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I asked a friend and member of the Lesibovu Leadership Team to tell her sponsorship story. Thank you, guest blogger LaShea Wood!
As
I sat and looked at all the profiles of children from Lesibovu who
needed to be sponsored, I felt so overwhelmed. How could I pick just one
child? There are so many in need there.
Everywhere. My shoulders began to tense and my head began to ache as I
looked through profile after profile. I began to pray for God's guidance
and peace because the enormity of
the situation hit me so hard. I didn't expect it. I've seen the ads and
all the Facebook posts about orphans and HIV, but it never truly HIT me
until now. I don't know why, but it didn't become real until NOW....
At
first it didn't seem like much, "Ok. I'll sponsor a child. That's all I
know to do!" Seems simple enough, but as I sat at the computer
scrolling
through page after page of children needing to be sponsored I couldn't
pick one....just one. How is one suppose to make a difference?! The
estimate is 143 to 210 million orphans in the world and I'm suppose to
pick one!?
Well, I didn't. My son, Dylan, did. Children see in black and
white. There is no gray area, no questioning. "Ok. We get to sponsor a
child who may not survive and thrive otherwise!" He looks through a
stack of Alli's photos from Lesibovu sitting on my kitchen counter and 5
minutes later says, "I want to sponsor that one." It's a photo of a
small boy who looks 2 maybe 3 holding a bowl in nothing but a shirt. No
shorts. No shoes. Just waiting for food. Holding his little bowl. He's
beautiful. I told him to go ask his brother and sister if that's the one
they wanted to sponsor (just knowing they are going to argue and fight over
who they wanted to sponsor, but they didn't). They all agreed! If that's
not a sign from God I don't know what is! All my kids agreed! That's
huge! So we did it, I looked him up on the website and found his profile and there he was-
"Lunga, male, 4". I thought to myself, "He's 4? He's so little." I entered all my info and
it was done. He was our child! I looked through the rest of Alli's
photos and found 2 more pictures of him. They are now plastered on my refrigerator and my kids talk about him as if he were a relative or friend.
A
week later we got our full profile on
Lunga in the mail. As I read his short profile, I was thankful to see
his mother and father were still alive and she's his caregiver. I
believe she's the one holding him in one of the photos on my fridge.
He's got 2 siblings and walks 10-15 minutes to the Carepoint where he
gets food. That doesn't seem to far away...or does it? I walk 10
steps to my kitchen for food: a near endless supply of goodies. He has
to walk 10 minutes and that's so he can eat once a day if he's
lucky. Some of these children walk 3 hours to the Carepoint. I
also have a picture of Lunga standing in line for food, but it's a big
cauldron of porridge and from what I'm told that's what they eat every.
single. day. I don't know about you, but I don't call that "food". In
our 1st world country, with our 1st world
problems ("DirecTV isn't airing the game! Are you kidding me!") we
can't even wrap our head around what that must be like. I know I sure
can't.
 As
soon as we got Lunga's profile, the kids immediately went to writing
letters and drawing pictures for him. I sat at the computer twice to
send a letter to him but couldn't. I didn't know what to say, then it
hit me. He's only 4. He can't read it. Once I email it and it's
translated, it's going to be his mom who reads it. The lady holding that
sweet boy in the picture. Now all I can think about is being in her
shoes and as I type the letter all I can picture is this mother who has
no means of providing for
her 3 children, who probably lives in a small hut of a home with a dirt
floor reading my letter. Once again, my shoulders tense and my head
begins to ache. What do you say to someone in such dire circumstances?
I stared blankly at the screen. Please, God, give me the words to speak
hope to this mother. That somehow I can encourage her. I want her to
know that someone, somewhere cares for her and is praying for her and
her family. That our God truly cares for them.
Sponsorship
is not just about providing a child with food, education, shelter, etc.
Sponsorship is about hope. It's about building a relationship with a
child and their family. To be able to let Lunga and his family know that
we are here, we care for them, love them, and are
praying for them, gives them hope for a better tomorrow. At the end of
my letter to Lunga (or his mother) I put this verse: "For I know the
plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not
to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." - Jeremiah 29:11
When
you sponsor a child it is so much more than sending money to help a
kid - imagine being that orphan or that parent or grandparent that
receives that letter. When they find out someone, somewhere, cares enough
to help them, you've given them hope and a relationship that
can do so much more any amount of money can do.
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