Generational divide

MSC archived stories - June 15, 2024

I believe most of us, sponsors are from the generations of 'Baby boomers' (born between 1946 and 1964) and 'Gen X' (between 1965 and 1979). I fall under the latter, and since my generation Gen Y (aka Millennials – 1980 to 1994), Gen Z (1995 to 2009), and Gen Alpha (2010 to 2024) – the latest being the largest generation in human history, over 2 billion people!

My 'sponsor world' spans across Gen Z (2) and Gen Alpha (16) encompassing dynamic and vibrant cultures, religious beliefs, languages and custom. The sponsorship opened up window not only to interact with my predecessors (i.e. some of you) and successors (the children/youth) but also to understand vast experiences of different generations living together across the five continents.

I recently went to see a classical Chinese dance, performed for the first time in my city of Glasgow by Shen Yun Performing Arts celebrating thousands of years civilisation (recommend if you haven't seen – www.shenyun.com), so I asked two of my Gen Alpha members, Derek and Fatima in Guatemala, both at same age to share something similar with me.

Derek is more of a "city boy" whereas Fatima is a Maya tradition girl. How they responded to my question was fascinating (added to media). I feel that Derek into seeking 'success' and Fatima into seeking 'value' in life. Albert Einstein once said, try not to become a man of success but rather become a man of value. I'm the kind of Fatima nature because of our very rich cultural influence from childhood. But, on the other hand Derek's response clearly shows Gen Alpha characteristics of technological savvy and environmental awareness.

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DP to Zambia

MSC archived stories - January 18, 2025 Usually the turnaround time for DP is 4 weeks. It's been a month to next Sunday (Jan 26th) since UPS collected and successfully delivered my DPs to Dulce and the twins. Two years later, last night Simon appeared in my profile as a grown up man. As we aren't getting follow up photos from Zambia anymore, for the first time thought trying DPs to Faith and Simon there, so they will have to come to CC to collect it, where the staff will have a camera to take photos. I remember Zambia used to have the whole family gatherings for EG photoshoot out. So, are there anything special they would be more excited receiving? For example, a football or cricket bat & ball set for Simon, and for Faith.. (no idea!.. may be something to make her elegant hairstyle she has in the latest photo..?). Help me make the list, of course, I don't want to make staff jealous

Pause for Thought! – The value of sponsorship

MSC archived stories - March 2, 2019 As we know the sponsorship does not demand us to write, send special needs or extra gifts to our children, but being a "silent" sponsor does your monthly contribution bring real value (for money) – especially if you live outside the USA, you or CI don't even get tax benefits of your charitable donation? Is this because most sponsors can't afford anymore than the monthly fee to sponsor a child or trust CI so much that they do not feel needing to play an active role in their sponsored child(ren)'s lives to have an impact? The sponsorship rewards both sponsor and the child through exchange of letters. Then we have social media platforms, like MSC to share our experiences with fellow sponsors – all can be done for free and bring closer understanding of each other and building friendships for life! But above all sponsorship motivates your child to attend their community center more often not only for letter reading/writing but a...

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 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...

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