Children.org Sponsorship

Fatima just wrote to tell me that when she gets older she wants to be a cop, so she can catch all the thieves. At first, the police officers’ courage in fighting crime has been an inspiration to a six year old girl growing up in rural Mayan communities in Chimaltenango. Breaking the male-dominated world of police service, I can see the future of Guatemala and indeed beyond will be in the safe hands of brave women too. The people will sleep safely in their beds at night only because rough men and women will stand ready to visit violence on those who would harm them. But dare we ask Fatima, the crime fighting hero, out in the dead of night dressed up and making sure all is safe! I never knew how cleaver and artistic Estephanie (my former sponsee & goddaughter) was until she illustrated a scene that Fatima in her Traje is chasing up to catch a thief with a gun in her hand. I loved her superb imagination, particularly wearing a police circlet and bringing to life my own story o...

This week, I’m sharing my letter just wrote to Aashiya (age 7) in Delhi. My Dear dhuwa, Aashiya I hope you are keeping safe and well. I was so happy to read your beautiful letter in response to my activities challenge presented to you. You have taken it with much interest and shared your experience. I too would love to be like a bird, so my story begins like this… There was a school master coming to our rural village in India. He was staying in a rented house and just outside his window there was me in a birdcage. One day, a beautiful little girl named Aashiya was passing by me, stopped and started to have a big chat. She calls me 'Salalihini' (bird name) and tells me that I don't know what love is and if I feel it like the majestic ocean I would not be in this cage. So, she was going to tell me a secret but insisted that I don’t tell anyone. Aw, okay.. she trusted me. Aashiya said she loves her (only) father very much… (Papa Mere Papa) He helped her do a lot of fun...

Estephanie, when she was almost 8yrs old drew a picture of me using the art kit I sent her and wrote ' Te kiero Chelaka ' (I love you Chelaka). To date, I treasured this beautiful drawing of her sponsor, thus framed and kept it on my bookshelf. This reminds what Picasso (Spanish painter), one of the greatest artists of the 20th century once said... “It took me four years to paint like Raphael (Italian painter), but a lifetime to paint like a child.” So, I studied the drawing carefully, which told me a story of her imagination with no boundaries. To her, I'm an Angel with somewhat not seen facial look in people on the ground who lives in a place up above the tree line, called 'Heaven' close to the sun and cloud surrounded by dawn flowering and butterflies carrying and spreading her love. The world around him is happy and delightful. Her random thought process then started to narrow down defining each object by real sense of coloring – the green tree top with...

In just over a year later since I started sponsoring Estephanie, a DP of an art kit was shipped to her from Hobby Lobby in Oklahoma City, USA to Guatemala City, Guatemala. Hobby Lobby, one of the largest arts and crafts stores in the USA was my favorite place to find art materials for my sponsored children. A dedicated team at the headquarters handled my numerous inquiries back and forth via email for 3wks before finally placing the order. Due to weight & size restrictions for USPS shipping priority mail to Guatemala, the team had to fashion a homemade box to put everything in one box – big deluxe art set and 3 other sketch pads along with printing and putting my inventory list and a gift message inside. Also, we had quite a challenge to find a way around inputting a rather lengthy destination address into a limited space available on their labeling system. At last, the package was dispatched and on its way to Estephanie. I was given USPS tracking number to monitor the progress, ...

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...