Written by: Chris Giovagnoni
Right before Thanksgiving, I was rootin’ around in our digital asset management library and saw some child photos I absolutely had to share. Photos of children reading letters from their sponsors.
The photos helped me picture my sponsored child, Lerionga, reading letters I’ve sent him. They drew me closer to him.
Some of these photos are old – five or six years. Others were taken just last year.
Some of these children have left our program, and some have sponsors from countries other than the U.S.
The exciting thing is that we were able to contact several sponsors and let them know about this post, so they could download the photo.
Any time I can do that for you, I will.
Here is what I speak of – the sponsor letter photos.
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December 4th, 2008 at 4:30 am
Wow thank you so much for sharing this!!
December 4th, 2008 at 6:22 am
Thanks, Chris! What a blessing to the sponsors whose children are pictured here.
December 4th, 2008 at 6:57 am
Wow, what an amazing moment to be able to share! I loved these! My favorite is the little boy who appears to be from Ethiopia reading his letter by candlelight. Thank you for sharing these!!!
December 4th, 2008 at 7:57 am
Thank you Chris for sharing those pictures.
December 4th, 2008 at 8:00 am
Thank you for sharing this. I’m going to write my sponsored child today!
December 4th, 2008 at 8:16 am
I can’t see them! All I have is a black rectangle, with nothing to click, no hint of any way to see any photos! I closed my browser and came back in, hoping that would make a difference, but alas and alack, it didn’t!
December 4th, 2008 at 10:39 am
Vicki,
They are part of the Flickr account. Maybe you can go to Flickr.com and look up the Compassion pages. You probably see them bigger too.
Kees
December 4th, 2008 at 10:48 am
Kees/Vicki,
I’m not sure why you can’t see the slideshow. But you can use this link to view the photos.
December 4th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Thank you, Chris and Kees. I took the link and did see the slide show–twice, so far. I would love to see any of my girls reading my letters, if only to have more pic’s of them.
December 4th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Hi, Vicki,
The closest I’ve come to that is when I was in Bolivia, one of my children got a letter from me, while I was there. That was fun. I actually have it on video. She did not spend too much time reading the letter, because I was right there and it was a bit in the midst of a Compassion presentation.
Kees
December 4th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Very cool. I hope to get photos of my sponsored child as he gets older.
December 4th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Put some music to that you you have an awesome video to show at a Compassion presentation.
December 4th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
So you were able to notify some of the sponsors that their children are being shown here? How cool is that??!??? Wow. Great, great post!
December 4th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
I wasn’t sure I would be touched by this (I’m not easily moved), but it did. Thanks for posting these!
December 4th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
Thanks so much for sharing these. Wow.
December 4th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
WOW! I loved this!! The adults in the pictures seemed to be touched along with the children!
December 4th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
About what Britt said . . . I had a similar thought, when I looked at the adults in the pic’s. I was reminded of the important lesson I learned in DR, in October: We don’t sponsor a child, only; we really do sponsor the family. We meet that responsibility by mentioning and greeting them in those letters, by the giving of what gifts we can, but most of all, by praying for them.
December 4th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
I loved all of the pictures, especially the picture of the little boy with the Brazilian flag on his shirt. All of my children are from Brazil.
Once I told I friend of mine that I wish I could see the expressions on my children’s faces as they received the letters and gifts from me. What emotions are they feeling? I’d like to know.
A few weeks later I received a letter from one of my children. It was written by his correspondence monitor. It stated Milton and his friends “marveled” over the letter and the postcards you had sent. His mother was happy, too. Now they would like to see where the President lives.
Since I live across the Potomac River from DC I sent postcards of DC sites that were professionally photographed.
I could feel Milton and his friends’ excitement. An answered prayer.
December 4th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
[...] Pics and Letters The Compassion Blog recently had some really great photos of children reading their sponsor letters. This reminded me [...]
December 5th, 2008 at 8:09 am
Dave–great idea! Wow! I’d love to do that, or for someone who knows how and has the necessary software to do it and make it available.
December 5th, 2008 at 10:40 am
Cool Vicki–your hired! Put me down for one copy when it’s finished!
December 5th, 2008 at 10:43 am
Y’all may be interested in this. It’s post I published in March of this year. It contains photos of artwork created by children in our child sponsorship program.
December 5th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Cute, Dave! Read the part, again, about “someone who knows how….”
)
December 5th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
My bad (I missed the ‘or’ word)…OK Chris, the ball is back in your court.
December 7th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
I love these photos. I love being a sponsor. My wife and I have two children we sponsor. One for about 6 years. We have 4 different photo’s of him. I only wished we could get more picutures and maybe at his home. I often wonder what his living conditions are.
December 7th, 2008 at 11:40 pm
Hi, Jason,
I feel the same way. One thing that I really enjoy about the sponsorship with Compassion is that the sponsor actually gets to have a big part into the ministry of the children.
I don’t know if the project has a digital camera, but maybe you can ask the child if the project does have a camera, if he wouldn’t mind sending pictures of the surroundings. I know I’ve gotten letters from children where they have asked me to send them some pictures of my home. And when I went to visit them, they would ask me what my home was like. Since I live in a Mobile Home, I told them that my home is long with wheels. They liked that. I’ve never sent pictures of it though, because i don’t want them to feel bad.
Kees
December 9th, 2008 at 10:11 am
Hi Chris,
I truly enjoyed each photo… thank you! I also sponsor a little boy from Rwanda. I could only imagine what a blessing it would be to see him reading one of his letters! But you are right, seeing these children reading their correspondence does help me relate more to what the children may experience, as well as the joy it should bring the sponsors. (If the opportunity should arise, it would be nice to see some of the girls pictured also.) Thanks again for sharing this experience!
God Bless,
Barbara
December 11th, 2008 at 4:39 am
Thank you so much for sharing this! A simple letter can make so much of a difference to these children.
Tania
December 15th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
I spoke with a staff guy from Compassion and he told me the letter means more than the money.
December 15th, 2008 at 10:22 pm
Yes, I agree with that. If you think about it from a child’s prospective, the big difference between a sponsored child and unsponsored child are the letters. Where the money comes from is more of an issue of accounting for the child. That’s why when I ask people to sponsor children and if they tell me that they won’t write, I will ask them not to sponsor a child, but give in other ways. Children cry when they don’t get letters.
http://blog.compassion.com/letter-writing
Blessings
Kees
December 16th, 2008 at 11:16 am
Amen, Kees!
December 29th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Touching…
December 30th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
This is really encouraging! I was looking at the letters you can see and got some great ideas. Thanks for the post! : )
January 7th, 2009 at 8:57 am
i know that i am only 15 years old but i want to do everything to help these children out expecally babies because that’s what i like the most so please let me sponsor some one.
January 7th, 2009 at 10:32 am
Awesome Latasha…
1st, honor your mom, dad, guardian, etc. by sharing your desire with them. If they’re onboard, then call this number:
(8oo) 336-7676
If they should not want you to do so, let us know because there are many other ways you can support the ministry and please the Lord without actually having to sponsor a child.
God bless you Latasha.
January 10th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Latasha,
Oh! and a pen! 
Maybe if you can’t sponsor anyone maybe you could become a correspondence sponsor! You don’t have to send any money just write letters to them. All it takes is a big heart,a stamp and stationary!
January 10th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
I compiled a Top-10 list of things you can do with Compassion (and 9 of them are cost-free). Here is the link:
http://compassiondave.wordpress.com/2009/01/10/the-compassion-%e2%80%98top-ten%e2%80%99-list/
February 14th, 2009 at 8:30 pm
Wow! These are awesome! Thanks a bunch!
February 15th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Latasha -
My name is Alyson. I am fifteen years old, too. I sponsor a child, and I also have 3 correspondence children. They are all sponsored through Compassion.
If you cannot afford to sponsor a child, I encourage you to check out the correspondence program if you can. It is just like having a sponsored child, except you only write letters to your child. You do not pay the $32/month. Letters mean so much to the children and they are fun to write. I write each of my sponsored children 2 to 3 times a month.
Again, the phone number for Compassion is (800)-336-7676.
I am happy that you are interested in having a Compassion child!
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:11 pm
I am relatively new as far as sponsoring children goes. My mom told me about Compassion this summer and I started sponsoring a boy from Ethiopia in August. Then in February, I also started sponsoring a girl from Haiti. I definitely find myself writing A LOT! I wondered if I wrote too much or if they really even cared about what I was writing. One day in January I received a Christmas letter from my boy in Ethiopia. Here is part of what he wrote: “Thank you for the letter you sent me…. It’s exciting to hear from you.”
I didn’t think a 12-yr-old boy would care what some teacher did in her class, or what she did at Christmas, or what her favorite animal is. I guess I was wrong!
Hope this encourages you all to keep writing!
March 22nd, 2009 at 2:23 pm
@Latasha – Latasha: I am 18 years old and have been sponsoring my child for almost two years. At first, I was unsure if I would be able to support a child, but as time has gone on, I have found that God will provide the means for you to sponsor. Again, check with your guardians and make sure they are okay with your sponsorship… or you could make it a family sponsorship. Becoming a sponsor is the best decision I have ever made, and I hope you have the opportunity to experience it!
May 16th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
That slideshow made me both glad and serious. Serious, because I thought, what is worth to write to my letters if they are so intensively read. God help me to choose right things and words to write!
May 27th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
@Vicki Small – We don’t sponsor a child, only; we really do sponsor the family.
How true! I often get letters from various family members!
June 8th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Thanks. I imagine Lizbeth getting my letters and wonder if she studies mine like I study hers.
I will get to meet her in September and am so looking forward to it.
I will be taking pictures and will submit them when I am able.
June 14th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Does anyone check the letters for accuracy in translation?
Several weeks ago, I got a letter from my child in Ecuador. I know just enough Spanish to be dangerous.
She wrote about her “hermano” (brother), “juego” (which is, I believe “I play”), “flores” (flowers), “La foto queme enbiastes estan muy bonitas” (the photo . . . something . . is very pretty)
My concern is that the translation I received doesn’t mention ANY of these items. It makes me wonder what else I am missing. I contacted Compassion and mailed a copy of the letter back, but I haven’t received a new translation yet.
I know there are a lot of letters, but if my translation is missing things, are the letters I send to my children missing things?
My other child is in Rwanda. I don’t know any words from her language, so nothing would clue me in.
Just curious.
June 21st, 2009 at 2:32 am
@alyson –
I am fifteen as well. I Cannot afford to sponsor a child, although i would like to become a correspondence sponsor. How do i do this?
June 22nd, 2009 at 7:33 am
@Amy Brooke – Amy, so much depends on the tranlator’s real grasp of English. I have two girls in Ecuador and know about as much Spanish as you do. I often scan their letters in Spanish to see if I pick up anything that is not tranlated; so far, I’ve never found any lack as pronounced as your letter seems to have. I think if I were to find an unsatisfactory translation, I would call the 800# to let them know and ask them to pass my observation along to the country office. Then if I needed help completing the translation for myself, I would contact a Spanish-speaking friend and ask for help. If I didn’t know anyone like that, I would probably call a college in my area and see if someone could help me–maybe a student working as a tutor.
@Catherine Shaw – Catherine, you can call 1-800-336-7676 and tell whoever you talk to that you would like to be added to the list of correspondent sponsors. I have no idea whether they have a minimum age requirement, so you need to ask that. Thanks for your desire to meet this critical need for a child!
June 24th, 2009 at 8:33 am
@Amy Brooke -
Yes. In fact, we just profiled someone in our Bangladesh office who does that as part of her job – Meet Jhumur Biswas
I apologize for my delayed response. I was waiting for a reply from our International Program Group – the folks who are responsible for the translation process in the countries.
I was told that we do use trained translators, and the translators work is quality checked, but the reality is that with the volume of letters we process 100 percent of the translated work can’t be double-checked.
You did exactly the right thing in contacting us and asking that the translation be verified. It also helps us identify if there are consistent translation issues that need to be addressed.
June 29th, 2009 at 4:36 am
@Amy Brooke – Hi Amy, we seem to have about the same proficiency in Spanish and I also scan the letters to try and pick up more words.
I received letters from 2 of my girls in Colombia that also was not translated entirely. Like you I sent it back to Compassion and they send it back to the country office to get it translated again. Then they work with the original translator to improve the translations. It took a couple months before I received the translated letter again.
Occasionally I will find a word or two not translated correctly, but for the most part the translations have be good. I’ve not had a problem with letters from my children in Ecuador.
Hope you recieve your new translations soon.
August 31st, 2009 at 8:30 am
@Amy Brooke – Hi, Amy. Sounds a bit unusual to not have a good translation. I have a child in Columbia and the translation seems to be done very well from my point of view. Mind you I do not know Spanish at all but looking at the words that are obvious helps me understand that the translation is done quite well. I try to make my letters very simple because translating is difficult when using colloquialisms and slang. One thing I am doing for my Columbian child is sending Father’s Love Letter in Spanish which I found on the internet. That is so beautiful. If you have not seen it, it is worth looking at. It is available in multiple languages. Check
http://www.fathersloveletter.com/languages.html
September 19th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
Hi, today I got a new picture of my sweet girl. She’s so cute!!
September 24th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
I just received a letter in the mail from Compassion, reminding me about sending a Christmas gift for the kids, on the letter there was a picture of a girl with the Barbie doll she got for Christmas. I think it would be really awesome if may sometime we could get a slide show like this one, but with the different “project bought” Christmas presents…and maybe even a few labels to show which kids are sponsored and which are still waiting.
October 28th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
Thanks so much for posting these beautiful photos…I was in Uganda recently as part of a mission trip, and these photos are a very real reminder of how much the smallest things are cherished by these more than deserving children!