A Story of Faith and Compassion

Last week I had the honor to spend some time with one of Compassion International's Leadership Development Students. Faith grew up in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya. It was a difficult life in a dangerous place. She grew up in a home without plumbing. Cooking was done over a fire, and eating 3 meals a day was merely a fantasy. Fortunately, Faith had someone in Central Wisconsin that cared about her. They sponsored through Compassion's Child Sponsorship program. That simple act gave her hope. Hope for an education. Hope for a better life.

Today, Faith has a bachelor's degree in economics, from the best university in Kenya. She will never be impoverished again.

This is what I love about Compassion International. They don't throw money at a community with the hope that the improved environment will improve the lives of individuals. Instead, Compassion teaches children of their value, and potential. These children who are filled with hope always improve their community.

The linked video is of Faith telling her story at Creation West to a crowd of 20,000. At the end, Faith is stunned to learn she was standing beside her childhood sponsors. It is a wonderful surprise.

Watch Here!

If you are interested in helping a student earn a college degree go to www.compassion.com/ldp

A Glimmer of Hope?

We learned today that the orphanage believes they have delivered all required documents to the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince. I have e-mailed the Embassy staff to confirm that. They return e-mails within 3 days, so hopefully soon we will have more news. It has now been 9 months since the Haitian government issued her a passport. We are hoping the disappointments are done.

Another Disappointment

We are now facing another unbelievable delay. After finally getting the archived copy of Daniela's birth certificate, it did not match the registered copy.

What we understand is that in order to get Daniela a visa so she can come home, the orphanage needs to either get the archived copy amended, or have a judge rule that the two documents are indeed referring to the same child.

We are praying to receive a positive judgement quickly. If the archive copy needs to be amended, it could be a very long delay.

Still Waiting

Since there are a certain number of people who check in to see if Daniela is coming home yet, I wanted to just post that we are still waiting.

Three weeks ago we learned that the last document needed for her visa was in hand. We are just waiting for an appointment at the embassy, where hopefully they will issue her visa. Unfortunately, we just don't know when that will be.

So for now (as we have for the past 2 years) we are waiting.

My Youngest Daughter

Yesterday we received the wonderful news... we finally have the last document required by the American Embassy in Port-au-Prince. Soon we will have an appointment at the Embassy, and if all goes well, we will be bringing Daniela home!

Tomorrow is the 2 year anniversary of our decision to adopt.

Does Child Sponsorship Really Work?

This is Lovena. She is one of over a million children sponsored around the world, through Compassion International. In many ways her circumstances are not unlike the other children being sponsored through Compassion. She lives in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Life for Lovena is difficult. Like other Compassion sponsored children, because Lovena is sponsored, she has hope for a better life. There is something that makes Lovena different, however.Lovena is sponsored by a group of Compassion sponsored kids in the Leadership Development Program (LDP). What makes it even more amazing, is that these are students in the Dominican Republic.

You may have read about Juan David. He is one of those LDP students. Juan is sponsored by 12 firefighters of the Valley Regional Fire Authority. He completed high school and enrolled in the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo. When I saw Juan David in October, 2008, he was speaking to a group of 300 Child Advocates from around the world. Juan told about how important his sponsors were to him as he was growing up. The Hopper family of Australia sponsored Juan for 11 years. Juan spoke also of his current sponsors who are putting him through Medical School. He said that some day he hopes to sponsor a child, and give that child the support he has received. After that speech, Juan returned to the table, and sat next to me. He told me that he would some day sponsor a child from Haiti. This meant a lot to me, because my family is adopting Daniela from Haiti.

Just a couple weeks later a group of Leadership Development Program students in the Dominican Republic decided they would collectively sponsor a child. A child from Haiti! In order to understand just what a big deal this is, you must first understand that, even though these students are being sponsored to go to college, their lives are still VERY difficult. Juan travels 1 hour each direction every day to the university. He lives in a home with no power, with his mother. Juan keeps most of his belongings at his pastor's home for fear that his clothes and books will be stolen from his home when he and his mother are away.

You should also understand that even though Haiti and the Dominican Republic share the same island of Hispañola, the two countries are worlds apart. They speak different languages, and there is a great amount of discrimination.

These Compassion LDP students truly appreciate the help they have received from their Compassion sponsors. Now they understand the joy of being a sponsor! They look forward to receiving letters from their sponsored child, just as I do. They pray for her just as I pray for them. They look forward to seeing what God has in mind for Lovena's future.

If you ever ask yourself if sponsoring a child is making a difference, all you need to do is look at these amazing sponsored children.

Below is an excerpt from Juan David's speech in October, 2008.

A Picture Doesn't Tell the Story

My family started sponsoring Yonalda about 12 years ago through Compassion International. She was 6 years old then. We didn't give much thought to what her home was like. We did notice that she had her hair done nicely, and was wearing a pretty dress. How bad could things be? After 10 years, I finally had the opportunity to meet Yonalda in person. That's when I started to understand what sponsorship means to children in poverty.

Above is the first photo we saw of Yonalda,

followed by her photos for the next 12 years.

The last photo (below) I took myself when we finally got to visit her in person.

To get to her home, we drove 5 hours from the city of Santo Domingo, to the North side of the island of Hispañola. We visited briefly at Yonalda's school. The building was made of concrete. The power was out, which is common more often than not. I soon recognized that this school was the background for her photos I'd received over the past 12 years .

From her school in Puerto Plata, we drove through a large sugar cane field, and arrived at her home built on a hillside in a tropical forest.

This is her mother, father, and youngest brother. Dad is a big man!

He only looks angry, but wasn't. Culturally, men don't often smile for photos.

He was a kind-hearted man.

It was an amazing day. I had seen video on Compassion's web-site of well known Christian musicians visiting their sponsored children (Michael W. Smith, Amy Grant, Point of Grace, Jeremy Camp, Bebo Norman, Mercy Me). I had always been a bit dubious about those videos, thinking that because of their fame, they had access to their sponsored children, that I would not. I was very pleased to see how happy the Compassion staff was to help me visit my sponsored child.

Above, I am sitting with Yonalda's grandfather. Shortly after this photo was taken, he walked into the jungle, and returned with a bunch of banana, offering me one.

Below is Yonalda's grandmother. I think you can see the family resemblance.

The above photo is Yonalda's great-grandmother.

Sadly, she has since passed away, but I am honored to have met her.

I was able to meet cousins, aunts & uncles, nieces & nephews. We laughed together, and talked about our families, and visited her church. We walked to the river, where they collect their drinking water, wash clothes, and swim.

Yonalda's sister Yenifer seemed to especially enjoy the visit, and younger brother Yordy

(the "Y" sounds like "J" in their names)

really enjoyed the candy I brought with me.

Our 4 hours together went by way too fast. Before I left, I took the below photo of Yonalda and her siblings in front of the school she attended through 8th grade. School was going on inside, and we created quite a disturbance with all of the children wanting to see the funny looking guy who had come to visit.

I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to my next trip to visit with Yonalda. She is on schedule to graduate in October, 2009. In February, 2007, Yonalda asked if I would come to her graduation, and honor her by presenting her with her diploma. I asked her if she wouldn't prefer to have her father do that. She told me, "no - it was his idea that you do it."

It was then I realized how much our sponsorship means to this family. No one in his family had ever had the opportunity to get an education. Poverty means that often times, children must work so the family can have barely enough food to survive.

Yonalda's father has offered to step aside during the moment of his daughter's graduation, in order to express his gratitude for the little help we offered.

Sponsor a Child!