A child

On Thursday nights we have a church in our home. Every Thursday we have dinner together, we pray, and we work through a chapter of scripture. We've been reading 1 Corinthians. What's special about this group, to me, is the people. When I met many of these young adults, they were 14 or 15 years old. In high school. On my track team.

{back in the day}

And now they are 19 or 20 years old. Five years later they are grown and they are still coming to my house. Back then we would play this crazy card game called Spoons after school. They would sprawl all over our house, shoot hoops in our driveway, make the neighbors nervous, and eat all our food. Now they are leading their own Bible study in my house. They are telling their friends about Jesus. They are unpacking scripture. I cannot even begin to tell you how proud I am of these kids, how much I am learning from them. And I will always call them "kids" I do not care if they are 32 years old and have two children.

{WAY back in the day}

A few weeks ago our Thursday church decided they wanted to choose a child to sponsor through World Vision. We have this flower vase that we use as a "collection plate." We decided a few months ago to start taking an offering and that once we'd saved enough for two months worth (it costs $35 a month) of child sponsorship we'd choose one. Thursday, June 14 we wondered how much money was in the jar. We'd been saving a while and decided to just count it. We did, and discovered that we had enough for THREE months, plus more. In an excited circle we gathered on the floor and talked about the child we had in mind. We quickly agreed on an older child who didn't have the "cute" factor to quickly be sponsored. We decided on Africa. We hoped to find a boy.

This is Rahim.

His birthday is on April 5, 2004. He just turned eight years old.

What struck me about this boy immediately is that he looked so much younger than eight years old. From the photo alone I would have guessed 5 years old. When we read his profile information it said that he lived with his grandmother and had no brothers or sisters.

Rahim lives in Tanzania, in a community that is gravely affected by AIDS. We quickly guessed that his parents are dead, and if he had any brothers or sisters they are probably dead too. This would probably be why he lives with his grandmother. And there's a very good chance that Rahim is a sick little boy.

We don't know. It would violate his privacy for these details to be listed in his profile. But as soon as we learned his story, saw his photo, this little boy jumped out at us. Our hearts broke for him.

From there on out, it was easy. We counted out $35 from the jar and put it in the envelope. Someone wrote in the address and email information. Where it asked for "name" the group decided to write "Thursday Family" and planned to explain who they were and introduce each person by name in their first letter. We are eagerly awaiting that sponsorship packet!

This is just one little boy in a box of what was at least 200. I can imagine how Rahim's grandmother has been praying for this moment: That someone would choose him out of this lottery of literally thousands of kids. When you sponsor a child in a developing country through World Vision it doesn't just send them a little picnic basket full of food. It doesn't just deliver them a set of clothes or a book. It doesn't just mean a present at Christmas. It represents a total Life Transformation. It means that change is coming to the life of that child, the child's family, and the child's community. It means clean water. It means health care. It means education. It means a relationship with a group of "kids" in Los Angeles who care deeply about his life, who have committed to write him, send him photos, and pray for him by name.

This is just one kid. There are many, many others. For $35 a month (a family's monthly Starbucks budget?) YOU can help foster change in a kid's life by sharing yours. Your letters and photos and prayers will matter. Your sponsorship will change their family's life and transform their community.

(If you want to sponsor a child through the above links, just enter "John Huddle" in the athlete field along with your information. Easy! You can choose a child from anywhere, but for your reference the communities that we have been reaching out to this year with clean water are in East Africa: Tanzania, Uganda, Somalia and Kenya.)

I am SO excited to share Rahim's story with you. And I can't wait to share more with you about sponsorship too. Clean water was the start. If this journey has tripped off something in your soul as it has in mine, child sponsorship might be something to consider. If you've wondered what to do next, if you've longed to know what more can be done, this could be the answer you're looking for.

 

***A side note: I am not being compensated to blog about Team World Vision, World Vision, clean water projects, or child sponsorship. World Vision has no idea who I am other than the fact that I'm married to John, who works with Team World Vision. I am writing about this issue because its on my heart and important to our family (which is why my husband does what he does). I am running these races and raising this money as a volunteer for a cause that is important to me personally.

Comments

[Jesabes]

Oh, this breaks my heart. I sponsor a child through Compassion and have always planned to have my children do so, too, but haven't gotten around to it. I go back and forth as to whether to wait until they're old enough to pick the picture themselves or not.

Also, what is the difference between Compassion and World Vision? Is there a way to tell whether one is better? I'm assuming you think World Vision (obviously), but are there specific reasons?

[Darrell]

Love your blog Amanda... I blogged about sponsorship today too.

[Pre School Franchisee in India]

Thank you for another great article. Where else could anyone get that kind of information in such a perfect way of writing? I have a presentation next week, and I am on a look out for such information.