We are proud to present this inspirational story by Silvano Assanga, a formerly sponsored child.

I lost my father at the age of 4, and it was predicted that we would end up in the streets as beggars. He was our sole breadwinner, and he did not leave much to be inherited upon his death. We did not have well-off relatives, either. The thought of attaining higher education from such a background was therefore not real back then.

It is now real. In August 2010, I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from the United States International University (USIU) in Nairobi. Having pursued my studies from such an institution, I consider my story to be one of luck and God’s love.

When Compassion began recruiting needy children in Western Kenya, my aunt pleaded with them to consider me for the program. I was staying with her and she informed them that I was a needy case.

My mother depended on hawking bananas at the market to fend for her family of seven children. I was therefore enrolled in the program and my sponsor, Ashleigh began helping me through Tear Fund in New Zealand.

Ashleigh later got married to Andrew, and their support and prayers have enabled me to be what I am. As a sponsored child, we never met face to face, but they trusted me with their resources like their favorite child. They have not only financed my education up to university, but they are also concerned about my future progress.

Like my biological parents, they have kept close ties with me. Such trust, such concern, such love is hard to come by in our society. It is what makes me feel that my story is worth telling.

I was only 6 when Ashleigh became my sponsor. She was a nursing student. She chose to better my life by sparing part of her pocket money for me.

It may not have been much then, but it saved me from heading to the streets as a beggar. That is what encouraged me to become one of the top students in primary school. I studied hard in knowledge that my life depended on it.

Since my aunt whom I was staying with was illiterate, she also encouraged me to work hard so that I could read and write letters for her. I grew up inspired that since so much was being invested in me, much would be required from me too.

I realized how lucky I was when I visited home during weekends and holidays and learned that my siblings and other village mates were having problems with school fees. They could not even afford text books and stationary.

In our family, the siblings depended on my mother, Pauline. She had to hawk bananas and divide the meager earnings between food and school necessities. I was therefore a special child since my uniform was always new, and I never missed classes due to lacking certain items required at school.

In other schools in the village, students had to share old textbooks. A class of 40 or 50 pupils could have less than 10 textbooks.

That was not the case in our school. Thanks to our sponsors, we had enough books, which we shared with other pupils. We had everything we needed to concentrate on our education.

Unlike other students who used to rush home at lunchtime and come back late in the afternoon, the child development center organized a lunch program for us, too!

Such care enabled me to perform better in my studies. From a family of seven – five brothers and two sisters, only my eldest brother and I managed to proceed to secondary school.

I am now the first one from the family to have attained a university education! I can picture myself spruced in graduation attire, receiving my diploma in the presence of my tearful mother and friends. I still recall the long prayers she used to say, asking God to uplift her family.

She never failed to pray for my sponsors. To her, they were my parents from a distant land. They were not materially wealthy. They helped because they were rich at heart! There were considerably well-off people in our society, but my help had to come from distant lands!

There were some obstacles on my path, too. Even though my sponsors maintained their support when I joined secondary school, the development center introduced a new policy that required parents to share education costs. I had joined a prestigious high school in our area, but I had to drop out due to my inability to pay the fees.

I enrolled in another school whose academic performance was not as superior as the previous one. The school lacked adequate facilities and furthermore, I was still required to pay some fees.

Against my expectations of passing highly, I ended up with a grade of C+ in my final examinations. I considered it a big disappointment. The grade did not reflect my true academic ability. Most of my friends in my previous school had better grades and proceeded to universities while I faced a rough end of life at home.

A year after completing secondary school I was departed from the development center for claims of being undisciplined. It seemed to be the end of my ambition of becoming a journalist. And I could not write to my sponsors anymore.

Even though I still loved reading and writing, pursuing higher education became a mere dream. I began helping my mother in her bread winning efforts and worked as a hawker, an assistant in a research institution, and a part-time teacher among other undertakings.

I bought books from my small wages and converted my room into a library just to retain my academic mood.

Celebrating with brother Wilberforce

“Silvano,” my mother would say whenever she saw me preoccupied in the “library,” “your addiction to books is not in vain. You will go to college one day and you will not even believe it.”

I believed the words were merely meant to uplift my spirits. My dismissal from the development center had closed college doors for me. I wrote articles for a local daily, the Kenya Times, just to keep my journalistic skills alive.

I also wrote poems and short stories, some of which were published in overseas anthologies.

While I was working on my stories one day, a thought struck. What if I searched for my sponsors? Would they be willing to assist me?

I decided to write to Compassion’s head office in Colorado Springs. It was a long letter in which I narrated my story and requested them to contact the sponsors on my behalf.

A long period of silence followed. I kept checking my e-mails but there was no communication. The silence led to my conclusion that my efforts were unsuccessful.

I was however shocked one day when I opened my inbox and saw the e-mail. I could not believe it. I reread it several times in order to prove that it was from my sponsors!

Compassion had alerted them to my desire to communicate, and now I was reading their e-mail!

When I showed it to my mother, she was not amazed as I expected. Instead she held my hands and prayed. Then she spoke assuredly:

“I knew you would unite with them one day”

That was in early September 2004. August, six years later, I graduated from USIU with an aggregate GPA of 3.75 (magna cum laude). I was also the second-best student in my journalism class.

When I graduated, my mother and my friends were present to celebrate with me. My sponsor came too. Andrew had flown in to witness the great event.

I know that the only way I can express my gratitude to my sponsors for helping me as a child and for reconnecting with me to support and encourage me even more is through hard work. Currently, I am an Intern at USAID in Nairobi. And I keep praying and working hard for success.

On behalf of the children you sponsor, thank you for loving us and giving us opportunities to succeed.

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I graduated in 2005 from Daystar University with a degree in community development. Upon graduating, I became a volunteer at my local child development center, helping Compassion kids with letter writing, doing devotions and sharing my Compassion story as a way of encouraging them.

I also worked on a part-time basis with Compassion Kenya as a research assistant. Among the research I helped coordinate was a study on the impact of Compassion’s programs on its graduates.

Between July to October 2006, God opened an opportunity through Compassion for me to be a voice for the voiceless in various venues and forums throughout the United States, speaking on behalf of children living in poverty in today’s world, drawing upon my experiences as a formerly sponsored child.

My role as an ambassador was to speak on behalf of Compassion International in seeking to acquire new sponsorships and deepen the level of trust among current sponsors and donors.

I thank God, because more than 1,000 new sponsorships were acquired during the speaking engagements in the United States.

In February 2008, I had the opportunity to engage in a series of speaking engagements with Tear Fund NZ. I was hosted as a guest in one of the Christian media houses during Compassion Day and also spoke in different churches and institutions on the need and benefit of child sponsorship.

God has been preparing me to embrace a great vision; I thank God for ordering my steps in life. I am currently working as a community development manager with a nonprofit based in Kenya with its head offices in Atlanta: 410 Bridge Ministry.

• Read the July 2007 LDP Newsflash featuring Paul’s post-LDP work at 410 Bridge Ministry.

I have observed with varying degrees of frustration how lack of Godly leadership has plunged Africa into a myriad of problems, as children continue to suffer innocently and give up on their dreams.

I am ready to be used by God to transform Africa to become a continent after God’s heart.

I believe that each child should be given an opportunity to live his or her dream; we should not allow poverty to rob, crush and destroy the God-given potential of any child. Those who do not live their dreams often become cynical about their future as poverty robs them of childhood hopes and expectations.

I consider myself a voice for the voiceless, bearing testimony to the biblical truths that God has the best plan for children. It goes without saying that if you invest in the life of a child, you touch a family. If you touch a family, you transform the society. If you transform the society, you change the nation. And if you change a nation, you make the world a better place to live in.

• Become a voice for the voiceless (US)
• Become a voice for the voiceless (Australia)

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But if your call to serve the poor extends beyond holistic child development, which it does for many people, we’d like to introduce you to our partner TEAR Fund New Zealand.

TEAR Fund stands for The Evangelical Alliance Relief Fund, and its purpose is to glorify God by extending His kingdom in ministry to the poor, oppressed and disadvantaged, and to encourage God’s people to live out the values and principles of His kingdom by sharing with those in need.

TEAR Fund New Zealand represents the compassion of Jesus. This organization partners with local Christian organizations and churches in developing countries who use local staff to work directly with the poorest people, helping the poor find their own solutions, cutting out the middleman and reducing costs.

Microenterprise, community development projects and disaster relief are TEAR Fund New Zealand’s key activities, but that’s not all this ministry does. Right now, it’s working to eradicate the Guinea worm in Côte d’Ivoire, and also has programs to fight adult illiteracy and sexual slavery, among others.

TEAR Fund New Zealand offers child sponsorship too, but does that through us. Sponsoring a child with TEAR Fund New Zealand is sponsoring a child through Compassion.

Although our friend is from New Zealand, you can still partner with this Christian aid and development agency. Visit tearfund.co.nz to learn more.

We promise they don’t write with an accent…then again, maybe they do.

Oh yeah, you may like this. TEAR Fund New Zealand’s non-sponsorship programs are conducted in places of the world we don’t currently work.

• Afghanistan
• Cambodia
• China
• Malawi
• Mongolia
• Myanmar
• Nepal
• Niger
• Palestine
• Sudan

So if your heart is in those parts of the world, TEAR Fund New Zealand would be pleased to meet you.

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