a) every country would be on the reciprocal letter writing system

b) child updates would be done every year at least, instead of 2! Children change so much in 2 years

c) information provided on the children will become slightly more detailed. when I read information about my child, they all look like it is v similar to every other child!

d) i also agree with vicki that I’m not so keen on the idea of generic cards… I think what the kids really want aren’t really letters per se but knowing that someone (i.e. their sponsors) really cares about them and wants to invest both financially as well as emotionally in them! That they are of worth, both to God and to the people around them!

Having said that, it would be very advantages for advocates to visit at least one of their children. It really is an education all by itself and it helps a lot in finding sponsors. I know once I visited some of the projects, it really made a huge difference in my advocacy.

Mike, I assume you are an advocate, right… Otherwise, I certainly think you would make a great advocate.

Blessings,

Kees

I Peter 5:7 “Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for YOU!!!”

Some quick thoughts on various suggestions:

1. Updates every year would be great, but–especially if they remain at every two years–I wish Compassion would go back to including more information in the update. In the first updates I received on my first two girls, I got new photos as well as information about how they were doing in school, at the project and at home. I’ve never received such information again, with one exception: From Tanzania I did receive an annual grade report on Tausi’s academic progress, until the past year. I always got them in January, but missed it, last time. Sorry–that wasn’t such a quick tho’t.

2. Bigger gifts for our kids would be fun, but in addition to the added costs of shipping, there’s the problem of getting the items through customs and to Compassion. They might be stolen or “lost.”

3. Call me a grinch, but I am not as excited as everyone else about sending generic cards to children whose sponsors don’t write, or haven’t written in too long a time. The children want so much to know their sponsors, and to get generic cards would be so impersonal, I’m skeptical about their meaning very much to the children. I could be wrong, but I thought I’d throw that in.

4. I’ve heard conflicting messages from people inside Compassion about the response-letter status. A year ago, and more, I had a list of 9 countries that were on the system; several months ago, I heard that *all* countries were now up and running. But I still get the standard 3 a year from Rwanda, and one of my two in DR does not write every time she gets something from me.

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond!

I have one other question. I also have a fairly new child from Bolivia but she needs help from her tutor to write letters (I recieved a first letter from her). Will I still get a response for every letter I send to this child?

From what I understand Compassion is moving worldwide to that very system of response letters. It’s taking some time.

Several countries are already doing that. Some examples are: Bolivia, Burkina Faso, and I understand, Peru, Tanzania, El Salvador, and Uganda. (Correct me if I’m wrong)

When I was visiting one of my children in Bolivia, she got a letter from me on the same day and with the letter, she got a blank piece of stationary for her to answer my letter. Of course I was sitting right next to her! LOL BTW, she still answered my letter. I got the reply 3 months later!

I’m not sure what they will do with the suggestion on the yearly updates, but some of these might be great questions to ask in a letter.

You can also ask in the letter if the project has a camera and if they wouldn’t mind sending an other photo. I’ve done that and got several extra photos of the children.

Blessings,

Kees

A yearly photo and info update for the sponsored children. A child changes so much in two years!

Response letters from the child for every letter sent to them by the sponsor. I think this would really encourage sponsors to write more if they recieved more letters from their child!

Also, I want to have more information on my child’s family. I would love to know her siblings names and ages and more about her parents. Could this be included in the case study information? And possibly a yearly letter to the sponsor could be sent from the child’s project containing information about the family along with a family photo.

I hope you will stop and consider these suggestions! Thank you for all you do for children in poverty

I wish it was possible for Compassion to let sponsors know when their children are seriously ill–especially if they were listed as having no health problems when they were registered (and since the profile may not get updated more than every year or two). I’d love the opportunity to pray as specifically as possible for my child and his family, but with a 6-week delivery time for letters, I only just recently found out that he had been in the hospital (although he was back home).

Thanks for the tremendous input. I’ll make sure they suggestions and thoughts get shared with the correct people.