Children.org Sponsorship

After our long awaited reunion voyage, I thought taking back down the memory lane to remember times of joy CI sponsorship brought to us all. The younger sister, Nicole, niece, grandmother and the parents joined Estephanie to celebrate her 9th birthday anniversary at Mundo Petapa , an amusement park in Guatemala City. This park was inaugurated over four decades ago. There the family discovered various fun activities, especially being enjoyed by the father gave enormous boost to excitement, along with a break for the main event in the cafeteria – what a memorable day made possible by the staff at CI Mariscal! (photos added to my SCS blog ) As I learn about the family closely now, they are not just fun loving but well known and respected in the community. I'm full of admiration for their advocacy by getting children involved in every aspect of life. And Estephanie being 'ahijada' (goddaughter) is a very special honor any sponsor can ever dreamed for. Today, my care in h...

Estephanie is my former sponsored child through Children International, whom I cared for four and a half years since she was just 6yrs old. She is a gifted and bright child brought up in a loving family of four in Guatemala. Her abrupt departure from the sponsorship program in June 2019 was totally unexpected, even though I was acutely aware of their situation in the family a s well as the city leading up to this moment. Estephanie is not just any sponsored child, but someone who changed my life forever devoting to children in need. For that reason, I call her ‘my miracle little princess’ and she calls me ‘padrino’ (her godfather). In August 2020, fourteen months after her leaving CI, we met again and reunited with the family. It was our momentous encounter of this lifetime. The family has moved on leaving everything behind to start a new life abroad. More importantly , I was fortunate enough to see Estephanie growing up fast in a new world since I last saw her back home. At age...

I woken up this morning thinking about a business fable or motivational story you may have heard of 'The Chicken and the Pig'. Both the chicken and the pig look on at a family eating breakfast. The chicken comments how her eggs allow it to participate or involve itself to help others. The pig then comments on the bacon saying they don't just involve but are totally committed by sacrificing life! The difference between commitment and involvement is like bacon and eggs. The chicken is involved; the pig is committed. My reunion with Estephanie at the last weekend is the most memorable moment of my life as I kept thinking for fourteen months when that day will come.. she was thinking the same way about me. It was as a dream came upon us, and I wanted to continue her sponsorship through what I call.. 'Second Chances Sponsorship' – direct commitment to a child with the family onboard. Estephanie (age 12) is the first ever child to benefit from SCS, so have just sen...

Crossing between London and New York would take about 8hrs by subsonic flight, but the Concorde used to make it supersonically in 3.5hrs – 44% of normal time. In comparison, I learned this week that the new way of electronic communication between me and Aaron surprisingly took only 23 days – 25% of usual 90 days for a CP (child response letter) to arrive at hypersonic speed!! I asked Aaron (age 12) to try some fun activities and challenges during this time, among them was to find 26 items that begin with every letter of the English alphabet in his house. Interestingly he came up with Spanish words as opposed to English. He admitted.. “It was a little difficult for me to find the objects of the alphabet but I managed it.” | A : árbol (tree) | B : baño (bathroom) | C : cama (bed) | D : dormitorio (bedroom) | E : espejo (mirror) | F : frutas (fruits) | G : gatos (cats) | H : hilos (thread) | I : inodoro (toilette) | J : jabón (soap) | K : ?? | L : lana (wool) | M : máquina (machine) | ...