My husband and I have been sponsors with Compassion for about six years. During that time, I’ve heard a lot about the importance of writing letters to our sponsored kids.

We even have a friend now who was once a child in the Compassion program, and he’s spoken about the importance of sponsor letters to him. I know writing to my sponsored child is important, and I do it pretty often, but sometimes I’m just stumped about where to start.

I decided to draft a list of specific questions that would help me explain my life and myself to a sponsored child.

Of course, if our child asks questions, I answer them. But I’ve found that children don’t always have the skill to carry on “conversations.” Giving them information about me is a good place to start.

These prompts are questions for you to answer about yourself. Expand on the answers, as space permits, in a letter to your sponsored child. Enjoy!

Your Childhood

1. What activities did you enjoy as a child?
2. Who was your favorite teacher? What was the teacher like?
3. Whom did you admire as you were growing up? Why?
4. How did you get your name? What does it mean?
5. Did you grow up in church? How did you come to know Jesus?
6. What was a challenge you had to overcome as a child or teenager?
7. What was your favorite part of school?
8. What was your least favorite part of school?
9. What happened during a typical school day?
10. What was your first job like?

Your Life Today

1. What is your typical day like now?
2. What do you do at church/work/school?
3. What do you like most about your hometown?
4. What are some interesting facts about your state/province/region?
5. How do you relax?
6. What’s your favorite holiday? How would you describe the sights, sounds, smells, tastes?
7. What’s your biggest challenge at the moment?
8. What other human understands you better than anyone else? How did you come to know this person?
9. What are you learning right now?
10. What’s one of your favorite Bible stories or passages? Why?

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

In the Philippines, godmothers play an important role in the lives of children. Together with godfathers, they are expected to bring gifts and goodies on Christmas Day, birthdays and other special family gatherings. The godchild will not hesitate to ask for gifts in case the godparent forgets.

But more than the bearers of gifts, godparents are considered part of a child’s extended family.

The extended family is an important social component for Filipinos. Included within the family extension are grandparents, uncles, aunts and godparents. And, in some cases, their words of advice are tantamount to those of the child’s parents.

Of all the people included in a child’s extended family, only the godparents are not blood relatives, yet they are looked upon as second parents.

One sponsor has earned that position in the life of Shiela.

“Monthly, I receive letters from my sponsor and we talk about life in general, her church and family.”

Shiela knows a lot about her long-distance godmother.

“She loves talking about her nephews and nieces, and, recently one of her sisters got married. I also get plenty of photos.”

Shiela has kept many of her sponsor’s letters, but some were taken by her mother when she left home to live in the province. Her parents have separated and now she is living with her grandmother.

Sheila’s sponsor knows about this and often encourages Shiela to be strong.

“She always encourages me by writing encouraging words. I really enjoy receiving letters from my godmother.”

Sponsored children from all over the islands are required to write their sponsors at least three times a year, and to respond whenever they get a letter from their sponsors.

Many of the children, like Shiela, write more than three times a year.

“I love writing to my sponsor, even if I don’t really have anything to say. I tell her about my life, my church and how happy I am here at the student center.”

Each child development center has its own style of distributing the letters.

In some centers, caseworkers deliver the letters to the children’s homes, while most give them out at the center during weekly activities.

“I get my letters usually during our lessons, but I often go to my caseworker to ask if I a have a letter, since I always anticipate that I do.

“It is important to write letters, for people to know each other and to share experiences, activities, ideas and so on.”

Country Director of the Philippines, Noel Pabiona, expresses,

“I hope that, at least once a year, sponsors will write their children.

“Exchanging letters really makes a difference. It creates a strong impact in the sponsor-sponsored child relationship and brings the two close to each other.”

Through the monthly exchange of letters between Shiela and her sponsor, the sponsor has ceased being just a sponsor. She is now her sponsored child’s second mother.

Shiela knows that her sponsor cares about her.

“I write to her about everything. She knows about my parents’ problems and that I am staying with my grandmother. I usually write her at home at nights and sometimes while I am here at the student center.”

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

The relationship between child and sponsor is key to our ministry.

These relationships are often deep, close and warm enough to break down language, cultural and geographical barriers around the world.

There are many stories about how the child-sponsor relationship not only blesses children, sponsors and their families, but also affects the whole community. Such is the case with children living in East Indonesia.

In maintaining relationships between children and sponsors, correspondence plays an important role. Correspondence is the easiest and least expensive way for children and sponsors to build a relationship.

Understanding the importance of letters, our office in East Indonesia held a special campaign with the goal of improving the quality of the children’s letters.

We designed a Child Letter Campaign that focused on improving writing skills. This campaign spanned 17,097 sponsored children and 39 child development centers.

The training for this campaign was led by a partnership facilitator and training specialist who taught other staff members about the impact of letter-writing on sponsorship. They also learned how to manage and process the children’s letters efficiently and effectively, and how to develop the ‘Writing Letters’ creative module and lesson plan.

This training brought more information to our staff and gave them new perspective on how to manage letters.

Some development center leaders confessed that, before the training program, they had no idea about the importance of children’s letters and how they could affect sponsorship. Staff members committed to share their knowledge with the tutors in order to help children improve letter quality.

Wolly was a sponsored child in the 1970s and 1980s, he spoke at the Child Letter Campaign, sharing with the staff how he kept his sponsor’s letters for years.

Those letters gave him strength to reach his dream, he told those in attendance. Wolly has his own business now, having finished law school and becoming a lawyer.

His testimony gave wider perspective to the Child Development Center staff. They saw evidence of sponsorship and how its impact on the life of one child made a difference.

After the training, the program featured a Child Letter Competition which was the highlight of the campaign.

The competition was designed to help children who participate improve their writing skills and become aware that writing letters to sponsors is important.

There were 13 clusters participating in the competition. Each cluster selected its 10 best letters to compete. Of the letters entered, 40 passed the selection.

Finally, there were six letters chosen to compete further for the best letter. The judge asked each child to write their letter with “My Dream” as the theme.

Stella, from the Kharisma Waya Student Center, won the competition. Ester, from the Senggighilang Student Center, was the runner-up, and third place was Frits, from the Alfa-Omega Student Center.

All winners were enthusiastic.

Frits promised to improve his letters and to joyfully write them.

“I will help my friends to write good letters to their sponsor.”

And Ester shared,

“You must write the letter from your heart.”

She loves to write in a diary, which also helps improve her writing skills.

The campaign closed with a contest for the best creative writing letter lesson plan. Each cluster sent its best lesson plan to the competition, and the Talentu Student Center won.

The growth of our ministry in East Indonesia brings more responsibility to provide excellent service to sponsors, service that helps them have positive experiences. This understanding was the foundation of this letter-writing campaign to improve the quality of children’s letters and help all children write letters from the heart.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

  The more I visit countries and talk to formerly sponsored children, the more dedicated I am to letter writing.

Many students need encouragement from sponsors who believe in their potential to do well. Some have not felt loved by sponsors who are not writing, and when a new letter-writing sponsor becomes available, their lives change for the better.

Words of encouragement can make the difference between a normal life and one that is charged with energy, passion and purpose.

This summer’s trip to Haiti gave me several interesting encounters with sponsorship letters. While there, I approached a man to talk to him because he was wearing a Kansas City ball cap (the city I grew up in).

A translator explained to me that this was Manasseh, the man responsible for delivering the Compassion mail from La Gonave to the mainland every week.

I was thrilled to meet him. I told him I had sent many letters over the past 24 years and that I appreciated his dedication to this important job.

When we visited one of the child development centers, it happened to be letter-writing day! I met a wonderful center worker named Jacquelin, who was helping kids and their caregivers complete letters to their sponsors.

It was fascinating to observe the letter-writing process. The children had been given notebooks to take home to begin their letters.

With the help of parents, the children completed their letters and returned their notebooks to Jacquelin, who carefully reviewed the letters with each child and family member.

When the letters were complete with corrections, additions or deletions, the final drafts were written onto the official stationery. Then each child was encouraged to add a drawing as a special gift to his or her sponsor.

I watched as several children used a small ruler to make neat, straight lines on their drawings. Jacquelin never told any child to hurry up or to finish quickly. I admired his patience and careful attention to detail.

Older children were working on their letters at various tables around the room, usually with the help of friends and family. Dozens were lined up to report to the communication officer, who keeps track of every letter sent.

This was a combined effort and the children seemed enthusiastic about their task. I loved seeing the involvement of the family members.

I observed as an older young man helped his two little brothers with their letters.

Every group eventually came before Jacquelin for his final proofreading and approval. I loved seeing the pride on the kids’ faces for a job well done.

But no face was more joyful than the face of my own sponsored child when we met a few days later.

When we visited his home, Enold was quick to bring out many of the letters I had sent through the years.

I told him I had kept all his letters, too.

I think the look on his face says it all; letter writing is important!

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

I sponsor a boy in India. Scratch that. I just got his latest picture, and he has a full-on mustache. I sponsor a young man in India.

Several years ago I got to meet him, and as he’s gotten older, we’ve developed a warm friendship. He calls my husband and me “auntie and uncle,” and sends us hugs and kisses.

Last year when we sent him a picture of our new daughter, he was absolutely exuberant to have a “little sister” and begged for more photos of her.

There’s no better way to a mother’s heart than to ask to see pictures of her baby.

On the other hand, we also sponsor a girl.

Her letters to us are brief. They don’t contain much information that tells us about her life. Her photos often look stern.

Comparing the two relationships, I can sometimes get frustrated. I can wonder,

“Why do I write her these letters when she doesn’t seem to appreciate them?”

In short, I am not getting the emotional pay-out that some hidden part of me seems to want from my sponsorship. (It pains me to admit this.)

Right now for work, I’m editing letters from partnership facilitators around the world. I’m currently on the batch from the country where my sponsored girl lives. As I read letter after letter about the challenges that children in her community face, my selfishness becomes more and more apparent.

Many girls are denied education. Many are married off and get pregnant as young as 13. Many are AIDS orphans. Many have parents who are alcoholics or just absent.

This reminds me of some good advice I’ve heard — you never know what someone else is going through. When someone at the grocery store is rude to you or your friend is a bit short, it’s always good to remember that you have no idea the struggles and challenges that they are facing at that exact moment — so extend grace to them!

How much more ought that to be true of our sponsored children? In my frustration that my relationship with this girl isn’t as sunny as I’d like it to be, I am focused on myself and what I’m “getting out” of sponsorship, rather than focusing on offering unconditional love to a young woman living in a hard situation.

I don’t know what her relationship is like with her parents. I don’t know what pressures she’s facing on her way home from school each day. I don’t know what else might be keeping that stern look on her face.

All I do know is that there is a God who cares for her welfare and I have an amazing opportunity to remind her of that.

I don’t write this because I thoroughly enjoy sharing my weaknesses with thousands of people online. I have Facebook for that.

I share because perhaps this will be a reminder to someone out there that when our sponsor experience doesn’t go exactly how we want it to, that we have an opportunity to be those beautiful feet that bring good news on the mountains, reminding the children – even when it doesn’t seem reciprocal – that God loves them and there is someone who is praying for them.

That little encouragement just might make the difference in their life.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

For children in Togo and around the world, a letter from a sponsor is a source of great joy. Most children see letters as gifts from the hearts of their sponsors.

Sadly, other children feel forgotten or unloved because they have not received a single letter.

Like Godwin.

Godwin is in the fifth grade. He is clever, dynamic and very sociable, and he has a good relationship with his friends at the child development center he attends in Togo. He lost his father and currently lives with his mother, a cashier in a small company.

Godwin was sponsored a few years ago but he has never received any communication from his sponsor.

This makes him unhappy and uncomfortable, especially when his friends at the development center receive letters from their sponsors.

Godwin thinks his sponsor does not love him.

When he wants to talk about this situation, he pauses for a long time, bows his head and bursts into tears.

“I don’t know why my sponsor can’t write to me while other children always receive letters. They are happy every Saturday when it is time to answer letters. Me, I am forgotten.

“I don’t think that my sponsor really loves me. When I write, I receive no answer. During Christmas and Easter, I always hope that they will send me a letter, but I have been disappointed.”

Benedicte would also like to receive a letter from her sponsor. Her mother shares with us,

“On Easter, Christmas and my daughter’s birthday, I have to encourage her, because her friends at the child development center tell her that their sponsors have written to them.

“We live in the same house with another sponsored girl from the same church. I remember a day when that girl received a letter from her sponsor. Benedicte asked her desperately, ‘When will my sponsor write to me?’

“We have written many letters to the sponsor, but they never reply and our questions go unanswered. How can you keep on asking the same questions to the same person who gives you no information? We just want them to tell us how they are doing.”

Letters from sponsors have a great impact, not only on the children but also on their family members.

Germain, who serves as director of the center that Godwin and Benedicte attend, tells us,

“It is really true that when a child regularly receives letters from his sponsor, his joy overflows.

“Even days following the reception of a letter are filled with happiness and delight. You can feel that joy in his life during the following weeks. The child’s attitude changes, especially when it is their first time to receive a letter from their sponsor.”

Davi and Dagan, twins with the same sponsor, are a great example of this. They receive letters almost every week.

Dagan shares,

“I love the way our sponsor writes to us. She calls us princes, as if our father were a king.

“Our parents never call us by that name and we feel really loved. On our birthday, we always expect good words from our sponsor and she always writes to us. She is also a source of empowerment to our family.

“When my sister and I pass our exams, she writes to encourage and congratulate us. Sometimes, our parents forget to do it, but they have started doing it because our sponsor does it.

“Our sponsor is someone we will never forget. Truly, she loves us. We don’t know how to express our thanksgiving toward her and her family. The only thing we hope is that she will visit us and we are sure God will bless her so that she can do it.”

To maintain good relationships with sponsored children, it is important that you write to them.

Your letters give them the joy of having somebody abroad thinking about them. The letters also give encouragement, empowerment and hope to the boys and girls we serve.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

Questions about correspondence are among the most common we hear among our support community and in the contact center. I thought I’d make it easy for you and compile our most frequently asked correspondence questions together in one place.

1. Where do I send my letters?
   You can mail your letters to the address below. Be sure to include your sponsor number (A seven digit number that starts with a 1, 2, or 3) and your child’s number (A seven digit number that begins with two letters) on the letter so we can process it correctly.

   Attn: Child Correspondence
   Compassion International
   Colorado Springs, CO 80997



Global Ministry Center, Colorado Springs, Colo.

2. Why can’t I send a package?
   Everything we send to each field office is declared as a document. If the box of letters went through customs and customs officials found something in it that was not a document, we would be charged hefty fines and that box would be held for weeks, possibly months.

   Also, sending items overseas can be very tricky. There is a very high incidence of theft, and we’re not willing to take that chance with items that you have spent money on.

   On top of that, shipping items can be quite costly. After paying for the item, shipping it to the country, and paying for customs fees, you would probably spend two to three times more than the worth of the item you shipped.

   Instead, we encourage you to send monetary gifts. The child and family can choose what they need from the market and it helps to stimulate the local economy.



3. What can I send to my child?
   You’re welcome to send any items that are made of paper, no thicker than 1/4” and no larger than 8.5” by 11.” For a list of ideas, check out our Tips for Mailing Small Gifts.

   We’ve also got some great ideas on our Pinterest board.

4. Why do my letters take so long?
   Your letters will take two to three months to reach your child and it will take two to three months for your child’s letters to reach you. When your letters to your sponsored child reach our Colorado Springs office either by mail or through our online letter tool, your letters are processed, checked to be sure any attachments are within size limitations, and sorted by country.

   Letters are mailed once a week to each country office. After the letters go through customs, the country office receives and distributes them to translators. Once the letters have been translated, they are sorted by child development center and placed in each center’s bin.

   How far the child development center staff members are located from the country office will determine how often they are able to pick up the letters – anywhere from weekly to once a month. The next time each center meets they will distribute the letters to the children. Your child’s letter takes a similar process back to reach you.



Sorting letters in our office in Inda

5. Why does my child not answer my questions?
   Letter writing can be a difficult concept for a child to understand who has always communicated verbally. Here’s a great post with lots of information, Why Do My Sponsored Child’s Letters Seem So Impersonal?
6. When will I receive my first letter from my child?
   After you sponsor a child, you will receive a letter from them within four months. Typically, your child will find out that they are sponsored about 2-3 weeks after you make your first contribution.
7. Can I write to my child in their own language?
   Yes! You are welcome to write to your child in their language. Just know that this will not speed up the process as the translator will still check to make sure the child can understand your letter and that the content is appropriate.


Translators in our Indonesian office

8. Will I receive confirmation when my child gets my letter?
   No, you will not receive a confirmation when your child receives your letter. However, you can expect that they should receive your letter two to three months after you send it.
9. How do I email my child?
   While you aren’t necessarily able to email your child, you may write a letter to them online using our online letter-writing tool. To write online, sign in to your account on www.compassion.com and click “Write My Child.”You can choose from several colorful templates and even upload pictures. We will print your letter in color in our Colorado Springs office.

So did I miss anything? If you still have a question about correspondence, feel free to share it at: support.compassion.com

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

A few months ago, I helped people at a local church sign-up to sponsor children. During the first half of my shift, I got asked a lot of questions.

• Are there any children with a birthday closer to my kid’s birthday?
• Can I write to my child in Spanish, or do I have to write in English?
• Can I send my child a Christmas present, or do I have to just send her money?

I thought many of the questions were trivial. They made me frustrated. I didn’t think people were grasping the big picture that kids are living in poverty and urgently need help.

But as my shift went on, and as I was continually asked these types of questions, I realized the questions weren’t trivial at all.

In fact, these type of questions were the most important questions that can be asked.

Because sponsoring a child is not about setting up an automatic withdrawal. It is about building a relationship. And in a relationship, the small things matter.

In a relationship, birthdays matter. And communication matters. And gifts matter.

For the rest of my shift, I told people how they could have a relationship with a child. And people responded! Over 110 children were sponsored that morning.

But the relational aspect of sponsorship is not just important in getting people to sign-up. It is also important throughout the sponsorship journey, because love is best shown in a relational context.

And love is what our world needs more than money.

Here are five easy ways to build a relationship with your child, and keep sponsorship from becoming something that just shows up on your monthly bank statement:

1. Write letters.
   You can do this online, or by snail-mail. Tell your child about your life. Be personal, sincere, and informative.

   Steady, two-way conversation is the first step to developing a great relationship.



2. Make special occasions special.
   Make sure you do something special for your child on his or her birthday or Christmas. Compassion makes this really easy, because they remind you when special occasions are coming up, and give you plenty of options for what you can do. Take advantage of these special times to show you care.
3. Pray every day.
   If you pray for your child a lot, you will begin to care for him or her more. You will begin to care about whether or not your child had a good day. Or is feeling sad. Or is making good friends.

   Praying for your child will build a desire for a more personal and intimate relationship with him or her.

4. Visit your child.
   I realize that visiting your child might not be financially possible. One way to overcome the financial obstacle is to find a short-term mission trip going to a place near your child’s development center, and raise support. Ask your friends and family members to donate money to cover the cost of your trip.

   Compassion may only be able to arrange an afternoon visit with your child, as you will primarily be doing the tasks of the mission trip, but your relationship will be taken to a very real, tangible level.



5. Tell your sponsorship stories.
   When people are important to you, you talk about them.

   Talk about your child with other people, and encourage others to get involved in the sponsorship story. This will make your sponsorship experience come alive and matter in your present life. It will help bridge the gap of distance.

These are a few ideas how to build a relationship with your child. If you can’t do all of these, start with just one, and see what a difference it makes.

Do you have other ideas on how to build a relationship with your sponsored child? I would love for you to share them!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Joshua Lancette is a writer and barista in Madison, WI. You can read his blog, or follow him on twitter.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

How many of us sit in front of a blank computer screen or sheet of paper wondering what to share with our sponsored child? What do you say or not say? What would he or she be interested in knowing?

A group of older children in Ethiopia were asked, “What do you want to know about your sponsor?”

What do you think of their questions below?

The gospel of the kingdom of heaven is spreading rapidly in my country. How is it in your country? – Addisu, age 20

What is the name of the church you go to? — Birhanemeskel, age 15

What do you do for a living? — Desalegn, age 13

What motivated you to sponsor me? Who influenced you to make this decision? — Yabsira, age 18

Contemplating what to share in a sponsor letter.

From the Bible, which story do you like the most? — Ashenafi, age 12

What is your view about women’s equality? — Weineshet, age 13

What is your favorite food? — Aynalem, age 10

What are the names of your children? — Temesgen, age 10

Do you have any knowledge of our cultural food called doro wot? — Lidya, age 9

Questions compiled by field communications staff member Eldad Girma.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

A Minute to Write a Letter is a fictional story originally posted on OurCompassion. Author Emalee Warner was inspired to write it after learning about sponsored children who never receive letters from their sponsors.

Read part one of this story

Rendel stayed to the back of the small crowd of children, hoping – but knowing that his name would not be called. It had been three months since letter-writing day.

There’d been four deliveries of letters since then. Most of the children had already received replies. Rendel listened with half an ear as the box of letters dwindled.

One last letter was pulled from the box and the woman up front called,

“Rendel!”

Everyone turned to look at him. Many of the children and staff smiled as he stepped up and carefully took the letter.

Sure enough, written on the front was his name. Many of the children broke into groups to look at their letters together. Those who hadn’t received a letter turned and left quietly.

Child showing off a letter from his sponsor.

Rendel and a few others found quiet areas of the yard to open their letters.

He stared at the envelope for what seemed like ages.

What if they’d gotten the wrong Rendel? What if the letter wasn’t really meant for him?

Tentatively, he opened the envelope and pulled out the paper within. Carefully, he unfolded the letter and started to read.

He finished the letter with a big grin on his face.

She’d finally written him back! She said she was happy that he was doing well in school, and that her brothers had also liked playing football (soccer) when they were younger.

She had even sent him a picture of herself.

She didn’t have her picture taken often, she wrote, and this was the best she had.

All Rendel knew was that she was beautiful, and that she cared.

Before dashing home to show his grandmother and read through the letter again with her, he whispered,

“Thank You, Lord!”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Emalee Warner started writing to four children her youth group sponsors, as well as three additional children her youth pastor sponsors. Emalee recently began sponsoring her own child.

If you’re interested in writing a guest blog post, we are happy to consider publishing it. Read our guest blog post guidelines.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates