Meet Caroline

I'm excited to introduce you to the newest member of our family.  Her name is Caroline. She lives in Kenya. She is twelve years old, and she shares the same birthday as mine.  We met her through Compassion's child sponsorship program, and she is the fourth child our family has had the opportunity to sponsor.

The story behind our coming to know her is very cool.  See, Jarred and I had been considering sponsoring another child for quite some time.  When we first got married we continued to sponsor James from Haiti, the boy I had been sponsoring since I was in high school.  When Jarred moved into a sales position five years ago, our income increased, and we decided to sponsor an additional child, Deboshree from India.  About a year ago, James had to leave the program, so we began sponsoring another little Haitian boy, Marvens.  Just recently, we refinanced our home, which helped decrease our monthly mortgage payment.  We talked about sponsoring an additional child but drug our feet.  Spending increased during the holidays, and we were waiting to see how things shook out.

Then right after New Year's, I met with a friend for lunch, and at the end of our outing, she handed me an envelope to open in the car.  She told me she felt like she was supposed to give it to me.  When I opened it, I was shocked.  Inside were five $20.00 bills!  What?!  I thought.  Doesn't she need this more than me?  Her family is going through a major job change, and so I am assuming their financial security is much shakier than ours.  And yet she was moved to give during this shaky time.  I was very touched by her generosity and thought I must put this to good use.  It didn't take me long to realize now was the perfect time to begin sponsoring an additional child.  No more excuses.  That $100 would nearly cover the cost of the first three months of sponsorship.

So we sat down as a family and did a search for children who shared my birthday.  I was drawn to Caroline for a couple of reasons.  First of all, she's a girl.  The saying goes something like this: when you educate a girl, you educate a village.  The empowerment of women is directly linked to the decrease of poverty, violence, and disease around the world since girls become women and women become mothers.  Secondly, I had the opportunity to visit Kenya when I was in college and so have a special place in my heart for Kenyans.  Thirdly, Caroline's community has been touched by HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening diseases, so I love that we are able not only to help her receive an education but to have access to health services and nutritious meals.

I believe that child sponsorship is one of the best ways to combat some of the greatest social evils in our world.  When you provide the basic needs of a child, you are helping a child remain in his or her family (combating the need for orphanages).  You are offering a child an education (combating illiteracy and ignorance). You are offering a child a future (combating extreme poverty or prostitution). You are offering a child health (combating starvation and disease).  You are offering a child love and hope (combating violence and despair).

If you are considering sponsoring a child, I would urge you consider these two sponsorship programs, Compassion and World Vision.  Both are highly reputable and allow you to have written correspondence with your child, which I think is of vital importance.  Our family likes to send family and school pictures, stickers, bookmarks, and handmade notes and pictures to our children.  Consider changing the world, one child at a time.