Kees, I really look forward to receiving more letters, if Ethiopia gets up to the Bolivian letter response frequency.

Leanne, I think with older children like ours that I am hoping they are learning about healthy sexuality and even birth control, because I know that in Africa, women are being infected by unfaithful husbands. Perhaps this is something Compassion would not do but perhaps our children could be referred to one of the other non-profit agencies that work abroad in health care and birth control.

Kim

In one of the last letters I received from my sponsored children, a 17 year old girl from Peru, whom I’d been sponsoring since I was 16, and she was 6, she mentioned she was taking a course on Sexuality and that she learned it was not a dirty thing, but something beautifully created by God to be only inside of marriage.

In my response to her, I mentioned how that was so true, and how I was praying for her to look to God to find the strength to stay pure in her future relationships with boys, and how it was worth the wait, as I shared with her how my husband and I had waited, even though it was hard.

I personally don’t think there is anything wrong or inappropriate to share something about sexuality that way, ESPECIALLY if it was brought up by the sponsored child in a way my sponsored child did.

Of course there is a huge line to be drawn between what is appropriate and what is not, but I just want to make sure we do not neglect talking biblically about sex the way God has created it, especially if that opportunity presents itself.

I am assuming my letter made it through – I have yet to receive a call saying my letter could not be forwarded due to its content

Thanks for letting me stand on my soapbox for a minute

Just a quick note here, because I’m leaving tomorrow to go see some of my sponsored children. There are two types of systems in Compassion. The first one is where they bring many children together every 3 or 4 months and each child writes a letter to their sponsor. In this system, the sponsor can write a 1 letter a year or 52 letters a year. They still get the 3 or 4 standard letters.
The other system is called the reciprocal system. This is where the child will write the 3 or 4 letters, but on top of that, they will answer every letter. Countries like Bolivia have that. I sponsor most of my children in Bolivia and I can tell from experience, I get about as many letters as I sent. I write 2 times a month and I get about 25 letters/child/year. The good news is that I heard that by the end of the year, every country will be on the reciprocal system. So, if you write fairly regularly, you might all of a sudden get more letters in return.

Thank you for writing your child.

Blessings,

Kees

Personally, I would not encourage you to ask if Chucha is HIV-positive, or even if that’s what killed her parents. She and her grandparents might be highly offended, especially if her parents did not die from AIDS; they might also fear that, if she did have AIDS or tested positive for HIV, you might not love her anymore. Even if you assured her of your continued love, no matter how she answered, I think they would be upset. But, yes, if she has been tested and is positive, she is receiving treatment.

One thing we were all recently encouraged, on this blog, to ask is whether our child has the protection of a mosquito net. If not, a small gift could be sent with the stipulation that it be used for a net.

You feel like a new worried mother because, in a real sense, you are! ) I don’t know why you have gone longer than 6 months without hearing from Chucha, unless that was when you were a new sponsor for her. I thought Ethiopia was one of the countries with the “letter-for-letter” program, but perhaps not. I’m glad you phoned!

An anxiety disorder can’t help, but sponsoring these kids is an ongoing lesson in delayed gratification! You obviously know what to do when you are concerned, and I just encourage you to continue praying for Chucha and her family.

Anytime you want to write to me with questions, you can click on my name on any of these posts bearing comments from me. That will take you to my blog, and you can e-mail me from there. After that, you’ll have my address. I have some good “e-mail friends” that have come to me that way, and I love answering questions for and encouraging sponsors as much as I love finding sponsors for kids!

Thank you for your very kind reply. I love my Chucha very, very much and my sponsorship has already been a VERY great joy and blessing to me. Chucha and her grandparents were able to get a new roof, door, and cow through my extra “family” donation last year of $300. I sent another $300 this year and am hoping it will be a similar blessing to them.

I use a Currency Converter site to find out what my $300 gift is worth in Ethiopian birr. Every day it changes, and I was informed last year that Compassion does international money transfers once a month, at the end of the month (unless I misunderstood the person on the phone). What really surprised me was that I gave the money on the web site in July and it did not get to her family as a disbursement until October. Now I am realizing that things happen a lot more slowly in Ethiopia than they do here in the U.S., but it is a frustration to me that I can (and do) write letters to Chucha frequently online but she cannot write me back except in pen and ink. However I love her and pray for her daily and she has assured me that she is praying for me “all the time”, as well, and even calls me her “mother”. Now her grandparents have even written to me and this was so greatly appreciated by me, to be able to hear from them as well! They gave me a precise financial accounting of how they spent the money I sent. I was so touched. If you want to buy a cow in Ethiopia today, they are paying 1200 birr for them in Debre Zeit!

Chucha has never told me if she is HIV positive. I haven’t asked, but I have told her that I worked at a hospital as a nutrition specialist. I was hoping that perhaps that information would make her feel more comfortable in confiding in me if she were…probably I would need to ask more directly, but I really don’t want to pry and it would not change my love for her. I pray “for all the sick, physically, mentally and spiritually” every night so I figure that I include her there if she is indeed infected. But neither Chucha nor her grandparents have ever told me what her parents died of, so I kinda assume it was AIDS? I now know you can die of malaria, TB, and yes, even lion attack in Ethiopia, so I really have no idea. She would be on anti-viral drugs through Compassion if she were infected, wouldn’t she?

I feel like a worried new mother. I’ve only been her sponsor for 9 months now and gotten three letters from her. I realize three letters per year is all we are guaranteed but my friend Sue has a girl in Kenya which is right next door to Ethiopia, and Sue hears from her more frequently, because Kenya has better communication service than Ethiopia. I get crazy ideas like that I personally need to somehow get Ethiopia up and online (like I know how to do that!).

I just need to learn to relax about it all. But yes, it does make me a bit frantic to think that this young lady I love and sponsor, who is so vulnerable is living, probably, in a house with a dirt floor. I saw a photo of the Debre Zeit medical clinic when Bill Clinton visited there last year. It looked heartbreakingly bare of supplies and equipment.

Plus I think she did not pass on to the tenth grade last year because it still says grade 9 on her last letter.

I have read the Compassion web site very thoroughly about letters and tips. Good information is there and the “Larry the Letter” series was very informative and comforting to me.

I know God is everywhere and Chucha and I are linked through Him at all times. But as someone with an anxiety disorder, I can freak myself out when I don’t hear from her for over six months, which happened after I sent the first $300. I did phone and a Field Study was done and I got an email from Compassion shortly afterwards saying a letter and photo from Chucha was on the way.

I just wish I had the money to sponsor all the orphans listed on the web site. I do pray for them and I pray for everyone at Compassion every night as well. Thank God for the good work you do. God bless you!

You may find several responses to your comment popping up here, but I’ll put in my two-cents’ worth. I am really glad you raised points that have become issues for you and may have robbed you of some of the joy of sponsoring through this truly incredible ministry!

When you help at the table at the Mercy Me/Compassion event, you will be able to see the sponsorship (”Acceptance”) form in each packet. You will notice there that the sponsors are given a choice of paying $32/month or $40/month. That’s right up front. Apparently, sponsoring online does not offer that first-glance notice, so you are feeling a bit deceived. I’m sorry for that, as I have found in the 6+ years of my sponsorships that Compassion operates with the very highest integrity.

If you will go on Compassion’s website, again, click on About Us. Then, in the left sidebar, click on AIDS Initiative. You will find several links through which you can learn what Compassion has been doing toward educating children and families served through the projects and local churches; testing children in the high risk areas as they are permitted; treating those who are affected; assisting the children who are orphaned by AIDS; and so much more. You will also see some packets, no doubt, with the red ribbon and the note that the child lives in an HIV/AIDS affected area.

I’m not sure what child information would say about the health of a child who had been infected, but I doubt it would say the child was “healthy.” The reason they will never tell any of us if our sponsored child becomes infected is that Compassion does all it can to guard the dignity of the children and their families; HIV/AIDS still carries such a stigma, in some areas, that real harm could come to those who are infected. Our children, however, are free to choose what they tell us.

You should have had some Tips for writing to your child, and you can find more information online.

I hope I have managed to ease your mind, at least a little, and that others will also be of help to you. I really relate to your having wanted, for a long time, to “do something,” and I hope you will decide, over time, that sponsoring through Compassion was a great thing to do, especially if you are able to develop that special relationship with your sponsored child, as she matures.

And any time you have questions about your sponsorship, want to change your payment amount OR means of payment, or just about anything else, you can call 800-336-7676. The call center staff are very helpful.

Thanks so much for sponsoring your child and for caring about her so much!