Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Sponsorly Pride

Apr2014sm.jpg (35834 bytes)I had a letter from Anjali, my very first Compassion child, whose sponsorship I took on in 2009.  She was writing to thank me for the money she received at Christmas time, and to show me that she bought a suitcase that could be used by the whole family with it.

She also included perhaps the longest letter I've ever received from a Compassion child.  She is one of the children who can read and write English, so communication isn't as stilted as it is when you have to go through a translator and she is starting to write more than the usual health questions and answers and Bible verses that I get from all the children.  Her letter was a bit repetitive, but I loved reading it.  I feel that after five years, we have actually started a real correspondence.

I was tickled to see her new photo.  I was remembering back to my choosing her in the first place.  I can't remember how I heard about Compassion, but I decided to investigate and, my god, if you look at the photos of children wanting sponsors, your heart just melts for each of them, especially the little ones.  I was just looking through all the photos to see if any spoke to me.  I didn't really care about age or gender or country, just looking for a picture that spoke to me. I found this picture of her.

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She's little and cute and has a fat face.  I saw myself as a fat kid at about her age (though she's not as fat as I was) and I pictured her without any friends, being made fun of and decided that this was my kid.  Look at the picture at the top of the page, at what a slim, beautiful woman she is becoming.  In the photo I received of her last year....

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...she sill had a bit of a little girl look to her face, but I see that slowly disappearing and signs of the young woman that she will become too soon there.

I'm proud of the child I have watched grow up these past five years and look forward to continuing to support her until she ages out of the program somewhere between 18 and 20.

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