When I found out about child sponsorship, my heart beat a little harder. My mom didn’t allow me because I was in high school. Then in college, a World Vision rep made a presentation at chapel and I signed up at her table. I asked to sponsor a baby girl from the Philippines. I received an 8-year-old boy named Jesster. When his sponsorship ended, I received another 8-year-old boy named Joshua (that’s him on the sidebar).
I’m kinda a lousy sponsor because I hardly communicate with him. I’m trying to be more consistent in sending letters and small packages, but even when I forget to communicate, I fully believe in child sponsorship.
These children need our money for support, but they also need our encouragement and prayers. Part of me wanted to sponsor a child because God placed children in my heart. But a big part of me wanted to sponsor a child because I have seen those children first hand, not through sponsor visitation, but by living in the Philippines.
When I was a little girl, it was normal to go for days without electricity and running water (especially in the bathroom, we had drums of water and flushed the toilet by pouring a bucket of water in it). But worse, normal was is children sifting through garbage to find something to sell so they can buy one small fish for their family. Normal is children walking through the streets selling gum and candy. Normal is families living in the garbage mountain. Normal is a church, the size of my kitchen, in that garbage mountain, trying to make a difference for God.
And that’s why I sponsor a child. To change the normal. To give even just one child a chance for education, medical care, food, and proper clothes. To make a difference in one life because one life can make a difference.
If you want to learn more about child sponsorship, here are some programs to look through:
World Vision, Compassion International, People to People Ministries and many other child sponsorship programs out there. I encourage you to find the right one for you. Learn more about each program, how their sponsorship works, what they do for the children, what they do for the sponsors, how much a sponsorship costs, etc.
Let’s change the normal!
