We feel strongly about correspondence between you and your child, and we know you do too. It’s the only way to truly speak into your sponsored child’s life and for you to get to know them.

To help you feel more closely connected with your child, we’re implementing four changes to our correspondence process in the next year.

1. You will now receive a letter from the church pastor, center director, country director or other qualified staff member each year.
   
   You’ve probably received a letter from your child’s pastor before and may know that you can still view the letter on OurCompassion on the child development center’s page.We’ve received lots of positive response to these letters, and we think it’s valuable to provide these to you annually.

   You’ll receive a letter each year from someone who knows our program in your child’s country. They will give you a perspective you most likely won’t get from your sponsored child’s letters.

2. All countries will move to a reciprocal letter process.
   
   Reciprocal letter writing is just that – reciprocal. When you write a letter to your sponsored child, he or she will write back. We believe that this will encourage conversation more than the current system does. Although children will be able to write as many times as they want, we will require them to write only every 60 days (about six per year).

   If you write a letter once a week, your sponsored child will receive eight letters (approximately) during a 60-day period. They will respond to all letters received during this period with one of their own. If they choose, they may respond to each of your letters individually, but this decision will be left up to the child.



3. Reducing the required number of letters your sponsored child writes from three to two.
   
   I know there is probably a puzzled look on your face right now. If we want to better your relationship with your sponsored child through these changes, why in the world would we reduce the number of letters the children write? I know it sounds a bit odd, but this one is really for the benefit of the child.

   A large percentage of sponsors only write a few times over the course of their sponsorship, if ever at all. By reducing this number, we help reduce the number of times the child may potentially be disappointed for not receiving a letter in response. For those of you who truly enjoy writing and do it regularly (Thank you!), you will be rewarded with change number two above.Also, this allows the staff in the field to write to you each year (change number one).

4. Children ages 3 to 8 will use structured templates for writing.
   
   In the countries we work in, many children at this age aren’t able to write their own letters yet. Some do not start school until a later age or may even have to skip attending school altogether due to family circumstances. Despite these obstacles, we know that you still want to hear from them, and we’ve developed these templates to provide you with information you have told us you want.

   Each template will represent one of six topical themes: family, favorites, center information, dreams, house, and Christian learning.They will include a basic question and answer section, a list of prayer requests, a fill-in-the-blank section, a checkbox section, a writing section (up to four lines of text), and a space for a drawing.

   These changes are scheduled to be implemented by July 1, 2012, with some countries implementing them sooner.

As always, you are welcome to write as many times as you would like to your sponsored child.

We’re still working through what these changes will look like once implemented. However, we do realize that the correspondence process is not perfect and these changes will not make it perfect.

Our goal is to make the correspondence process better for you and the children in our program, and these steps are a move in the right direction. We hope that you will benefit greatly from them.

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

As a sponsor since 2009, nothing has inspired my involvement with Compassion quite like OurCompassion has.

When I decided to sponsor my first little girl in Ghana, I found myself hungry for more information. I wanted to know more about Compassion, more about the benefits of sponsorship, and more about Ghana.

I spent quite a bit of time looking at compassion.com, which was helpful, but I found what I most needed – the perspective of other sponsors – in OurCompassion.

OurCompassion Offers Information

In the Gallery section of OurCompassion, sponsors share photos and videos of their trips to visit their children. For those of us who haven’t been able to meet our children, these entries give us an idea of what the various areas and child development centers look like.

The Gallery also has photos of completed crafts and projects that sponsors have made for their children. Some sponsors post photos they have received after sending financial gifts, giving us all a better idea of just how far a monetary gift can go.

OurCompassion gives us the ability to connect with like-minded sponsors by joining Groups. There are hundreds of groups to choose from, among them are ones for those sponsoring in particular countries, for sponsors of older children, the Compassion Bloggers group and, of course, the group for the monthly letter-writing night.

Another wonderful feature, the recently created child development center groups, allow you to connect and share information and pictures with others who sponsor children in the same child development center.

There is a Google map of the area, which allows you to zoom in to look at the environment and buildings in the neighborhood. In some cases you can look close enough to see walking paths!

Many child center groups also have letters from the pastor that you can read to get a better sense of the work being done and the needs within your sponsored child’s community.

OurCompassion Offers Inspiration

Members can post questions, ideas, prayer requests and discussion topics in the Journals area. By perusing the posts, you will come across many great ideas from other sponsors.

Whether it be someone sharing ways that they have been able to afford more sponsorships or another showing pictures of a project or craft created to send to a sponsored child, there are always interesting new ideas to be found. The enthusiasm is contagious!

“This site has helped me with ideas to write to my kids. It has shown me the importance of writing often and sending little treats.

“Mostly this site helps me remember how others live. I am inspired daily by the people on this site.

“I have read about people giving up things, stepping out in amazing faith, and clinging to God’s promises of provision to sponsor more children. I have seen pictures, read stories, and prayed for people about their travels to these countries.

“My life is changed because of this site. I see ‘stuff” differently. I spend my money differently and I am so thankful God lead me here!” – Rachel K.

“I have been sponsoring only since last October and was excited about it and enjoyed writing and so looked forward to hearing from my little girl, but it’s such a long time in between!

“I stumbled on OurCompassion a couple weeks ago, and it has changed me as a sponsor. Something in me is honestly different! Sponsoring has become REAL now!

“I only wrote when she wrote and I didn’t realize just how much our letters mean to them. It never dawned on me that I could write more often.

“Through reading all the journals we all post and through pictures I see, I realize now just how desperately poor these kids are, and even though I live a pretty simple lifestyle I have so much more. Surely there are some things I can let go of so I can help another child!

“I have and I now sponsor two more children since belonging to OC. The Lord has blessed me as I ‘follow Him’ in caring for our children and the poor. Everyone on OC has been a huge inspiration to me.” – Patty

OurCompassion Offers Encouragement

Sometimes sponsorship can be discouraging. Letters from our children come slower than we’d like or they lack details. Or maybe some of life’s challenges weigh heavy upon us.

OurCompassion is a family that pulls together to offer support and comfort when needed. As a fellowship of people who share the same faith, we pray for unsponsored and sponsored children in the program as well as one another when needed.

One diligent member named Debbie posts a daily prayer list of unsponsored children who are celebrating birthdays, making it easy for us to go through and lift up each child to specifically pray for them on their special day.

While OurCompassion has a lot to offer us, there are some challenges to using it. It can initially be difficult to navigate and figure out how and where to post.

The Journals area can be found by clicking the Community tab along the top of the page and then clicking the link that says Journals.

You can start a new Journal discussion or introduce yourself by clicking the small blue square with a pencil that can be found on the right hand side of the page.

If you’re looking for the Groups, just click the “Connect” tab and then the link that says “Find Groups.” You can scroll through the various Groups, search for one on a topic you’re interested in or even start one of your own.

The Child Development Center pages can be found by looking at your own profile and scrolling down until you see the box titled “My Child Center Groups.”

To make sure that your posts can be seen by others, click the green “Edit Profile” button and then click the “Privacy and Notifications” tab. Make sure that the Privacy Settings menu is set to “All Community.”

If you are concerned about privacy you can always change your profile so that it doesn’t show your last name or location.

So, while the initial navigation of OurCompassion may be a bit difficult, I definitely think it’s worth your time to overcome. Not only will you find information, inspiration and encouragement, chances are you will also find a renewed enthusiasm as a sponsor.

The OC community is always ready to welcome new members, so take a few minutes today to register and look around.

Be sure that you stop by the Journals to introduce yourself!

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

Every day as I get the mail from our mailbox, I’m hoping for a letter from one of my sponsored children.

Letters connect me to their worlds and engage me more deeply in the sponsorships.

It didn’t use to be that way. Sponsorship was about writing a check and maybe sometimes sending a letter.

Three years into my sponsorship a change occurred; I met my sponsored child and in that moment my focus was forever altered.

I learned that sponsorship, when fully embraced, changes both the child’s and the sponsor’s lives.

There are simple things you can do to make your sponsorship experience more rewarding.

Seven Ways to a More Rewarding Sponsorship Experience

1. Take a Sponsor Tour

   I realize everyone can’t afford to do this, or simply may not want to visit the developing world, but if you can visit your sponsored child you will blessed.

   I traveled to Honduras in 2007 on a sponsor tour. The day I met Linda my heart broke – in a good way.

   She was dressed in a white dress and took one look at my wife and I and burst into tears. I felt the love she had for us. I felt a love that was unconditional and without bounds.

   My heart broke not because of her poverty, but the fact that “we mattered.” I will always remember when she explained that since her father had died she considered me “like a father.” How humbling and life changing that was for me. She had just turned my world upside down.

2. Write Those Letters

   There is nothing more heartbreaking than to visit a child development center or to meet and have children ask you to tell their sponsors to write.

   Letters are the key to sponsorship. The children do not understand the financial aspect. It is about knowing that there is a person who cares for them, is encouraging them and is praying for them.

   

   On my second trip to Honduras in 2009, Linda showed me all the letters my wife and I had ever written her. Nothing was more valuable to her than our letters.

   Set a goal and write your sponsored child regularly. I made the promise on my first trip to write monthly and have kept close to it. Every other month or even quarterly may be your goal – just do it!

3. Faithfully Pray

   When I began to pray daily for Linda and her family, I began to think of them as part of my family. I now have four sponsored children in Honduras that I lift in prayer.

   One of the things I did on that first trip was buy a map of Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. It is hanging in my downstairs hallway. I have marked the areas that my children live in, and as I pass by I say a prayer for each of them.

   I have pictures of all of my sponsored children throughout the house as if they were my own children.

4. Find Out More About Your Child’s Country and Customs

   I have read about the history of Honduras, and I subscribe to a newsfeed from Tegucigalpa via Yahoo! News. I also have a weather app on my iPod so daily I know what is happening in their area.

   My wife and I make it a point at least once a week to have a cultural meal. In fact we happened to recently stumble upon an authentic Honduras restaurant in our town.

   Immersing yourself like this will keep things current and exciting for you. It will also give you topics to write and pray about!



5. Become an Advocate for Compassion

   Speaking out for the “least of these” is very rewarding and is a way to keep your children in the forefront of your mind.

   The Advocate Network encourages you to use your spiritual gifts to promote awareness of the poor and the needs of children. I enjoy working concerts and events and telling others about sponsorship.

   You may enjoy speaking to a church group, organizing a fundraiser, or blogging about Compassion, There are other ways to “speak up” as well, via Compassion’s street team and 58:.

   I encourage you to explore the options and deepen your ministry.

6. Connect With Other Sponsors

   Sharing ideas and communicating with other sponsors is another way to energize your sponsorship experience. Compassion has its own sponsor community, OurCompassion.org, which provides an opportunity to connect and share ideas.

   I have found it enriching and rewarding to get new ideas about writing letters and sending gifts from fellow sponsors.



7. Share Your Ideas

   These aren’t the only ways to a more rewarding sponsorship experience. There are as many ways as there are personalities. What appeals to one person may not appeal to another, but we can make this list a lot longer and we can make it a relevant resource for others, if we just share ideas with one another.

   So get started by leaving a comment about how you have found the rewards in your sponsorship.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Chuck Guth lives in Abingdon, Maryland, and is a member of the Advocate Network. He sponsors five children and writes about Compassion and other stuff at sharingcompassion.blogspot.com.

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

Have you ever wondered what your sponsored child’s world looks like? What kind of environment your child lives in?

Have you thought about where your child plays or eats or learns?

Today, by way of our online community, OurCompassion, you can know.

The latest feature gives you a direct look at your child’s center. You can view pictures, read a letter from the church pastor and use Google maps to see where the center is located.

You can also share what you know about the community by adding your photos and videos, writing a journal or posting to the wall.

Not every center has pictures yet, but we are working to get them all updated. You can help us, and your fellow sponsors, by uploading your pictures and videos.

Simply create a gallery from your center’s page, or if creating a gallery from your personal profile, just tag the album with the center’s number (e.g., the first five characters of your child’s number – KE-717).

These pages are also the place to lift up the center’s staff and children in prayer.

You’ll get updated prayer requests, as well as updates, news, stories and crisis updates for your child’s country.

The pages are also a place to learn about upcoming sponsor tours.

Don’t forget to share your pictures and thoughts afterward.

“My favorite part [of the new pages] is the photos of children playing and making silly faces!” — Stephanie Green

“I love being able to message those who sponsor in the same center, and I love the ability to zoom in on the satellite [maps].” — Michelle Wright

“The pastor letters are definitely my favorite part!” — Joe Henegan

To protect the children and staff, we limit the content we share about centers located in politically and spiritually sensitive areas.

We’ve also created guest and sponsor views so that only sponsors with children in a center can view the pastor letters or interact with the maps. This was done with the safety of the children in mind.

So whether you have already visited your child, are signed up for the next sponsor tour, or don’t see yourself taking a trip anytime soon, the child center pages can bring you one step closer to your sponsored child.

Come take a look at what OurCompassion has for you.

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

I don’t write to my sponsored children.

WHAT?! I know.

I was looking through my account the other day, and as an employee, I can see the last time I wrote a letter. I’m embarrassed to admit that it was eight months ago.

How did this happen? I’m passionate about children and fighting injustice. I work at Compassion. I explain the importance of letter writing daily. So why have eight months passed since the last time I wrote to my three little ones?

I think this happens to the best of us. Life gets a hold of us and we get distracted. We may even lose sight of the importance of our sponsorship. Compassion becomes just another organization to give to.

I’m certainly guilty of this, but how do I make a change?

A group of sponsors on OurCompassion have gotten together to write their sponsored children on the second Friday of each month … which was a few days ago. There are over 350 sponsors who participate.

I think I need to join. And I think I’ll be writing my children tonight.

What about you? How do you stay passionate about letter writing?

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

Members of the Virtual Child Sponsorship Letter Writing Night group in OurCompassion have committed to write letters to their children on the second Friday of each month. The group provides letter-writing ideas and/or craft projects to use as a theme when writing.

Karla and June, El Salvador 2005

In 2005, I took my first sponsor tour to El Salvador. During that week, I met many wonderful children but two boys stood out. One was sponsored and one was not. Both boys appeared very sad.

It seemed odd to me that the sponsored boy was sad. I learned that he was happy he was sponsored but was also sad because he had not received any letters from his sponsor.

Through a translator, the boy told me that he just wanted to know about his new family, which made me realize how important our letters are to our children really are. I committed to write my child more frequently and not just respond to her letters.

I returned to El Salvador with Compassion in 2008. During the trip, I visited the home of two teenage sisters, Ruth and Flabia.

When I was in their home, the girls showed me their letters. Ruth, all smiles, proudly showed me her stack of letters and pictures. Flabia had a look of sadness on her face. She had only received one letter from her sponsor.

Flabia was thankful for her sponsor and the extra money the sponsor frequently sent, but she really wanted to hear from her sponsor, to know her and have a relationship with her. It was written all over her face how much she wanted this.

Those young ladies had such beautiful spirits about them. I wished I could tell Flabia’s sponsor how beautiful her child is and how she was missing out on a beautiful relationship with this young lady.

I don’t think that many of us (sponsors) grasp how much our letters really mean to our children. I know I didn’t, until I experienced firsthand the sadness that lack of letters creates.

When I returned home from my second trip, I made myself accountable for my correspondence to my child. I organized all my letters from Karla in a three-ring binder and now any time I write her, I make a copy of the letter and place it in the binder. I also scan each craft I make so I have a record of everything I have sent to Karla.

Through my experiences, the idea of setting a specific day each month to write my child started to take shape. Then I thought that maybe other sponsors would like to join me at my house to sit down together and write our children.

In May 2009, I hosted the first letter-writing night in my home. Months went by with only a small number attending, and I tried to think of other sponsors I could invite to join us.

I remembered a group I had joined on OurCompassion. It was for sponsors who lived in my area. When I posted an invitation to the letter-writing event at my house, I ended up sending it to all my friends on OurCompassion by mistake.

I received responses from those who lived in other states wishing they lived in my area so they could participate. That made me think. What about a virtual group?

So I asked. And in February of this year the Virtual Child Sponsorship Letter Writing group began.

For the past few months, I have been discussing with God my disappointment with the size of the attendance in my home. I wanted to reach more people but it seemed as though my attempts were unsuccessful.

Last month, out of the blue, I received an e-mail from Compassion saying they liked the virtual letter-writing group idea, and they offered me a chance to invite you to join us. This is only by the hand of God!

God has spoken to my heart through this — about how He will do abundantly more than what I ask or imagine, if I am obedient to the desires He puts on my heart.

I had been feeling unused, that I was being wasted. He said to me, “I do not waste anything I create. I will not waste you, June. Do you see!?”

My initial desire was to have a consistent group of five to eight people coming to my home each month. But God made it more — a much larger group of people, from all over the world, coming together every second Friday of the month to write letters to their children.

Will you join us this Friday, Sept. 10? Please leave a comment if you plan to. I’m curious to know where everyone is from.

And come stop by the group in OurCompassion if you’re interested in the theme we’ve chosen for this month’s letter. Thanks for reading … and for writing.

• Write your child online.
• Download our stationery

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

I guess when I started sponsoring and ended up at OurCompassion, it was no accident. I know most other organizations don’t have something like this. A place where we can go and really share our feelings about what is going on in the world. A place for those of us who can see beyond our own neighborhood. Knowing there are people in the world other than those who live in Haiti who will be changed in some way by what happened there.

Some of us have made attempts to post things about Haiti, or about Compassion in general on Facebook. Most of the world doesn’t respond. Most don’t even bother to say, “Wow! It’s great ‘you’ feel that way.”

Truthfully, though, a few months ago, would I have cared? I don’t know.

The other night at work I was telling my lunch buddies about Julie’s husband and son, and their trip, and got one comment about it being sad. That was it. No one else even said anything.

I can’t even imagine what they would say if they knew I have sponsored kids in just about every corner of the Earth, and that I actually love these kids. I mentioned once about sponsoring a young girl in Africa; I thought I was talking to someone who might have an interest in it. Nope.

I have spent the last few weeks questioning “things” in life. Not life, but “things.”

I have no problem going out and buying things I need, or paying for rent, etc., but it just seems like everything else I am questioning.

Do I really, really need this? Do I need that? Or is giving a few dollars to a kid across the globe who will hopefully grow in the Lord and become a responsible adult more important?

I can’t change the world. Too old to try. Being a missionary and going to a different country was never on my list of things to do. But the kids I sponsor can go out and do that. And I can sit here and pray for the all the people who are working in Haiti and elsewhere. My prayer life, which was sad for so many years has changed so much lately.

So, I just want to thank everyone here that we can write our true feelings and concerns, and that we can cry together or rejoice together and know that people here will understand our heart because they feel exactly the same way.

Reprinted from ourcompassion.org with permission by Debbie Tovar, child sponsor and OurCompassion member

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

I sit in the meetings barely able to focus. I’m overwhelmed by this all-encompassing ache that envelops me. I’m experiencing what so many of you are experiencing: My heart is in Haiti.

I cannot find words to express my anguish and sorrow. I imagine if I could name the ache, it would help alleviate some of the pain I am feeling. But the words won’t come. And so, here in Thailand, I wait.

Waiting alone can cause despair. But waiting together offers hope.

I’ve seen that not only within my co-workers but on OurCompassion. I go to the site daily, sometimes hourly, to read other people’s posts and comments about Haiti. In their words, I find that I am not alone.

One of my OurCompassion friends posted this:

“The first two days after the quake, I could barely think straight about anything but Haiti. I just stood there watching the news, holding my breath, with my insides shaking.”

That’s me too.

In the OurCompassion group, “Heart for Haiti,” members are posting pictures of their sponsored kids, encouraging each other, and sharing prayer requests. Some are fasting together. We’re reaching out to one another in hope.

If you’re feeling like me and need to wait together instead of waiting alone … come join us. There are more than 450 of us in the group and we’re waiting, grieving and hoping together. We’re praying for God’s mercy and love to pour out on His people in Haiti.

If you’re not already registered on OurCompassion, do so. Then join the group, “Heart for Haiti.” You’ll see a link to it on the home page.

You don’t have to be a Compassion sponsor to join OurCompassion, and you don’t have to sponsor a child in Haiti to join the “Heart for Haiti” group.

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

For two years, I worked as an assistant for the International Program Group Communications team. I had an incredible boss who encouraged me to pursue my passions. I flourished under his leadership as I learned more about my skills and developed relationships around the ministry.

So two months ago, when offered a new position as the International Partner Development Web and Marketing Specialist, I knew what I had to do. This was an opportunity to steward my gifting and passions for writing, marketing, and cultivating relationships of impact.

But that meant leaving the people I’d grown so close to. My co-workers had become a second family to me!

Learning a new role can be lonely. Sure, I love my new bosses and the new people I’m meeting, but I miss my old team. Leaving familiar paths to venture onto new ones feels vulnerable and sometimes scary.

A new friend of mine, Colleen,* knows these feelings well.

I met Colleen through OurCompassion, which I now work to help develop. She’s a sponsor and correspondent from Australia, and she recently blogged on OurCompassion about her struggle with cancer:

“I went to the hospital yesterday, and due to infections and extremely low blood pressure and blood count, I was unable to receive my treatment. My doctors have said that I am unable to receive any more chemo as my body is not responding to it … I still do not know what is going to happen, the cancer is still there in my kidneys and liver … I am scared, scared that the cancer will get worse between now and then, scared that the doctors could say there is no more they can do for me. Please, can you all keep praying for me?”

Colleen’s honesty overwhelms me. She’s vulnerable in the midst of something scarier than I know. She’s willing to share her struggles and ask for support. And oh my! The outpouring of love from the global OurCompassion community … it brings me to tears.

I realize that when I log in to OurCompassion, I’m doing more than just visiting some Web site; I become part of a compassionate community that prays for members like Colleen as she goes through treatments. A community to share stories of love for our sponsored kids, love for the Lord, and love for each other — even if we have never met.

Colleen reminds me that we are all entering uncharted waters — whether new jobs or no jobs, debilitating illnesses, moves, or personal tragedy or triumph. We need to lean into those God has placed around us — whether they be across the aisle or across the ocean!

I’m forging new paths at Compassion. I look forward to new friendships and working with the incredible people involved with OurCompassion.

Are you in yet?

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

I have a good job. I like it a lot. I don’t want to do anything else. My fellow webbies are great peeps. Lots of fun. And I love seeing and being a part of the conversations you have with one another. But amid all that I can still be a bit jaded at times.

Since this blog is a place of honesty and transparency, I have to admit that I have been known to say “Who cares?” to a tweet or two. Not any I send, of course.

I also admit to not putting much effort into managing “my personal brand” in those spaces, and that includes our newly launched OurCompassion.

However, on Wednesday, I learned what OurCompassion is really about.

I tend to feel emotionally disconnected a lot. It’s one of the themes in my writing. I’m not entirely devoid of emotion, but I do have to make an effort to connect. Jesus is constantly guiding me from my head to my heart.

So on Wednesday, as I’m enjoying the coincidental coolness of meeting Irene, via a story on our intranet, I received an e-mail notification from OurCompassion. Someone had written on my wall. I ignored it. I was “meeting” Irene.

The coolness I’m talking about is that Irene is part of the Shankoe Methodist Child Development Center. That’s where my boy, Lerionga, is. And that simple coincidence excited me.

I actually got a bit choked up. Only temporarily though because I’ve gots lots of importance stuff to do. Can’t afford the luxury of joy.

“The first thing Irene does before getting ready to go to the center is pray for the day’s activities: Compassion, her teachers, mother, the child development workers and her sponsor.”

The first thing I do in the morning is fight negativity. My neighbor wakes me up most weekdays at 5 a.m. with his idling Harley. I have to endure five minutes of mechanical hog grunting and snorting before he drives off.

“Just a few years ago, Irene’s family of six used to share a shelter with their livestock. Her mother watched helplessly as her children suffered from the cold. As poverty becomes unbearable, many parents consider marrying off their daughters to get some livestock for dowry.”

I gave a $300 family gift to Lerionga and he told me his family bought two cows and a goat.

“Irene’s new house is large enough for her entire family of three brothers, two sisters and their mother. The family gift Irene received from her sponsor helped them construct a new and spacious house roofed with iron sheets and filled with good chairs, tables and cushions inside.”

Yeah! Lerionga told me that his family built a new house with another family gift I gave. He lives with his mother, father, younger brother and younger sister.

Then, when I finally logged into OurCompassion I saw this, courtesy of my new friend, Jake Malloy:

“My family visited the Shankoe site in Dec. to visit Liaram. Here’s a video, maybe you’ll see Lerionga.

http://www.viddler.com/explore/jakemalloy/videos/10/“

This is the connection, the joined together thinking, we’re talking about. OurCompassion isn’t just a social network. It’s not about re-creating Facebook. Our Compassion is personal. It’s about bringing us closer to the children we sponsor.

I met Lerionga 2 1/2 years ago in Nairobi. He was one month shy of his 8th birthday. Since then he has asked me when I will come back. I don’t have an answer for him. But I do have lots of questions.

I want to know what his house looks like. I want to see the countryside where he lives. I want to know more about his center.

But like you, not all the questions I write in my letters get answered. Letters cross in the mail, take a long time to arrive, seem overly simplistic at times, suffer from poor translation, etc. I really only have my imagination, and some memories, to bridge the distance.

But not anymore!

Thanks to Irene, Jake and OurCompassion, my four-year sponsorship of Lerionga got a little more personal.

Even though I’ve seen many videos like the one Jake shared with me, and Lerionga wasn’t actually in this one, the fact that this video showed me places where Lerionga has been flooded me with emotion.

This time I got a bunch choked up, and my important stuff couldn’t do anything about it.

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