Comments on: At the Compassion Mexico Office

By: SaraBelle

SaraBelle — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 01:00:05 +0000

@ Sara Benson… 832 is Lucio’s project. I may wait a while, I’m not quite ready to add a child right now, but it is good to know which areas are in Chiapas. His project appears to be near Oaxaca if not in Oaxaca.

By: Vicki Small

Vicki Small — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:39:25 +0000

I waited a full four months for my first letter from one of my first two girls. She’s in DR. I had a letter much more quickly from Tanzania…I don’t remember for sure, but it seems like I got it within 2 months. I chose her before Christmas, 2002, but I don’t think my Acceptance Forms went in until January, and her first letter is dated Jan 24 2003. She’s also the most expressive, in her letters, of any of my girls.

By: Steve K.

Steve K. — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 23:58:13 +0000

I have laugh because as so with many things that I do, I’m an exception! I wrote to my sponsored child about 7 times and sent a picture, and got nothing back before he withdrew from the program. We were only together for almost 4 months, but still!

By: Beth Ingersoll

Beth Ingersoll — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 23:28:14 +0000

My sponsored child is in Mexico. Reading about how desperate that country is just breaks my heart!

By: Vicki Small

Vicki Small — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 23:13:50 +0000

Kees, I expect that the 45% figure Chris got is country-specific and that the percentage may vary from one country to another. But I’m guessing.

By: Kees Boer

Kees Boer — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 22:12:31 +0000

When I was in Mexico about 1/2 year ago, with my dad, visiting my dad’s sponsored child, the sister of his child started crying. I asked her why she was crying, she said that her sponsor never writes. I took her under my wing for the rest of time. You can read the story here:

http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v2.cfm?show=archivedetails&pnpid=956&om=1&ArchiveID=1378161&requesttimeout=100

I had always heard that it was 80% of the children that get letters. Maybe that is based on that some sponsors that write have more children? So, one is looking at the statistic from the sponsor side, the other from the child side??? In some odd way the 45% sounds better than the 80% in the sense that the children, who don’t get letters aren’t so alone. I always thought it would be really hard if everyone seemed to get letters, but not them.

There is one thing about Compassion Mexico that I was amazed at during the visit. When we visited my dad’s child, Cesiah, a lady from Compassion went with us. The drive was about 4 to 5 hours there and 4 to 5 hours back. So, I had a good opportunity to ask her all kinds of questions about how things work in Compassion and specifically Mexico. I remember that I asked her if there are many more visits to Compassion projects in Mexico compared to other countries. I figured that since it was much closer, that a lot of people went to visit. Suprisingly, she told me that very few came to visit. As a matter of fact, my dad and I were the first sponsors to actually visit the project. One sponsor had visited his child before, but the child had to go to Mexico City to visit with the sponsor.

Relatively, it was really not that expensive to fly there. The hotel was the same hotel that Chris stayed at. That was relatively expensive compared to the hotels in Bolivia. But the planetrip itself was $350/roundtrip and it wss only 2 and half hours from Orlando to Mexico City.

Kees

By: Andrzej Gandecki

Andrzej Gandecki — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 20:06:48 +0000

Sara Benson – some of the CD Centers in Chiapas are (based on Mexico map http://www.compassion.com/countrymaps/ME_map.jpg):

ME826, Segar Student Center, North of Tapachula;

ME735, Lily of the Valley, West of Tuxtla Gutierrez;

ME919, Ayuda al Projimo, South of Tuxtla Gutierrez;

ME926, Vida Nueva, North of Tapachula;

ME721, Childhood Well-being, Northeast of Tapachula;

ME923, Gotitas de Amor, South of Tuxtla Gutierrez;

ME801, Visión 2000, Central Arriaga;

ME810, Infantile Friendship, Northeast of Arriaga;

ME811, Nińos Joyas de Cristo, South-west of Arriaga;

ME814, Daniel Student Center,
North section of Arriaga;

ME817, The Good Shepherd, Southeast of Arriaga;

ME820, Alive Rock (Roca Viva) Student Center, south of Arriga.

By: Sara Benson

Sara Benson — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 19:10:40 +0000

I agree that it is awful that the kids are getting so few sponsor letters if any. 45% of sponsors writing? How could that happen! It inspires me to encourage all of the sponsors I know to write letters. I like the ideas of having a party. I will have to try to set something up.

SaraBelle – What is the project number for the child you found?

Chris- Do you have the numbers for the projects in Chiapas? I can’t believe that so few children get to go to school.

By: Juli Jarvis

Juli Jarvis — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 18:10:18 +0000

Carlos — Brilliant! Of course!
Vicki–I love your passion about this subject!

By: Vicki Small

Vicki Small — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 16:56:28 +0000

Carlos, that link (thank you!) leads to a log-in page.

It is necessary for sponsors to register for online access to certain areas of Compassion’s website. Besides offering the opportunity to write to your child with faster delivery, having an online account gives sponsors access to their giving history and information about their child beyond what is provided in the packet. Registration doesn’t take long and is worthwhile.