn't want to let that person down. He worked hard in school, he got good grades, he went to college, and is now living his dream of being a musician. All of this because one woman wrote him four letters and believed in him. That's powerful stuff.

From talking with other sponsors I've heard countless other stories like this. About a little boy who showed off his letters when a sponsor group came to visit and all of his letters had the corners ripped off. It was because he had tapped them all to his door so that he would be able to see and read them every day when he woke up. I've heard countless stories about how the children keep their letters in a special, safe place in their home and regard the letters as their most prized possessions.

Why? Because to these children these letters represent hope and that there is someone out there in the world that cares about them and believes in them. Without that sponsor they may never hear that message and the no-hope monster could be waiting to consume their heart.

I cannot stress enough how vital letters are, I really can't. Over the next few days I will give some letter-writing tips and ideas for what to talk about in letters as well as give an example of a letters I recently sent to my siblings, Isadora and Guerby.

Love & Peace

I'm sponsoring a child, now what?

I'm going to assume that LOTS of people are new sponsors seeing as over 3000 children were sponsored last month. If you're not a sponsor and want to be a sponsor go here.

So now you're sponsoring a child. The picture and information about the child has come in the mail. I sent in my first payment. What happens now?

There are three main aspects of sponsorship: financial support, social support, spiritual support. Don't worry, it's really easy and really fun.

1. Financial support is perhaps the most obvious. Every month $38 needs to be paid. There is some flexibility with this. You can mail money every month (although this is not preferred). You can pay online every month (it is a very safe transaction). Or you can arrange to have Compassion take the proper amount of money out of your account for you every month (so you don't have to do a thing!) There is also some flexibility for paying every month. For example, it's easier for my family to pay quarterly (once every three months, or four times a year) so we pay a larger sum then instead of individually each month. This does not harm the child in any way.

In addition to the monthly payments there are other ways you can help your child and his/her family as well. You are allowed to send monetary birthday gifts (gifts will be bought for them in country). You are allowed to send monetary Christmas gifts. The Christmas gifts go into a large pool of all of the monetary gifts received from sponsors and donors. This money is divided equally among every single child in the entire Compassion program (those that have sponsors and those that do not) so every single child gets a gift. Finally, you can give individual and family gifts.

If you know there is a specific need in the family (or even if you don't and just want to give them a little extra help) you can send up to $1000 throughout the year of family gifts. When you give these gifts you can indicate what the money should be used for if you have a preference (for example school supplies, clothes, a guitar, a bike, a new stove, etc.) If no preference is given the money will be used for whatever the family needs the most.

2. Social support involves writing letters and developing a relationship with the child. I will talk more about letter writing because of how vital it is but I want to try and stress right now how important this is to the child. Many children don't fully understand what a sponsor is and what their sponsor does until they get the letters. For many of the children, your letters of love and support are the only forms of love and support they receive. I don't know if that upsets people the way it does me, but I find it incredibly sad to think that there are children in the world that do not feel loved, do not feel important, do not feel supported, needed, or that their dreams can come true. You can be the one that gives them the hope and the love that they so desperately want.

Again, I'll talk more about letter-writing in the near future including tips of what to write about and the kinds of things you can send in the mail. I'll even give an example of a recent letter I wrote to my sponsor child, Isadora, and my correspondent child, Guerby.

A quick word about correspondent children and what that means. If you are unable to write for whatever reason (church/business/group sponsorship, dislike letter writing, "not a good writer", "no time", etc.) then I strongly encourage you to ask Compassion to wave your letter-writing privilege and assign your child a correspondent. You would continue to financially sponsor your child and hear updates but someone else would socially support your child. I'll talk more about this at a later time too.

3. Spiritual support involves praying for your child. Pray for them and their safety, school, health, security, friendships, family, spiritual growth, happiness, anything and everything! Rest assured that your child is praying for you too! :)

I'll go into more detail into each of these topics in the coming days. If you have any questions about sponsorship or anything related to Compassion International please feel free to ask me in the comments and I will do my best to help. Otherwise, please feel free to call Compassion representative ((800) 336-7676, Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. MT.)