February 01, 2008
What is Sponsoring a Child With Compassion Like? [Uganda.10]
I had the privilege of sponsoring a young man from Haiti, named Emmanuel Norestine. I was at a Petra concert in the winter of 1983 and they made an appeal about sponsoring children. Even though I was a college student and the then monthly sponsorship obligation was a whopping $21 a month, which later went up to $24 (and is now $32), I decided it was a real practical way to follow Jesus and His positive admonition to minister to "the least of these" and in turn minister to Him. It made a lot of sense. If I visit someone in jail, someone in the hospital, or even give someone a drink of water, it's like I'm giving aid to Jesus Himself. It's quite a beautiful picture. I love the way how God gets our attention and gets the point across that us people are valuable. Treating another person like garbage is wrong. Treating another person as a valuable treasure is right.
Over the years I received many letters and notes from Emmanuel. I would write him in English, send an occasional photo of myself, and he would receive it, along with a translated version of my note. I would get the same from him. Many years later, after I was married, I received the information that Emmanuel had sort of "graduated" from the program, where he could get a job, I assume, and kind of take care of himself. It was neat to see photos of him as a healthy young twenty-something. It wasn't that big a deal, but it was kinda neat to know that I'd been able to help this guy out. Maybe in heaven we'll get to meet. Maybe he'll say, "Thanks," and I'll say, "Glad to do it." Then maybe we'll play soccer together or something.
It's been some time now, but we are now sponsoring another child. Her name is Rhodah. I guess they write their last name first without using a comma in the sponrship packet, because her name is listed as Kisakye Rhodah and a short paragraph about her says "Rhodah this" and "Rhodah that..." She's a cute little girl. She's just a bit younger than our youngest daughter, so it will be fun to have them write each other; as well as the letters, photos and stuff we'll send her.
I've decided to have HM Magazine sponsor this child, actually. It's kind of like our immediate family is sponsoring Rhodah, but it's actually the extended family of HM readers, advertisers, and subscribers that are sponsoring her. This should be kind of neat. I'm told that nowadays we can email the children, too, so some of our communication with be faster.
Anyway, I haven't gone out of my way, really; but I hope I've gotten the point across that I highly recommend sponsoring a child. I've seen paperwork from great organizations like World Vision and Compassion International (both of which get involved with Christian music to promote what they're doing), and I've seen financial reports that show in a pie chart what percentage of the money that comes in goes to food, clothing and shelter; which percentage goes to overhead, marketing, etc. The amount that goes to actually helping in practical ways is very high, which is fantastic.
My wife and I will have the privilege of meeting Rhodah while we're in Uganda, which is a joy I didn't get a chance with yet for Emmanuel. I always kept my eyes and ears open for any chance to visit Haiti back in the day, but never saw one. If you would like to sponsor a child from the same area in Uganda that we're going, there's a link below that will give you information on just that.
sponsor a child in Uganda