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!

2 Years Old Today

This is not quite how we wanted to celebrate Daniela's 2nd birthday.  We had hoped to surround her with family, give her a couple gifts, eat cake with her, and do all the other things one does with a two year old on her birthday.  Instead today, we will look back on this journey of adoption, and take comfort in knowing that she is enjoying cake with others who love her, and have cared for her so well during her first 2 years.  To them, we will never be able to express our gratitude.

Our adoption journey really started many years ago. I wrote about it in my blog from March 2008. Today we are close to bringing our beloved daughter home, and we are thinking about the volunteers who have given years of their lives to care for Daniela and the other children at the orphanage. Some of them spent years at the orphanage, others spent weeks.  All of them gave of themselves to children who do not understand the depth of that love.  Some of them we have met in person, others only by e-mail. Many others we have not met at all.  Nonetheless, when I think of them, this verse comes to mind:  "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'" - Matthew 25:40

Maria and Arlyn have been with Daniela since she arrived. They are two of the most amazing people we know.  Maria is from Ireland, and Arlyn is from Canada. Both of them have given the last 2 years of their lives to care for "the least of these."  How do you say thank you to people like this?

We have a mix of emotion today.  It is with great sadness that we cannot be with our beautiful Haitian Princess on her 2nd birthday.  Yet we have great joy in knowing that she is celebrating her special day with cake, and love from some pretty amazing people.

You can change the life of a child too.  By sponsoring a child through Compassion International, you can make a real difference. The cost is just $32 per month. In doing so, you will provide that child with food, clean water, education, medical and dental care.  Most of all, you can show that child that she is loved.

Please consider changing a life by sponsoring a child living in poverty. You can even sponsor a child whose birthday is today!  Just visit Compassion.com.

He who is kind to the poor, lends to the Lord who 

will reward him for what he has done. 

— Proverbs 19:17

Almost Home

I haven't been good about keeping up with this blog. There's been many reasons for that, not the least of which is just laziness. Other reasons include, a major remodel project in our home, followed by damage to our home from a frozen pipe (in the newly completed remodel), and a recent promotion at work.

Waiting for Daniela has been very difficult, especially in light of what has happened in Haiti over the past year.  During our visit in April 2008, we arrived just before the food riots began.  During the previous 4 months, the price of rice and beans had doubled in Haiti. Families who were already struggling in ways we cannot imagine became desperate. While we were complaining about gas that was $4 per gallon, in Haiti it was as high as $9 per gallon.

That was April.  By late fall hurricane after hurricane had crossed Haiti. Over 1,000 people died as a direct result of the storm.  When people are in such desperate circumstances they can't even consider sending their children to school.  Paying the fees for school hardly seems to be a priority when you have nothing to eat.

Today we are waiting for the US Embassy to issue Daniela a visa.  In mere days we could be traveling to Haiti to bring home our daughter, our beautiful Haitian Princess.  For the rest of our lives we will strive to give her what she most needs, and teach her of God's love for her. We will also always wonder, and never know, what her life might have been like in Haiti.

The experience of adopting Daniela has only increased my appreciation for Compassion International. Children in Haiti who are in Compassion's sponsorship program have their school fees covered.  They are involved in their local church, and in addition to their education, they are fed, and given health care, and dental care.  Most of all, they are shown love in a safe environment.  Isn't that what we want for our own children?

As you consider the economy, and how much tougher things are right now than a few years ago, please consider the circumstances of those living in poverty.  It's not their fault. It's not because they're lazy. It's because of circumstances beyond their control.  All they want is hope for their children.

"Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work." —Mother Teresa

Please consider sponsoring a child through Compassion International.

Meeting Daniela

In April we traveled to Haiti to meet Daniela for the first time. Our flight from Seattle didn't leave exactly on time.  That meant that we would not have time to sleep in Miami before continuing on to Haiti.  Then, the airline that goes to Haiti called, and told us that our flight to Haiti would be leaving from Ft. Lauderdale, and not out of Miami as we had booked.

Getting on the small plane

 to Haiti was interesting.  We boarded 2 hours later than we were supposed to, with no reasons given. The only thing they seem to care about is your weight (they weigh you on the luggage scale).  Your baggage is never checked for rocket launchers or hand grenades.  Of course there are no bathrooms on this short flight, but one experienced traveler brought his own plastic bag (aka: Stadium Buddy) so that he was prepared when he needed to go.

Our flight was scheduled to be 2 hours, and fly direct from Ft. Lauderdale to Cap Hatien.  We'd been awake for about 26 hours when we boarded the plane, so I nodded off eventually.  As we landed, Tina asked me where Exuma is.  She pointed to the sign that read, "Welcome to Exuma International Airport."  I replied that it must be the name of the airport in Cap Haitien.  Wrong.

We had landed in the Bahamas.  It seems they weighed us originally so they would know how much fuel they could carry.  Evidently, with my fat butt on board they could not hold enough fuel to make it to Haiti.  We took off and flew for another hour and a half to Haiti. Our scheduled arrival was 8 AM.  Our actual arrival was noon.

It was comforting to see the local fire department was prepared for any mishap.

Arriving at the orphanage, and seeing Daniela for the first time is a moment I'll never forget.  She was promptly handed over to Tina, and curled up in the comfort of her mother's arms. 

 We spent 9 days with Daniela, and it was awesome. 

We even had the chance to meet Daniela's aunt, and 4 of her 5 cousins.  They had tried to care for Daniela for 3 months after Daniela's mom died.  When we arrived at their home, they called the neighbors to come and see the baby. They were amazed that she was still alive!

This family made many sacrifices to care for Daniela, and many decisions that would prove to save her life. We will always be grateful!

We are currently working with the people of Compassion International to try and get this family enrolled in the Child Sponsorship program.  If that happens, this family will get some desperately needed help.

I will post more about our experience in Haiti later. If you have ever traveled to Haiti, or to any other nation with extreme poverty, we would love to hear your comments about how it impacted you.

Adopting Daniela

For several years my wife and I had talked about adoption.  She was adopted, so it has always been on our minds.  We've had many brief discussions about it over the past 5 years, but they never went beyond casual talk.

On Sunday, May 27th, I was coming home from work at 7:00 in the morning.  I was listening to a radio show, discussing international adoption.  It intrigued me, and I had this nagging feeling, that I needed to bring up the topic again.  When I got home, I told Tina what I'd heard, and that I think it's time for us to make a decision... either we will, or we won't adopt.  I told her, it is something that I would like to do.  She wanted to also.

It didn't take long for us to decide what country to adopt from.  We'd been long time sponsors of children in the Dominican Republic through Compassion International.  Haiti, and the Dominican Republic are both on the island of Hispañola.  We've seen children in the DR living in suffocating poverty.  We've also learned that Haiti is 5 times poorer than the DR.  Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.  We decided that Haiti would be a good country to adopt from.

We began searching for an orphanage, and eventually settled on a care facility, where the main goal is to take in sick children, and get them well.  They want to keep families together whenever possible.  When a child in their care has no family that is able to care for her, they work with an orphanage to handle the adoption.

Daniela was born on February 19, 2007.  Her mother was very ill, with a fever so Daniela was not permitted to nurse.  Her mother passed away not long after Daniela was born, and her aunt and uncle (below) did the best they could to care for her. 

Unfortunately, Daniela didn't do well, and in desperation, they took her to the orphanage when she was 3 months old, and weighed 3.5 pounds.

Daniela was brought to this place on June 4, 2007, just days after we had decided to adopt.  She was not available for adoption, but was listed as "status to be determined."  It was noted that her aunt and uncle love her very much, and were trying to decide if they would be able to care for her.

This is the first photo (below) we saw of her, from June 4th.  We completed our application to adopt, and sent it in on our 19th anniversary, June 11.   We spent the next few months getting our dossier put together.  There are many steps, including a psychological exam, home study, medical exam, letters of recommendation, and many other documents.  

During those months, I knew Daniela would some day be our daughter.

We could not receive a referral of a child until our dossier was submitted.  Fortunately we completed our dossier right at the same time as Daniela became available for adoption.  Her aunt uncle had made the very difficult decision, that they would not be able to care for her.

Since last fall, our lives have been a roller coaster.  Her files had been sent to Port au Prince to start the adoption process in December.  In February 2008 we learned that her file had been lost.  We also learned that some families had recently been turned away, because they already have children.  Haiti is considering allowing only childless families to adopt from their country.

In March Daniela entered IBESR, which is the first step of the adoption process.  We don't know how things will go, but we do believe she is our daughter, and will be home with us some day.

We are looking forward to meeting Daniela in person for the first time very soon.  She's come a long way in the past year, and so have we.

Magdalena - Sometimes We Forget

Magdalena is another one of "our" girls in the Dominican Republic.  Our family has sponsored Magdalena through Compassion International since she was 6 years old.  As of Feb. 28, 2008 she is 11. 

Magdalena lives with her mother, brother and sister.  Not long after we started sponsoring her, her mother and father separated.  Today, Magdalena says she thinks of me as her father. 

Magdalena is a shy, sweet girl who writes letters to us often.  Up until January 2008, she used to say that she can't wait to meet her "sisters."  In January, Magdalena met her sisters, when we went to the Dominican Republic on a Sponsor Tour with Compassion International.

Seeing Magdalena in person, it's easy to forget the poverty she lives with every day. In September of 2007, Magdalena nearly died of dengue fever.  Dengue fever is a disease that is transmitted by mosquitoes.  It also goes by other another name, "break bone fever" because victims often have contortions due to the intense joint and muscle pain.

Had Magdalena not been in the Compassion International child sponsorship program, it's likely that her family would not have been able to get her the medical attention she needed.  Magdalena was admitted into the hospital for 9 days and received intravenous fluids, and medicines to help her recover.  Compassion provided both financial support, as well as social and spiritual support to Magdalena and her family.  This support was vital in her recovery.

Unfortunately many children around the world aren't as fortunate as Magdalena.  Here's a few statistics:

• 6.5 million children die every year of hunger related illnesses

   That's 12 children every minute

• The average life expectancy in developing countries is half that of developed countries

• According to the United Nations, poverty is defined as living on less than $1 per day

You can help a child like Magdalena for just $32 a month. To learn more, go to Compassion.com