Well as I look at the calendar of events, I noticed today's little blurb was about committing at least a year to sponsor a child in another country.
Well this will be an easy blog post....I already have a child that I sponsor. His name is Michael and he is 8 years old. His birthday is coming up in December and he lives in Columbia. I sponsor him through Compassion International.
Before any of you think I'm a saint or something, (first of all I'm really not, I just used a um strong word tonight after spilling baby Robitussin all over my pants while trying to get the 2ml in the syringe and Tigger just gave me a look that said 'busted') let's think about why it's important to support kids in their countries and in their families.
1) It helps them stick together. Truly. We all know that in other countries, parents with many children that live in poverty will sometimes take a child to an orphanage not because they don't want them, but because they want their kids to eat. This way, the organization helps with food and depending on the organization, education and/or spiritual education as well. The end result is that while a family may still be in poverty, children are being fed and the family can stay together.
2) It keeps them tied to their roots/country. While adoption is great and wonderful and I can't imagine my life without Tigger, it really truly should only be the last resort. When keeping a family together through some help/sponsorship a child doesn't have to lose his/her culture (going back a little to the Transracial theme from yesterday)
3)As cheesy as it sounds, it keeps you connected to humanity. (cue music "We are the World") People are capable of great things. Yes I'm truly the optimist. And people with more "push"/help in life can do great things. If one is a Christian, then helping others is an automatic mandate, so this obviously is a way to do that. If one isn't a Christian, it still keeps you connected to humanity and keeps us open to help people in need.
If this post makes you think about possibly helping out a child in another country, research organizations. Make sure they are reputable and that the money truly goes to the child, or at least that they fully disclose the %age of money going directly to the child vs. other things. Try to find people who are sponsoring children and if they like their organization or not. I like Compassion because my child actually writes to me more than once a year. My parents use another organization and their child only writes once a year. Check it out, try it for a year.
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