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.

Rendel followed the other children eagerly. Today was their child development center’s assigned letter-writing day. He was not nearly as excited as most of the group. They’d recently received letters from their sponsors and couldn’t wait to reply.

No, Rendel belonged to a smaller group of students at the center — children who had never received a letter from their far-away sponsors.

Rendel knew that his sponsor lived in the United States. He knew where that was, and that his sponsor’s name was Mary. Faithfully, he wrote a letter to Mary every time letter-writing day came.

Eagerly, he would write about his life, his friends, his family and his studies. He always asked how Mary was doing, and told her that he prayed for her often and hoped she was well. He liked to include a nice picture he had drawn.

Rendel found himself imagining what Mary would look like, as he had many times before. Would her skin be as dark as his? Or lighter like some of the other children’s sponsors whose pictures he had seen? Did she have smiling eyes like his grandmother?

Did she have a big family too? Lots of brothers, sisters, a grandmother and grandfather? Did she have children?

He didn’t know. He didn’t have any answers to his questions.

As he walked into the building, Rendel hoped that maybe today his sponsor would send him something – just a few words, a picture, anything. Not that he wasn’t grateful for the support, for he never would have gotten to go to school if it weren’t for Mary.

It still hurt, though, when the letters came in and there was nothing for him.

Rendel didn’t even want the things that sometimes came in the letters: stickers, coloring books, fun stuff like that. All he wanted was one letter, something to tell him that his sponsor cared about him.

Did she regret sponsoring him? Had he done something wrong? Were his grades not good enough?

The adults at the center, and Rendel’s grandmother, assured him that it wasn’t his fault. But how could it not be? Why else would Mary not reply?

He sat down and stared at the paper on which he was to write his letter. Carefully and painstakingly he wrote each word, wanting Mary to see his very best. He told her how he and his brothers enjoyed playing ball outside when the weather was nice like today.

He told her how he’d done in class, how he’d improved since he’d last written. He asked her to pray for him when he took the exams to move up a class, how he hoped he’d do well and make her proud. He told her he hoped she was doing well. He ended his letter with

Please write to me, I want to know you. – Rendel

Then he flipped the paper over and began his drawing.

This time he’d draw the tree by his house. It always had really pretty flowers in the spring. Rendel finished his letter and examined it critically. It looked good to him, but would it be good enough? As he handed the letter to his teacher he sent up a prayer,

“Please Lord, let this letter be the one. Please help her to write me back, Anything God. I’ll take anything she can give me. Amen.”

To be continued…

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

A lot needs to happen before a sponsor like Gayle can receive a letter from her sponsored child. In this video we see the sponsor side of the sponsor-child letter-writing journey.

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

Letter writing is essential for the special one to one relationship between children and sponsors. In this video, Maria from Bangladesh just found out that she has a sponsor and eagerly writes her first letter. Come on a journey with us and see how Maria’s letter gets to her sponsor.

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

It’s early morning and 10-year-old Suyianga wakes up tired. He did not get enough rest due to the small space he has to sleep in.

His tiny mud house is supported by crooked wooden sticks and is home to his parents and five siblings. The house stands alone on a small mound of earth located between patches of sagging maize plantations. There is only one bed, which takes up most of the space and leaves just enough room for the door to open wide.

Suyianga’s parents are casual laborers. They move from one farm to another looking for work. On a good day, each of them earns about 100 Kenya shillings. But those days are few and far between, making it dificult to clothe the children, silence rumbling stomachs and keep a roof over the family.

The rains have not helped agriculture much during the last couple of seasons, which makes it even harder to make ends meet.

With these challenges, Suyianga’s parents could not maintain rent on a house for Ksh. 300 a month (approximately $3.60 USD). His mother, Janet, tells us,

“We would come home to find our house locked. Sometimes we slept outside or looked for shelter from well-wishers.”

Janet pleaded with the landlord, which brought only temporary reprieve. He would give them grace periods to settle their debts, but in the end he was forced to lock them out for good.

In this community where the size of land, number of children and herds of cattle define one’s worth, Suyianga’s family are considered among the lowliest in the community. Without a home or any property attached to their names, they had to look for alternative shelter.

Suyianga was not ready to leave their home and stay at his uncle’s place.

“I felt sad to leave our house because we went to live in a different place. Sometimes we went without food and I did not enjoy that.”

After becoming part of our child sponsorship program, Suyianga began to attend school regularly. He started nursery school but had to repeat it twice due to the school’s poor learning environment.

Through the provision of a school uniform, school fees and books for school, and tutoring provided at Suyianga’s child development center, his performance began to show an upward trend. He is now in grade two and his favorite subject is mathematics.

His parents are impressed by their son’s enthusiasm to learn the Word of God and memorize scripture. Suyianga’s father shares,

“One thing I have noticed about Suyianga is his love for the things of God. He knows a lot about the Bible which he learns at the child development center. He likes to quote John 3:16, ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life,’ as his favorite verse.”

Elkanah, director of Ololulunga Child Development Center, has also witnessed the change in Suyianga’s life.

“His life started to change after his enrollment and more so when he began to receive letters from his dear sponsor. Suyianga is more confident about himself despite his background and this is a result of the encouraging letters he receives from his sponsor.”

One of the letters from Suyianga’s sponsor read,

“God created you for a great purpose. I hope you live a wonderful life making that great purpose come true.”

This is the kind of reassurance he needed.

Sponsor letters mean a lot to Suyianga. From the stack he has, he easily recalls and pulls out one letter in which his sponsor wrote that he often takes time to pray for him.

“Since this letter shows that I am special and that I am able to dream, I want to one day become a pilot.”

That’s a huge ambition for a kid from this village — especially when there are no pilots to look up to, advise him or walk with him. His favorite drawing, however, is an airplane.

“I like to draw planes and send them to my sponsor.”

His parents have not lost hope either. They dream of having their own home and land to till, but the challenges appear enormous given the current circumstances. However, Suyianga offers new hope of breaking the cycle of poverty and he is confident of a greater future.

“I want to one day build my parents a nice and bigger house once I am old enough.”

As Suyianga continues to draw his dream on paper and watch the planes fly over his head, as he goes home and sleeps in the small space on his parents’ bed, he looks forward to better days. Thanks to the encouragement and help of his sponsor, when Suyianga wakes up tomorrow morning, he will not be too tired to follow his dream.

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

You will often hear us mention the importance of writing letters to your sponsored child. That is because your letters have proven, over and over again, to be a precious gift to those receiving them.

The things you share in your letters may sometimes feel like everyday news to you, but the truth is, your words encourage, motivate and provide tangible evidence to a child living in poverty that he or she is loved.

Recently we asked a group of children in Togo this question,

What is the most interesting thing your sponsor has written and told you?

Here are some of their answers…

He told me he has twins, and they are beautiful like me. ~Karisse, Age 12

Everytime my sponsor writes to me, he always asks after my family. ~Gloria, Age 8

My sponsors told me I am very beautiful and they love me. They also said that they are happy to be my sponsors. ~Clarisse, Age 10

Clarisse, Age 10

She informed me that she was about to have a newborn and the baby will be my friend. ~Jean Jacques, Age 11

My sponsor told me that he loves me. He also asked me to keep on praying for him and his family. ~Woevi, Age 10

She says it’s cold in their country. In hot weather, they swim to avoid the heat. ~Alice, Age 9

Alice, Age 9

She told me she is an athlete. She asked me to love my neighbours because God loves those who love others. ~Woetsa, Age 10

My sponsor told me that I am handsome and I am her best friend. ~Jacques, Age 8

My sponsor said he has three children and all of them love me. I am glad that I have friends abroad. ~Godwin, Age 8

Godwin, Age 8

She loves my designs so I want to do better when I write to her. ~Medard, Age 11

Medard, Age 11 (center)

My sponsor told me that it snows before every Christmas, every house is white and the flowers change color. The Christmas is called “White Christmas.” ~Kaleb, Age 9

She said I’m intelligent, my drawings in the letters are very beautiful and I have a bright future. ~Tonton, Age 10

Question and answers compiled by Field Communications Specialist, Bernard Gbagba

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

A message of love from the Fancied Freedom blog.

Ever since I knew about Compassion International and their child sponsorship work helping children in impoverished areas of the world, I knew I wanted a child of our own to sponsor. My idea was to find a boy that my son could correspond with, a boy that had something in common with my son.

I waited for the right time – the time when my son was writing so he could start writing his own notes to this boy. Just two months ago was the right time – the exact time.

For it was then that I found only one young boy waiting months to be sponsored who shared the same exact birthday and year with my son…

And I wonder if this [sponsorship] is how it begins – a love for others who are far different yet the same in many ways. A love for others without having even met them. A love for someone who has far less but who gives far more.

It hardly seems a sacrifice to give a small amount monthly to support and encourage our new friend in Nicaragua who writes to share the simple things he enjoys – eating spaghetti, playing baseball and reading about David and Goliath.

For he is 6 and poverty isn’t what he is focused on now that he knows a family in Texas cares and prays for him. And so I pray that this is the beginning of a friendship between children who are separated by countries but linked by the love of a Savior who draws them near.

Read the entire post on Fancied Freedom.

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

After taking a trip to Guatemala with Compassion, as a sponsor but more importantly as a ministry advocate, I felt a responsibility to protect all other sponsors from what I experienced.

You amazing sponsors out there who put your heart and soul into writing letters. I didn’t want anyone to hear this story and have it stop them from writing their sponsored child again. Let me explain …

I had been to Haiti to do medical missionary work and I thought I had seen poverty. I was confident after that experience I would not be affected by anything I saw in Guatemala. God didn’t agree and set me straight.

The home we visited was no home but two pitch-dark wood sheds. It was pouring that day and the rain seemed to just add to the feeling of despair that surrounded us. What hit me more than the physical structures the people were living in was the emotional wreckage I saw and heard as we asked them about their lives.

The mother was unable to speak after being raped by guerrilla soldiers years ago, two of her children had gone to gangs never to return again (or they would themselves be killed for leaving), and three small children looked up at us with such hollow eyes and empty hearts.

I always make a point to ask Compassion children I meet anywhere if they receive letters from their sponsors. I think this question is important for many reasons. To hear their feedback helps me to know what I need to do to get the word out to others that they must write more. And, it is good to hear out of their precious mouths why it’s so special.

So, I asked my question to this family as well. The response hit me like a knife going through my heart … literally.

I guess that’s just one of the reasons I burst into tears and felt so completely foolish. What right did I have to cry when they were the ones living like this?

The oldest little guy still at home, was — I’m guessing — maybe 8 or 9 years old. He responded.

“Yes, I have sponsors.”

He showed me only one letter. I asked him,

“Only one letter?”

He replied,

“This one is newer. I did have more but not now.”

Now? Why not now I’m wondering?

“They did send me letters, but my dad was an alcoholic. He died. After that, my mom had no money, no food. So we had to burn my letters to stay warm.”

I felt this rush of pain traveling from my brain down every nerve ending to my heart. It was so profound. At first, I just couldn’t stop the emotions as I hugged him and he was crying. We cried together.

But then, my own selfish fears kicked into gear silently like a train hitting me at full speed. What did he just REALLY say? Wait … what about my letters to all my children. What if?…

I have thought and thought about what I saw and heard, not sure if I should share. Thinking it could be so irresponsible of me as an advocate to tell sponsors this, knowing how wrapped up into letters everyone gets, including me.

A boy in Guatemala shows off a letter from his sponsor.

After awhile, we begin to crave those beautiful cream envelopes. Think of them so often, almost wanting to tackle the mail people before they even fill our mailboxes! We are sincere in our love, truly giving to our children that which brings us closer together when distance separates us.

The question I kept asking myself was, how can I relay this in a way that others can see the much, much more important message in this, rather than focusing on how the letters were burned and what if that happened to mine or yours.

Just as in our own families we treasure photos and letters of our time together, ultimately it is the memories of those events that no one can ever take away from us. When we receive a letter from a loved one, sponsored child, friend, we don’t forget … ever.

We hold the memories inside us like a time capsule and nothing can change that, not even a fire to stay warm.

What the sponsor family of that sweet little boy doesn’t know won’t hurt them. You know why? Because not only have they been supporting their little boy each month, but they also provide something they never could have guessed. They sent survival for a family, literally.

God protects and God provides, always. We really have no idea how much we are doing each and every time we send small gifts in our envelopes, letters and photos.

I never, ever, ever want what I have shared to deter anyone from writing more. Instead, I pray that it will in fact do just the opposite. When you send a letter, realize that you are doing so much more than simply writing because you are sharing your life with your child.

We cannot control what God plans and shouldn’t even try to. What we can do though is understand and allow God to use what we give of ourselves to help our children in ways we could never imagine.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Julie Berger sponsors seven children and is a correspondent sponsor to three additional children. She lives with her family in Pennsylvania where she works as a medical missions coordinator.

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

I love that I don’t always know why I write what I write to my sponsored children.

At first glance, words on pages may seem as though they are merely words, but an 11-year-old boy named Sam from Ghana provided a powerful reminder that words prayed over and led by the Spirit have a power and a purpose all their own.

I received such words from Sam many times, and the impact of those words has changed more lives than I will ever know.

The first time I realized Sam was truly receiving his words from the Holy Spirit was when he wrote to me on September 14th, 2010 and shared that his prayer for me was that God would give me a double portion of health.

He had no way of knowing how dangerously sick I had been. I didn’t tell him because I hadn’t wanted to frighten him.

Sam also had no way of knowing that as he was writing, his prayers were being answered halfway across the world. September 14th, 2010 was the day that God brought me from barely walking, to running for the first time. It was the day God helped me begin to miraculously outrun sickness – going from sick to healed literally overnight after months of illness.

It led me to wonder what else God would do through our letters.

I shared with Sam that I had traveled to Honduras with Compassion and that my best friend Tia had been on two mission trips to Africa.

In light of his prayer about my health, I took note when Sam responded that when he had heard I had been to Honduras and that Tia had been to Africa twice, he prayed God would bless us for our work, and he also prayed we would come to Ghana to meet face to face.

Sam shared that he had prayed and God would “let it come to pass, Amen!”

The words were simple, but it’s how the Holy Spirit translated them to my heart that caused a ripple effect that would soon reach further than either of us could ever have imagined.

Unable to shake the feeling that God had shared this through Sam for a purpose beyond meeting our beloved Compassion child face to face, Tia and I began to research the needs of children in Ghana. We were horrified to learn that child slavery is still practiced in parts of this country.

Children as young as 4 years old are sold into a life of bondage that perpetuates the cycle of poverty and destroys lives.

In fact, there are more slaves worldwide today than there have ever been, and at least 50 percent of them are vulnerable, precious children.

We launched a fundraising initiative to raise funds to provide expanded resources for children rescued from slavery in Ghana, which would in turn help facilitate the rescue of more children. Having raised $30,000 in mere months to provide for these children, we set out for Ghana in November of 2011.

That is when Sam’s prayer, which had been answered all along, was answered “face to face” when I, along with my 13-year-old son Joshua, my best friend Tia, and our friend Debra met him face to face.

Together, we celebrated the impact his letters had made not only in our lives and in the lives of our families and friends, but in the lives of children in his country who would be rescued from slavery — all because of words the Holy Spirit led him to share in what seemed like a simple letter from a child.

I used to think that when sponsors chose not to write to their children, it was simply the children and the sponsors who lost the opportunity to affect each other’s lives in beautiful ways. Now I can’t help but ask myself what we’re robbing the world of when we don’t take a moment to write to these precious children.

The words on the pages don’t have to be perfect. The Holy Spirit will make them so.

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

Today’s post is about giving you an inside look at how we, the third-largest producer of mail in Colorado Springs, handle the letters you write to your children.

To start with, allow me to introduce you to Joe Cammaroto. Joe is the correspondence supervisor in our Global Ministry Center in Colorado Springs. His team is responsible for processing all the letters you write and all the letters your sponsored children write back to you.

“Since implementing the new online letter writing tool, we receive about 7,000 web letters each day compared to the 1,000 or so we received daily before the tool was implemented.”

To put those numbers into perspective, at least a little bit, here’s a glimpse of what Joe’s team sees everyday.

A portion of one day’s mail, ready to be sorted by country

Sorting bins for East Indonesia and Indonesia

Sorting bins for all 26 countries

Letters packaged and ready to be sent to our country offices via DHL. Letters are mailed once each week to our country offices, every Thursday. We send about 4,000 letters to each country office every week.

As Joe mentioned, we receive approximately 7,000 sponsors letters each day. It takes his team about 5 days to process a letter and get it ready to be shipped to a country office.

Contrast that with the 12,000 letters we receive each day from children to their sponsors. A year ago, it took us 14 days to process a letter after receiving it in-house. Now, after some major process improvements, it takes only about three days.

Before the letters arrive, a lot of work goes into getting them to Colorado Springs. Here's some insight from Abraham about what happens when your letters arrive in Bolivia.

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

I recently managed a team of editors working on letters written to sponsors by Project Facilitators. We read over 3,500 letters.

Many of them included compelling stories of how your letters affect children in our sponsorship program – stories, not from our perspective, but from the perspective of those who work with the children and our church partners.

From these 3,500 letters, we compiled a list of the 10 most motivating reasons to write your child.

• TEN
  Letters to children are very important; the connection is made. When the child’s name is read out as having received a letter, the excitement and joy is contagious! As they read the letter, they see you. If they do not have your photo, they paint the best picture of you in their minds, and that remains in their heart forever. They talk about you to their family every day as they pray for you; they tell their neighbors, friends, and their schoolmates, because you are so alive in their lives. (from Uganda)
  
  
• NINE
  Sponsor letters have been making a great impact in the lives of children, such as strengthening the relationship as the child gets to know sponsor family. The child feels as if the relationship is one of very close friends. Likewise, through sponsor letters, children get to know other parts of the world and what they look like. Children are also motivated to learn English when they receive sponsor letters. (from Tanzania)
• EIGHT
  Children take your letters as a sign of your concern and an expression of your love. Parents are amazed that somebody is taking time to think of them, as poor as they are. Sponsor letters are making church leaders and child development center staff renew their concern and love for the children and families they serve. (from Ethiopia)
• SEVEN
  Children become kinder, because they want to show their sponsors they care for others and are behaving well. (from Togo)
• SIX
  Sponsor letters act as a communication channel between children and their sponsors. They enable children to have an intimate relationship with their sponsors. When sponsors share their feelings and prayer requests, the children feel more wanted and cared for. Some children who are orphaned feel so loved that they refer to their sponsors as Mom or Dad. This helps boost the emotional status of these children. They have a shoulder to lean on. (from Kenya)



• FIVE
  The prayers, support, gifts, letters and visits that children share with sponsors do transform the children’s lives, and these experiences positively influence their character. They are uplifted spiritually, socially, morally and emotionally. When sponsor letters tell children that they are the best and God loves them, the children’s self-worth is lifted forever and they live with confidence.

  Children gladly share with their friends the information, the stickers, the verses, Christmas/Easter wishes and all the other gifts they receive from sponsors. Children are also deeply moved by the love expressed for them in these letters. One letter read,

  “We have hung your photo on the wall and we ask God to bless you every time we see you.”

  The children cannot hide their emotions when they receive such messages.

  They are moved to tears, and they bless God for giving them such wonderful friends to walk closely with through the journey of life. They forget the weary burdens that sometimes pull them down. The children are compelled to keep these letters; they read them time and again.

  Optimism and hope are reflected on the faces of children as they read and meditate on the encouraging messages. (from Kenya)

• FOUR
  Sponsor letters are very important to the lives of the children at the child development center. When they receive a letter written to them by their sponsors, the children feel very proud and loved. It is touching to see even the little ones who cannot write anything, passionately drawing diligently and expressing their love to their sponsors.

  Whenever children are assembled and it is mentioned that the teacher wants to give them letters from their sponsors, all the children keep quiet and stay attentive with a very high expectation to receive a letter from their sponsor. The joy, happiness and the glow evident in the children’s faces is a clear indication that sponsor letters play a significant part in their lives. (from Kenya)

• THREE
  One time I went for facilitation, and I saw an appreciation card written by a child to the sponsor and the child kept carrying her sponsor’s letters to school. She said when there is no one near her to encourage her through difficulties, she reads her sponsor’s letter and she feels assured to be a winner. (from Kenya)



• TWO
  There are children who accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior due to sponsor letters’ impact and prayers. (from Ethiopia)
• ONE
  Once, a child’s parent told me that when my assistant brought a letter to her sick child, the child got up immediately from the sick bed. After the letter was read to him, he embraced the photo contained in the letter for a long time. And that marked the sudden end of that sickness. (from Togo)

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