Would you consider sponsoring a child?

We have some good friends who moved to Uganda, Africa last August and we received an update from them a couple of days ago. The husband and his 13 year-old daughter had just been to visit a village several hours travel from the city they are living in. Here is some of what he wrote about their experience there:

The view of poverty here is devastating. Children dressed in clothes that we wouldn’t even keep for rags, many were filthy because of the lack of water (water has to be hauled from great distances, sometimes miles), and no shoes, sat and stood waiting for up to two hours just to get two cheesy notebooks and a pencil. Perhaps some of the worst poverty I have seen. The school is in a remote area, 45 minute by 4 x4 from pavement and impossible to drive in the rainy season. Some of the school buildings are newer and pretty nice (FH built these) others look like a run down sheep shed. Perhaps the hardest part is understanding that these children have so little hope, education is great but it really doesn’t offer much, a university degree here doesn’t guarantee any kind of job at all. Many of the vendors and kiosk operators are graduates from one of the best universities in Africa. Many of the women in the village are single parents because their husband has found a new wife and they work to feed there children, often 3-6 of them, the only work they can find is day labor where they earn 1000 shillings per day (60 cents per day), they survive on what they can grow and earn, their children are often totally naked or wearing only a grubby ragged shirt. The best and sometimes only meal that these children get is the meal they receive at school because of the child sponsorship program. One of the hardest things B and I saw was watching as sponsored children received their needed school supplies and others received nothing. That day I became an advocate of child sponsorship. We are currently sponsoring two Ugandan boys in our family. But I am guessing we will be considering more. I you have never or are currently not sponsoring a child can I encourage to think about it seriously. Watching one little girl cry because see wasn’t able to receive school supplies touched me so deeply I guess I will never be quite the same. There are many organizations who have child sponsorship programs and for less than 30 USD a month you / we can really make a difference to at least one child. I encourage the you to consider faith based organizations because normally more of the money makes it to the children plus these children so need more than food and education. They need the hope that only Jesus can truly provide.

He went on to give the names of a couple of organizations he would recommend as reputable organizations to consider when sponsoring a child. His recommendations were Food for the Hungry https://www.fh.org/sponsor (he works with this organization in Uganda and we are very comfortable with the organization's reputation and would recommend them as well) or Children's Relief International http://www.childrensrelief.org/child_sponsorships (we also know some other people who work with this organization so are confident they are going to get as much of the money to the child as possible).

I also would like to let you know that the orphanage in Haiti, where KJ is from, has recently started a sponsorship program for the children in their care. Many of the children are being adopted, but there are many who do not currently have adoptive families. With adoptions taking up to two years or more now, many of the orphanages are having a hard time meeting their financial needs each month. The $35/month sponsorship fee for a child no where begins to cover the expenses for that child per month (when I was down there in the summer of 2006 they were spending at least $1,000 week on food alone), but it does help the home to have a steady, and reliable income coming in each month. If you are interested in checking out their sponsorship page you can find it at: http://hishomeforchildren.com/anonymous/index.html . We are going to be signing up to sponsor a child from there soon.

Some of you may already be sponsoring a child, or genuinely feel like you cannot afford to do it at this time. I am not trying to make you feel guilty either way. However, if just one child in this world receives sponsorship through this post than it has been more than worth writing it. If not, then I hope I have at least made someone (who did not know before) aware of the great need all over the world for such programs, which may lead to a sponsorship sometime in the future. All I ask, is that you please consider it.

Love to you all.