I always thought this sounded like an excellent
program. Some of the staff of WTJL have
gone on Compassion trips and were actually able to meet in person the child
they were sponsoring and were able to see first-hand how their money was used
to directly impact the life of their child. I can be very skeptical of
non-profit organizations who ask for money and I always wonder how much
actually goes to the cause for which we give the money and how much is
used to pad the pockets of those in high places in the “ministry.” However, I liked
what I heard and read about Compassion (who doesn’t want to help children), and
came close to sponsoring a child several times, but some excuse always got in
the way (mainly money) and I never made the commitment.
This February when WJTL was promoting their 26 hours of
compassion, I just knew that the time was right. I wanted to do this and I wanted to do it
now. I got on the internet and went to Compassion’s page and chose a little
girl with the same birthday as me. Her name is Khushi and she lives in India.
She is eight years old. I sent a letter off to her with some pictures of me and
my family and told her a little bit about myself and that I was excited to be
her friend. Several weeks later I was elated to receive a letter from her
(someone had helped her write it). She told me that her favorite color is blue
(so is mine) and that she has 2 brothers and that she likes school and playing
with friends and her favorite thing to play is house. I was delighted with the letter and proudly
showed it to my family. It felt so good
to know I was making a difference in a little girl’s life.
Last week I opened my mailbox and along with the normal
bills and advertisements was the June ChristianityToday. My heart sank as I read the
headlines: Does Child Sponsorship Work? The surprising news about the photo
hanging on your refrigerator. I was
thinking that now that I finally went ahead and sponsored a child this article
is going to tell me how awful the program is and how children aren’t even
receiving the money we send for them.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was just the
opposite. To make a long story short, an economist wanted to research the
impact of child sponsorships but could find no organization that was willing to
stick their necks out and have their work scrutinized. Finally, Compassion
International agreed to risk what no other organization would. After years of research the results were
amazing. In the six countries that they
did their research (India was one of them), they found that sponsored children as
opposed to unsponsored children have a 27 to 40 percent more chance of
completing secondary school and were 50 to 80 percent more likely to complete a
university education. They have much better self-esteem and were 14-18 percent
more likely to obtain a salaried job, and 35 percent more likely to obtain a
white-collar job. Many children become teachers as adults instead of remaining
jobless or working in menial labor. There was some evidence that they are more
likely to grow up to be both community leaders and church leaders.I gave a sigh of relief at this information and looked at my picture of Khushi. I love this little girl and my dream for her is that she will grow up and have opportunities in life that she would not have had if I would not have sponsored her. It feels good to be giving someone a chance to succeed in life. I pray that she will look at my picture and know that there is someone across the ocean that cares about her and loves her. Hopefully through the love that I show her she will learn about God’s love as well.
Another dream that I have is that someday I will be able to join one of Compassion’s trips and actually meet Khushi in person. J
"I tell you the truth,
whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers (or sisters) of mine, you did for me." ~ Matthew
25:40
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