A step in a higher level journey

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 as 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 12, she would still have been with CI if fate did not turn things around that day. But the skills and learning she had gained during sponsorship is pivotal to shaping her future and in particular rebuilding our relationship. She is a shining alumnus of CI.

Our reunion has given me the opportunity to continue her sponsorship through ‘Second Chances Sponsorship’ – direct commitment to a child with the family onboard at a higher level by carrying more responsibility. In my recent post, I wanted to explore what this really entails with ‘Bacon & Eggs’ analogy. I understand that there are three types of child sponsors:

a) One who is more than happy to help a needy child (i.e. being just involved but no sacrifice) at basic level, like crawling or standstill.

b) One who is not only involved but also committed (chicken) at standard level, like walking or slow-paced.

c) One who is fully committed (pig) at advance level, like running or fast-paced.

The SCS resembles taking sponsorship to a higher level, meaning from (a) to (b), (b) to (c), or (a) to (c). Many child protection organizations offer both (a) and (b), but an educational program through Gift Package (GP projects) incorporating the child/family to help develop would take me to (c) type sponsor with a strategy of keeping in touch without interfering private lives (via e/s-mail), knowing that child privacy & safety comes before everything else!