Over on another blog post – Are My Letters Really That Important? – several sponsors have started trying to connect with other people who sponsor a child in the same child development center(s).
Until we have a better way to help you with this – which we are working on and we think you’re gonna love! – let’s make this post the home for making connections.
UPDATE: May 27, 2010 – That better way to connect we mentioned, it’s ourcompassion.org.
I coppied my list from the other discussion. I would love to be able to talk with sponsors whose kids go to the same project as mine.
Here are their numbers:
BR-220
DR-632
EC-330, -551, -592
EI-209, -426, -441
ET-532
HO-413
IN-791
IO-425
KE-630
PE-110
RW-338
UG-134
WTG Sara!
Dominican Republic, Indonesia, Columbia, Guatemala, & Thailand
Hi Sara –
here’s mine, though non match yours.
TZ 952
PE 449,452, 316
CO 176
UG 922
ET 306, 506
Me too!
Here are the numbers:
HA – 192
ET – 535
IN – 665
IO – 297
I guess we are going to get a bigger picture of how much Compassion does, even if we don’t find matches to our projects! That in itself will be amazing!
Where in IO? and I was curious, do you get replies to all of your letters (for IO)?
Here’s mine:
ES710
ES777
ES762
ET452
ET539
HA103
This is great!!!!! Here’s my list….ET 201,513,540. TH308,643,932. TZ305.
Rebecca — I have actually been to the project you mentioned in Haiti — HA-192. It’s an area called Hostin. Have you been there? It’s a really special project, and here’s a story on the Compassion website about a child at that project.
I met the brother of the boy mentioned in this story, Crisnel. They were an impressive family, and we visited their project and homes. One thing I remember most of all, is when I asked to have the name of one of the project workers — all conversation stopped, because the Pastor and Project Director immediately said to the translators: “Give her my name, too. I want her to be praying for me, too.” I still pray for them by name from time to time. It impressed me how very much those leaders believed in prayer and cherished the thought that I would actually pray for them. Wonderful Christians in that project!
my kids are from:
TZ135
BO587
EC377
EC450
ES750
ET554
IN446
ME721
NI168
PE138
RW323
KE420
UG233
ET419
PH562
IN664
Mine is in Thailand!
I dont think I match with anyone yet, but here are mine:
DR521
ES733
I sponsor a 13 year old boy from project PCEA Kariobangi North CDC. Anyone else sponsor a child from that project?
I don’t know what all of those codes mean, maybe someone can direct me to where I can find them in my files.
I sponsor a girl in Colombia at the Puerto Lopez Student Center and a boy in Mexico at the Taolinzi Student Center.
Where is this number found? Ours is in Haiti – beginning of the child number is HA610.
UG 426 is where my child is at
Goodness gracious!!! I love the challenge to try and match!!! I only know of one person who has the same as mine and that is Pat Bell we share in Nicaragua.
NI-203
NI-120
PH-847
PH-556
PH-566
TZ-135
PE-108
if any of us match feel free to give me a call and I will let you pay for me to visit our matched project!!! I will even carry your luggage if you like
I Peter 5:7 “Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for YOU!!!”
Mike 719-531-6326
Mine is ME852. I’m new to this, do the letters and first 3 numbers indicate the location?
Whoo hooo – Mike we both have children in the same project from TZ. Do we win a prize for the first match?
I’m a strong girl, how about you pay for me to carry your luggage??
This is an awesome idea. I have no matches yet, but here are mine in case someone comes along:
CO-321
DR-383
ME-827
UG-437
UG-704
Here’s my list again:
BO-426
CO-160
EC-505
ES-780
ET-337, 513 & 522
GU-815
HO-215
IN-189 &791
ID-243
NI-144 & 157
PH-890
RW-535
TZ-231
TG-401
UG-526
So far I match Sara with IN-791, and Barbara with ET-513. Christi is cetainly right about gaining a new perspective on how many children are being helped!
Hi Mike! I also have a child in PE-108 — 2nd match!
Audrey we are close!!! PH-562 for you and PH-566 for me. I am visiting on the Sponsor Tour in June 09. I took a bible to Nicaragua for another Sponsor. If you need anything just let me know.
The first match TZ-135!!! We win a Lear Jet audrey so we can visit the projects whenever and wherever!!! What do we win!!!
My child from TZ-135 is named Bushiri I believe he is 7 years old. I have been pondering visiting next year??? What do you think Audrey or have you already visited Tanzania!!! I made it a goal to visit once while they are young and once while they are older!!! So far I was able to visit Nicaragua and I am all paid for the Philippines this June!!! Many people never actually get to go to Africa and many never get to see their sponsor child!!! Tell me what you think Audrey!!!??? If I go, I hope to be able to add a few days and hike up Kilimanjaro with Bushiri if that is even feasible. There are two Sponsor Tours to Tanzania so we have plenty to choose from!!! I was thinking about the 2nd one just so it would give me a little more time to pay. I am currently unemployed working simple part-time jobs I can find, mainly hanging flyers on doors. See you in Tanzania in 2010 Audrey!!! hahaha!!!!!!!
Our 3 are all from Ethiopia…
ET-350
ET-800
ET-550
Allen I am not surprised it is me who has the most matches!!! I have to win something!!! I need to win something!!! hahahaha!!!
Allen speak to me…what do you think??? The child I am Sponsoring in Peru is named Victor like my grandfather who died before I was born. (well his middle name was Victor) Victor in Peru is only 3 and I wouldn’t mind visiting him even next year, but I wasn’t sure if I should wait until he is 7 or so. So he can remember a little better. But if you are going next year Allen I might just go!!!!!!! Or have you already visited??? Let me know what you think??? I am prone to spontaneity!!! It will make me find a job in no time flat!!! I might even be able to convince a bank to give me a few billion to help stimulate the economy (I will promise to spend it only on things that are fun)!!! Thanks for posting that Allen!!!
Mike
I am fairly amazed that there are any matches at all but since there are I am glad I have the first 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is great I get 2 all expense paid trip compliments of Audrey and Allen thanks guys!!! I’ll see you at the airport!!! hahaha!!!
Mine are:
DR-420
GU-859
PH-959
EI-505
ET-544
HA-314
UG-302
Would love to talk to anyone who has a child in the same project as mine.
@Christina Lange –
ok, I think I figured it out, it’s the first 5 digits of the child’s number, if so, here are mine:
CO 204
ME 884
Well even if I don’t get to see you at the airport will I get to see you at the National Advocate’s Conference towards the end of the year??? I am hoping to go!!! Never, never, never, never, never give up!!!
“He didn’t waiver through unbelief regarding the promise of God but was strengthened in His faith and gave glory to God being fully persuaded that God had POWER to do what HE had PROMISED!!!”
Mike
@Rebecca – Rebecca — I don’t know if you saw it or not but I had a comment on here about one of the projects you mentioned. Make sure you see it!
Mike — I haven’t been to Peru yet, but I’d like to go!
Tell me about your child in PE-108. I haven’t sponsored mine there for that long (just since this summer), but she’s been one of the most forthcoming with information in her first couple of letters that I’ve seen so far! She’s 16.
Great idea! Our child is in ET-441. We visited in 2007.
My kids are:
HA-271
DR-313
and an LDP student that came from TH-205.
KE-412 – doesn’t look like I’ve got a match yet.
Oh no Lisa is gaining on me!!!
Audrey why do you have to be so strong!!! Well I guess I’ll let you carry your own luggage…since you insist.
Allen I have been sponsoring in Peru less than 1 year. It was the last one I added. I added Peru b/c I wanted to sponsor in the 4 different regions Compassion works in. When I was in Nicaragua I learned when a girl turns 15 that that is a big deal. It is called her Quincinera birthday or something like that and there is a huge celebration. You need to visit Allen in two years she will graduate from the project!!! Hopefully she will get accepted into LDP and in that case you have plenty of time. I am 25 Allen and right now I hope to train to be a professional triathlete but I need to lose a good 20lbs!!! If you go Allen I may go!!! Life is a MIST!!!
Hey, I usually keep up with the blog, but I see I’ve been falling behind! I found this on Twitter.
My sponsored child is in
IO-568,
and I have a correspondence child in
PE-125.
I don’t think I have any matches yet, other than country…
Hey – I am a match with IN-791 too! Sara and Lisa — seems like a great center
UG 924
KE 745
TH6470060
TH6470060
BO4150189
I have a 7yr old girl in Tanzania.
TZ-133
i just started sponsoring in October and have already received 2 letters from her! Brings a huge smile to my face. I’m so glad i decided to do this.
God Bless
Wow, this is really cool. Our child Sridhar is in
IN-678
My sponsored child is in TZ 605
Haven’t seen a match with any yet, but here’s my child’s info.
NI-111
Hey Britt – we’re close –
I have UG 922 and you have UG 924…..mabye we could carry each other’s luggage and just share a flight!!!!
GU955
PE391
I’m going off topic…..but since Mike said it here:
I don’t see any matches for my two boys’ projects right now.
GH 901
DR 313
Ok, that was obvious that I don’t know how to do the quote thingy…..
my question was in the middle of mike’s quote….
***
I was asked once to be an advocate….but it wasn’t the right time in my life (is there really any good time to do any of this other than now?) – anyway – can someone give me info on the Advocate Program again?***
Hmmm, that was scary how easily I was able to change Mike’s quote!!!!!
My children are in the following projects:
BF-114
BF-682
GH-103
ET-464
I feel a little like when I was a child playing Bingo!
No matches for me yet either.
Lisa I have another match with you. I have a child in ES-780 too.
Here’s my whole list:
ES-780
ES-763
HO-139
RW-151
GU-948
GU-960
I think this is great. I would love to find other sponsors that have children in the same projects that I do.
I have a girl in El Salvador:
ES-700
I’ve seen a few that are close but not an exact match.
I didn’t find any matches for my kiddos so far.
Here’s mine.
BR 260
ET 304
IN 187
NI 101
PE 431
Our little girl is KE346
All of my children are in Brazil: BR258
BR334
BR437
BR446
Do I have any matches?
@Christi – check out Compassion’s website under “Share Compassion”. On the left menu bar, there’s a link for “Become an Advocate”.
Or just use this link (hopefully it’ll hyperlink itself): http://www.compassion.com/share/volunteer/default.htm
I’ve been wondering something about the three-digit project codes: are they assigned by location, or by order in which they were registered?
It’d be cool to look at similar numbers (994 and 995, for example) and figure that they’re in the same region, but it might be tough to limit the number of projects in a certain area, so that there’s no duplication of numbers.
So far I’m losing at Bingo too, but that’s not new for me
I have:
HA-204 (10 yo girl, Magarette)
EI-218 (5 yo boy, Alok)
I just got Alok a week ago, random draw, and I’m interested to see how he’ll interact. I’ve had Magarette for maybe 6 mos, had one letter, and she wrote a good one, answered questions, asked questions, gave me a Bible verse! (Because I got her at 10, I believe it means she had a sponsor before me…whoever that sponsor was, I think he must have been either a very good one, or the opposite when it came to letters, because she is very eager in her letter). I think I’m due for another letter…it’s been about 4 mos, so I’m eagerly checking the mailbox again!
-Caitlin
DR467
TZ117
How do I find my child’s project number. I only see the child’s number. Can anyone help me out?
We sponsor 2 kids,
HA-712 and BR-309. We have been able to have 2 visits with our girl in Brazil which we have sponsored for 11 years now!
Ok, here’s a wild idea that would take a lot of fancy computer coding and whatnot, but I’ll throw it out there anyway.
It was inspired by the “where do you live” widget that used to be on the sidebar, but was relocated to its own page somewhere.
What if there was a widget/gadget thingy–image of a world map where we can pinpoint where we sponsor kids? When we click to put a “pinpoint”, we can input the specific project number, and email address if we want to be contacted by other sponsors with kids in the same project.
Even if the email function isn’t feasible (yet), the map would be a good place for us to keep up with this data.
My kiddos are in DR-402 and KE-599 (I don’t think I’ve seen either of those listed yet). I’m thinking of sponsoring a third child, who is in EC-563.
Other members of my family sponsor children in the following child development centers: EC-340, PE-422, EC-594, PE-505, and TZ-809.
My little man, Moises, is in BO283.
@Christi – You can go to the Compassion website and get the 1-800 number to the headquarters in Colorado. They can get you into contact with the area coordinator who is closest to you and they can give you information and walk you through the steps of becoming an advocate. Even if you are not a 100% sure whether you want to do it right now, it could still be very helpful to get the information and to talk to someone about advocacy. I was not sure whether I really could do it when I first signed up and I did not feel pressured into do it when I did contact Compassion to get more information about it.
I have a girl in EI-106. I would also love to hear from anyone with girls from ET-111. I used to sponsor 2 girls from Ethiopia and would love to know how they are doing if I can find their current sponsors. I miss them very much!
sue
BF121
GH211
RW339
Jennifer,
We have a match! How exciting! I have a 7 year old girl in PE 391. How old is your child?
Sarah
BF-157
Thank you Compassion International for all that you do!
We recently started sponsoring a child and have received two letters. We feel so blessed. I don’t see any matches yet.
ET-605
Anybody have IN-441?
Christi I am an Advocate but not the guru on Advocates. I would recommend you call Compassion tell them you want to be an Advocate and see what they say. It seems like you would fill out the application and the process would begin from there. Being an Advocate helped me “jump off the cliff” so to speak and visit Osmari in Nicaragua. I was able to go to some events that unless I was an Advocate I wouldn’t have known about. Those events helped encourage me to visit my sponsor child and just learn more about Compassion. I have been SCUBA diving a few times and I think Compassion is almost as diverse as the Ocean floor!!! to use an analogy. I didn’t even know Advocates existed until I received an email to consider becoming one. I didn’t even know you could visit your sponsor child until I saw it when I was browsing the website.
I just sponsored my first child and am not sure how to tell what child development center they go to. Is it the first or last 3 numbers of the child’s number or is there a different spot to look it up?
BF-125
ET-112
KE-726
I have a question: How do I get a correspondance child? I just recently started sponsoring and have gotten letters from 2 of my 3 girls and I loved them.
My child is at ME-892! I have not seen any close to him, yet!
I sponsor a kid in DR-484. Haven’t seen it listed yet, and I’m still pretty new at all of this, but would be interested to see who else has a child in my child’s center.
Ok, Ok … how are you finding the child’s project? My child’s number is PE2670xxx, but I don’t see anything about the project/center’s number or how to derive that from the child’s number.
I think the link to the site is wrong. I actually found a beta site while searching for something else. It is a fabulous idea. I leave for Kenya tomorrow. I was looking for people who sponsor children at the same centers, so I could pass along personal greetings for them. I thought it would help make the children feel extra special to hear “your sponsor _____ asked me to send you their love”
@Steve K. – The first three digits of the child number indicate the center. Your child’s country code is PE and the center is number 267.
EC-454
PE-388
IN-787
The first 3 numbers are the center and the last 4 are the child
@Sara Benson –
Anyone have these?
BD 102-104-216-404-409-410
BO 284
EC 420
EI 183-404-605
ET 853
HO 314
ID 211
IO 549-551-575-982
RW 251
TH 935
TZ 815
UG 138-230
@Sara Benson –
Mine are in the Dominican Republic DR 800, and Indonesia ID 629
Ok, then mine is UG-553.
BF-452
ET-115
Forgot
ET-327
ET-328
ET-439
KE-206
KE-363
KE-717
RW-434
RW-635
TZ-118
My children are ET300 and GU907.
@~audrey~ – Yes I have a boy in KE420.
I sponsor children in the following
Ke 213
Ke 420(I also sponsored a boy in Ke323 but he graduated)
Ec 107
Rw 631
Rw 430
Gh 303
Dr 354
Bf 105 and
Tz 224
Is anyone sponsoring a child from these projects?
HO-504
PE-372
DR-433
Feel free to email me (rosefaery@mail.com)
Kristen and Christina…I thought I would answer your question…yes, the numbers and letters in the child’s number help pinpoint their location…first the letters signify their country…for example, our three are all from Ethiopia so they all start with ET…secondly, the next three numbers indicate which project they are sponsored through and attend within that country…the final numbers at the end of the child’s number are specific to that child within that project…hope that helps!
Prairie Rose,
I have a sponsored child in CO-321 also! She’s an awesome letter writer — makes even those 3-4 times a year letters well worth the weight.
@Prairie Rose -
Oops…
“wait” also. ; )
Kay,
I’m probably duplicating someone else’s response, but when you see your child’s number, the first two letters and the three numbers following are the country and project number. (The numbers after that identify your child specifically.) Hope this helps! = )
@Kay -
My little guy is at GU 986.
Two child packages on the way! A boy from Tanzania and another from Rwanda. I can’t wait to get to know them:)
Karen,
Just call (800)336-7676 and let them know you’re interested in having a correspondence child and they will set you right up!
@Juli Jarvis – Hey Juli!
That’s awesome! I’m very very new at this but I see that you sponsor a child in Haiti too! I see that not many seem to sponsor in Haiti!!
Is there more I can know about the project that my child, Marc is in (HA-192)? He is 6 this year! Or more about Haiti as a country? =)
Is there anyway I can contact you or something? =D
@Janice in GA –
so close! I have Lizeth in BO 284. I wonder how close they are to each other?
I used “find on this page” to look for a match and don’t see one. Lots of Uganda sponsors, though — anyone going on the trip this summer or next year??
My child is at UG 709, and I want to visit her this year if I can, but things are up in the air as I finish my contract with the Navy. So I’m praying about visiting this year or next.. I’m hoping that if I do put in for this year, nothing could stop my trip.
HA 796
KE 719
IN 598
Juli Jarvis & Britney — I haven’t read all of the comments, so someone may have pointed this out, but you two have a match — DR 313!
(I have an ET 313, so was searching for 313 numbers and noticed.)
Mine are:
ET313
ET444
Karen,
Just call (800)336-7676 and they can get you all set up to get a correspondence child!
Oh, and my ET444 just recently moved from ET430 — so I’m interested in that project, too!
@Robyn – mine is a 16 yr old male named Evans.
Hi,
We haven’t found a project match, but a few country matches. Our child Ana is in ME815. Her 11th Birthday is on April 13!
We’d love to talk to sponsrs who have children in Ana’s project!
We would also like more information about getting a corospondence child.
Thanks, and have a blessed weekend!
Love,
Andy and Miranda – In Him
Hey Sara! My Indonesia child is a LDP seminary student and I hear from him usualy 2 or 3 times a year.
Mine are:
Erica PH 813
Jonnahgene PH 925
Shaira PH 841
Ishu IN 950
Urmila EI 307
Mwajuma TZ 113
Vinod (WB) IN 431
Geri
@Crystal I’ll be praying for your trip!!!
Ken,
We sponsor a child in BR428, I’m trying to find the map I have showing the Brazil projects to see how close they are but can’t put my hand on it at the moment..
My two are ET310 and TZ205.
If anyone is going on a sponsor trip to either of these countries I would love to hear from you. It’s my goal to get there one day.
ES-813 I will totally hit the ceiling if a match contacts me!! (AllkidsRock@aol.com) Please use e-mail. We are doing the will of God expanding His kingdom. Keep up the great work everyone!! A day in the very near future we will be able to sit at the table, breaking bread with the Lord Jesus and the sponsored children who’ve accepted Him!
@Andy and Miranda – In Him – You’ll have to call the 800# to request being assigned a correspondence child. Basically, in this situation, they still have a financial sponsor, but for whatever reason the sponsor doesn’t write. This is where you will step in. The child will begin writing to you, almost as if you are their new sponsor (they might even think you are their sponsor).
@Erica –
Erica-
I love it when there is a match! Andrea is the name of my sponsored child. She’s 6 years old. How old is your child? How long have you been sponsoring at this project?
@Andy and Miranda – In Him –
Andy and Miranda-
Getting a correspondence child is simple. Just call the 800 number and tell the representative you’d like to sign up for one. They’ll forward your request to the department that handles that function and you’ll receive a package in the mail, just like with your traditional sponsor kids.
I believe you can request specifics (age, country, sex) but that can slow down the request. As long as there are available kids, if you let Compassion select the child for you, the turnaround is about the same as regular sponsorship.
Looking at the lists above it appears that many folks give a lot of hope!
IN433 – Mouniisa
@Kara –
Kara-
How long have you had a child in IN-791? Is it a boy or girl?
I have a girl, Fasna, and she’s 11. I’ve yet to hear from her as my sponsorship is pretty new.
@Lisa –
Lisa, our little girl isn’t so little any more. She’s turning 15 in April. Her name is Marta. I’ve been sponsoring her for 7 years now, I think. I’ve loved getting to watch her grow up and mature.
Amazing all the wonderful sponsors with more than one child. I am sorry we didn’t match with anyone but here’s our children’s numbers; PE313,2 in PE264,2 in PE181, GU928 and GU831
I almost forgot we are going to Peru next month as soon as we get our material I can’t wait to see if any of your children are on our project visitation list.
This is all soooo awesome – do you all see how many countries we are touching for Christ????
Each child touches their family,the project, their school, their church, and their community!
While I don’t have matches – I’ve had some close….ET 306 to someone’s ET 300
UG 922 to someone’s 924?
Sometimes I feel like I do so little with my 8 Comp Kids….but with all of us, WE ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE!!!!
@Judith – I love that idea about the widget – Compassion said at the beginning of this blog that they are coming up with something that will really make us happy – maybe your idea will be taken into consideration – if it’s not already!
@Mike, Judith and Jennifer – thanks for the info on becoming an Advocate….I will do something about that soon!
And,anyone new sponsoring, there are two neat blogs –
“Are my letters really that important?” AND
“Letter Writing ideas” – AND some neat ideas for including the family in:
“My sisters are sponsored what about me?”
Glenn,
We are somewhat close. I have ES 813.
I also have…
BD 222
EI 207
ET 210
UG 148
UG 127
This are the projects of our children:
ET 338
ID 220
IN 464
Our first and youngest child was in Project HA 272 , but since a few weeks he belongs to HA 796. We do not really know why.
(Sorry for my grammar, it is easier for me to translate from Englisch into my language.) By the way, I love the work that Compassion do. It is fantastic.
I guess I never realized how many centers there are in the same countries, because I don’t match anyone yet.
BD 226
ES 754
We have two very precious children who are avid letter writters and are truley a gift from God to us.
Poornima 7 years old EI604
Azizi 6 years old TZ339
BO-415
UG-147
IN-742
IN-200
ET-417
So far, I don’t see any matches either…my boys are
PE425 -Javier is 8yrs old
HA625 – Lorvinks is 4yrs old
I have been to visit Javier in Peru and hope to see Lorvinks in the next couple of years.
Shirley,
This may help. BK446 & BK437 are close to Recife. BK334 & BK258 are close to Fortaleza. After looking at the responses on this post I didn’t think too many people sponsored in Brazil. Are you planning on taking the Brazilian tour in October?
Ken
Ken,
Thanks! I am certain the project is in Fortaleza. Sorry I’m not going on the Brazilain tour in October – are you? – but hope to go next April with my church. We are a UK church that has ‘engaged’ or ‘twinned’ with the church in which the project is rooted so we are to do a church visit. Early stages of planning so I hope it comes together. My hubby and I are considering travelling to Bolivia after that to visit our outher sponsored child, we thought as we were on the same continent….lol! Though not sure how the budget will work out!
Shirley
Wow, there are so many centers and so many sponsors, it’s like finding a needle in a haystack matching locations like this.
I have two little girls in Haiti,
HA-277
HA-712
I think Charm also said she had a child in HA-712. Yay! Bingo! My girls come from families of six children each, so I often wonder how many of thier siblings have sponsors, and who they are, and if we are working together to bless those families without knowing it.
I really like Judith’s idea about using a map to pinpoint locations. I think Google maps can do stuff like that- we could each pin a little tag to the map on our child’s location. Actually, let me scoot over there and see if I can set that up for this message board, that would be cool!
my husband and i support a young man (he’s 16 now!) in tanzania-
TZ 203
Shirley,
I was planning on going. I have been praying about getting the time off from work. Working in a school system, the higher ups don’t like staff taking time off during the school year. They feel it disrupts the flow of education. I can understand however I’ve seen others take time off for many reasons: from illness and maternity leave to traveling with one’s parents every year to Italy. I put a deposit on the tour so I like to say I am going. God knows I really want to go and see my children. It would be a special trip because my birthday and 3 of my children’s birthdays are around the time of the tour: Sept.27, Oct.4 & 17, Nov.10. I hope you get to go in April.
Ken
@ken MacDonald –
Ken,
I have a 7 year old girl at BO415, Arce de Noe. They are great about writing letters from that project although the translations are often poor. (I think that is done at the country office though.) I even received extra pictures of my child with her family. Have you gotten pictures of your child’s family? The family photos were great so I could picture her in her home environment.
I have a child in PH-216 and have received several photos of her at the child development center playing games, dancing, doing activities, and posing with the rest of the children and the staff. Maybe if someone sponsors a child in that project they would like to see the photos of the student center that your child attends. Just let me know!
Mine is:
ES 849
if anyone has a match, please feel free to email me (kyr004@yahoo.com).
I am sponsoring a child Lenin EC129.
I know there haven’t been any matches for HA-204 yet, but it seems to me that the Haiti info I got was a bit sparse compared to the info I got on East India…so if anyone has some extra interesting learnings of Haiti, I would love to hear them. (I tried to google it, but there was not a lot of info provided beyond tourism). Anyone else have a hard time believing that there are really only 3 important holidays in Haiti? (India has a list longer than my leg!)
@Mike Stephens –
Mike – I just signed up for another child in Nicaragua – I was looking at the web site and there was a 13 year old that shares my birthday. I know it can be harder to find sponsors for older kids, but I just know it will be cool to have a birthday in common with my child.
My kids are:
NI 105
NI 122
NI 179
NI 120
NI 102
Lisa, We have a match in Ethiopia,513. What can you tell me about your child there? This is so wonderful to be able to do this! Does your child write very often?
@Lisa – To add to previous comment, my child is a 13 year old boy form Akaki Beseka MYC Student Center. He has written one brief letter so not much to report yet.
I have four children.
Here are the numbers:
PH-920
PH-435
IN-771
RW-635
HA 624 – 17 y.o. boy
HA 108 – 10 y.o. girl
CO 168 – 14 y.o. boy
I haven’t seen any matches yet for my sponsored children, but I have seen quite a few that are really close and just a few numbers off. Anyway, here are my children!
NI-205
BO-287
GH-219
TZ-228
I would love to talk to anyone who has children in the same project! Thanks to Compassion for doing this
I sponsor an eight year old girl in Ecuador- EC457. If any one has news on the volcano erruption, I would love to hear it… it is near Nelly’s center and I am very anxious for news about which center was affected. Her center is the Mas Que Vencedores Center.
Tanis,
This link contains the most recent information, which isn’t much, about the volcano eruption. As more information is sent in by the El Salvador country office, this is where it’ll be posted. Also, if your child is directly affected, you will be contacted.
I sponsor a 12-year-old boy from ET-126 and a five-year-old girl from HA-807. I LOVE every opportunity I have to write to them.
Being the geek that I am, I put the projects listed into an Excel file and came up with the following matches (assuming I didn’t make any typos…):
DR 313: Britney and Juli Jarvis
ES 780: Erica and Lisa
ES 813: Amanda and Glenn
ET 513: Barbara M. and Lisa
IN 791: Kara, Lisa, and Sara Benson
KE 420: Audrey and Robyn
NI 120: Mike Stephens and me
PE 108: Mike Stephens and Allen
TZ 135: Mike Stephens and Audrey
UG 924: Britt and Christi
Pretty cool to see the number of matches as well as the one project with three matches!
messed up one project number in my list – NI 120 should be NI 203 (I glanced and saw the “I” in “NI” and read it as a “1″). This is the one where Mike and I match up.
I also have a sponsored child at ES780. I have visited El Salvador a few times but have not visited this project since it was started since I was there.
I’ve got one child. She’s 16 and from Tanzania. It’s project number TZ-206.
@Lisa Herbert – I also have a sponsored child from UG230. I have visited her a few times but never been to the project since it is far from Kampala.
@Erica – I also have a sponsored child at ES780. I have visited El Salvador a few times but have not visited this project since it was started since I was there.
I just sponsered my first child. A 5 year old girl at NI171. I just mailed my first letter to her.
I sponsor an 8 year old girl in Ecuador-EC457. No matches yet, but it would be great to hear from others who sponsor kids from this center!
I have a few sponsored children from Uganda. The projects are
UG216
UG230
UG445
UG519
UG701
UG720
UG722
UG817
UG980.
I am not sure if this was already answered, but for anyone who is still confused…
Your child’s reference number has their project number in it.
For Example: ES-321-8765
ES= El Salvador
321= the project number
so the project number would be ES-321
Patricimo,
I am sad that we may not have a photographer on our Philippines Sponsor Tour but…I will make sure I take tons of pictures!!! Let me know when you are going to NI-203!!! See you soon
@Kara – Hi Kara, My child from IN-791 is a 13 year old girl named Bibitha. I have just started corresponding with her so I don’t know too much about her project yet. Is your child a girl, or boy? How old?
@Prairie Rose -
I have a 9 year old girl at project UG 437! How fun – I’m excited to see how we will all connect
@Kristen –
I also sponsor an 11 yo girl from NI 111!
@Lisa Herbert –
I sponsor a 6 yo girl from BO 284 (sorry I’m posting these separately, its just easier as I go down the list of responses!)
I have just been reading through all the comment and just realised that I have a match with Anne Pixberg. I have a six year old girl in HA 796, How old is your little boy?
Congratulations Joshua on your sponsorship; it’s a wonderful journey.
Ok, one last post with all of my kids’ projects! Also, I will be going to El Salvador for one week on March 28th to visit my kids, so if anyone has kids with the same projects as me, please let me know and I’ll send some love their way!
BO 139, 284, 413
BR 194
DR 304
EC 436
ES 716, 759, 770, 812, 816
ET 553
GU 939
HO 202, 224, 307, 407, 513
IN 239
IO 749, 976, 985
KE 342
ME 779, 788
NI 111
PE 330
RW 362
UG 437
@ Jo:
Our little boy from HA796 is four years old.
@Jr –
I have a correspondence child in UG 230!! first match I have seen on here.
BR404
DR322
ID400
IN629
PE144
TZ816
@Mervin –
I have never visited any of my children, maybe someday! my child in UG230 is a correspondence child. I have only been corresponding with him for about a year. His name is Sam and he is great!
It may take forever to go through and find matches, but it’s fun to see so many responses! Here’s mine:
DR126
DR126
DR243
DR245
DR290
DR346
IO784
I also have an LDP student in the DR, and correspond with an LDP in the Philippines.
I plan to travel to the DR in October for the graduation of our student at DR346.
PH809
PH611
PH900
Very cool! The girl I sponsor there (Reyna) just turned 6 about a month ago. I’ve been sponsoring her for a little over a year.
@Compassiondave –
I have two kids in Guatamala
@Michael – A match! How exciting! Our little guy is from DR243. His name is Julio and he just turned 6. Who do you sponsor there?
I WIN!!! I have 3 matches!!! Thank you for the excel spreadsheet PAT!!! I can’t believe you did that!!! Did it take a long time??? I am thankful for this blog b/c it has excellent info about Compassion. Dwight I can’t believe we don’t match!!! If you want me to take anything for you in my suitcase give me a call or email. 719-531-6326
michaelstephens56@yahoo.com.
I think I will try to pack lighter than I did in Nicaragua. All I really needed in Nicaragua was maybe 3 pairs of clothes and my gifts. Thanks again for the spreadsheet PAT!!! It has been awhile since I have won anything so this feels GREAT!!!
I guess I have to share first place with Lisa. So we both win Lear Jets woo hoooooooooo!!!
@autumn –
Hey Autumn! I believe we have a match… there is a beautiful fifteen year old young woman my family and I have been sponsoring for almost eight years at PE 330.
We also have:
BF 256
HA 266
IN 843
Cannot wait to see what Compassion is working on! This seems like another great way to make our world feel a little bit smaller and us sponsors a lot more connected.
I sponsor children in:
BO358
UG446
Barbara-
I’ve only been sponsoring Bethleheme for about 4 months and I’ve received 1 letter. It arrived very quickly after I began sponsoring her. With the speed of the first letter I was hoping I’d hear from her frequently, but so far that’s not been the case. I write every 2 to 3 weeks, so I’m praying that if I keep at it, she’ll warm to me and the idea of letter writing!
How about you? How often do you write your child? Do you receive letters often? Isn’t Ethiopia supposed to be on the reciprocal system?
Erica-
Seven years! That’s wonderful. What’s your childs name? Have you been able to go to El Salvador? I hope that I’ll be able to watch Andrea grow into a young woman as you’ve been able to with your girl.
Speaking of Andrea, I received a letter from her today. She’s still too young to write on her own, but I can definitely sense more of her personality coming out in her letters. The first couple were pretty formal, like the project writer was telling her what to say. This letter she gave me a healthy discussion on her favorite food–beans and cheese. Much more 6 year old sounding!
Mike-
Good of you to share first place with me and I promise if there is only one Lear jet I’ll share it with you!:-)
My girls are from Colombia and Brazil. Sorry I don’t have the numbers up right now, but I will try to find them and repost.
I have been sponsoring a little boy in PE 256, Tambo Viejo in Peru. I was blessed to visit him and his mom last August on a trip. What a joy it was to see him.
I haven’t seen many Peru sponsors, but I did see a match on Facebook!
Thank you Lisa!!! I would even be willing to parachute out of the plane into the Philippines so you wouldn’t even have to land!!! In fact I would be willing to do that on every trip in our new Lear Jet!!! I will even let you be the one who owns it!!! (just in case there are any taxes on it)
This is so neat to see where everyone is sponsoring kids.
So far I haven’t found any matches but it’s cool to see all those who have had matches.
Here are mine. I have 5 at the moment but am looking into getting 2 more. Depends on a few things in the financial area.
CO-153
EC-180
ET-130
IN-227
IN-789
@Pat Bell –
I definitely appreciate your “geekiness”, Pat! Trying to figure out the matches with so many replies is difficult
Valerie,
I understand sometimes it is a difficult decision to sell your house and car
…but from my experience the journey I have been on and yet to go on with the 3 boys I sponsor in the Philippines is more valuable than any house or car on this earth!!! if you happen to decide to sponsor two kids from the Philippines I am quite willing and available to take whatever you would like me to take that I can fit in my suitcase when I visit the Philippines in June!!! I can only wish I had my own house and car to sell!!! B/c I believe I would sell them!!! But that probably explains why I do not have a house and car in the first place!!! Go for it Valerie add the 2 kids!!! (michaelstephens56@yahoo.com)
Mike,
Heh.. if only it were that simple. It’s more things like school and old bills that need to be paid off more than it is about house or car. Though I do have to have a car as I don’t have public transportation out to where I live and can’t afford to move into the city where it DOES exist. But if it were that simple, I’d do it.
I’m trying to err on the side of caution because the last thing I want to do is sponsor a child or two and then realize I have too many or have some kind of financial crisis and have to give UP the sponsorship! So I think I’ll take it slow on the decision to sponsor more.
@Pat Bell – awesome Pat.
@~audrey~ – Hey audrey is there anyway we can exchange emails or something to share more info?
@Pat Bell – now that’s thinking!!!! Love the Excel idea!
@Rebecca –
Rebecca — contact me (pjarvis@bresnan.net)
@Rebecca –
Rebecca — the regular compassion website has a lot of great stories divided up by country. Go to: http://www.compassion.com/about/where/haiti.htm — then click on “country news page” for plenty of photos and stories. Also, if you set up an online account on the Compassion site, you can pick up additional information about your child’s project. Look on the left side of your account page, where it says “Child Information.” Nice feature!
@Britney –
Britney — We have a match! I have been to the DR and met my boy from DR-313, and also met the wonderful project facilitator and (equally wonderful) project director! I did not get to the project however. It’s in the northern part of the country.
@Lisa Miles –
Thank you Lisa for pointing out our match.
Boy, does this ever prove people like talking about their sponsored kids? Let’s talk them up among our friends and acquaintances too!
@Robyn –
Robyn – I would love to share more info with you. My e-mail is (alschiavo@gmail.com)
Our family sponsors Frank in TZ 216. I’d love to hear from any matches!
Pat,
Thanks so much for the cool spreadsheet. I noticed you had
me listed as ES 813. My little boy is actually at ES 822. I sure do hope to get a match!
Amanda
My two:
ES755
EC421
This is really neat!
So many posts, and so quickly! This is an outstanding idea! Thanks to Pat for the spreadsheet–that does simply things.
I believe I have matches with Sara and Kara (IN-791) Barbara (ET-513) and Erica and Mervin (ES-780). I’m pretty new to Compassion so I don’t have a lot of information to share, but would love to hear from you all. I’ve set up an email account (compassion_cohorts@msn.com)
If you’d like to chat, please drop me a line!
Oh, and a P.S. to Mike: I appreciate the gesture of offering to jump out of the plane, but I’d feel better if we actually landed at the airport for you. I hadn’t thought about the taxes. Maybe we ought to refuse outright ownership and settle for priority status on booking the plane for trips?
I haven’t seen any matches yet for me.
NI 151
I sponsor a little girl who’s turning 7 this month.
Lisa, My child is a 13 year old boy and I have been writing now for several months. I have only received his first letter which was a fill in the blanks form. I write to him once a month. I have no real sense of him or his project or his family. It is all rather vague. I will keep on writing faithfully and hopefully a relationship will develop . Yes, Ethiopia is on the reciprocal system but that has not been my experience with any of my Ethiopian children.@Lisa -
@kim mvr – @kim mvr – Kim, I also have a young man that I sponsor in Namanga Tanzania. I have tried to research more info about the area, his project, ect. but have not found much. Where is your child located? Does he write much? I would love to hear about your experience with him.
IN-733 is for my sponsored child. I specifically sought out a girl that fell right between my two sons. I can’t have any more children of my own. She is the child of my heart!
These are the children’s projects where I sponsor in. The only match, I found is DR-521, and that little girl might actually be moved to another project.
BF-100
BF-305
BO-125
BO-132
BO-137
BO-154
BO-175
BO-178
BO-180
BO-181
BO-184
BO-222
BO-360
BO-436
BO-557
BO-571
CO-125
CO-172
CO-422
DR-454
DR-521
DR-705
EC-141
EC-270
IO-885
ME-802
PE-263
PE-267
PE-431
Kees
I would love to be in touch with others, who sponsor in those projects. I’ve visited a lot of the projects and might have pictures/videos of them. My email is:
keesboer@positive-entertainment.com
Kees
Just to have another file (perhaps I’m more of a geek than Pat, since I’m duplicating work), I compiled another EXCEL spreadsheet. I’m planning on compiling the list here and the one on Facebook (people have been responding to the copy of the blog post that migrated over there).
Just wanted to share that, among the responses here alone, we’re talking about just over 325 sponsored children (I don’t have an exact number, since I didn’t list the ones who didn’t have their center number available yet).
325 kids!
How do we read the blog on facebook?
Here is the list of projects where my sponsored children are.
DR120
DR357
ES526
ES526
ES735
ES772
ES780
ES794
ES794
PH834
RW921
I hope that I can find a match.
In case my previous post doesn’t actually post (usually it’s automatic)…
Kees, if I’m right, you also match with Steve K., PE 267.
Mike, as for reading the Compassion blog on FB, you can either befriend Wess Stafford (yep, he’s on there, and links the blog posts as notes), or else find the Compassion fan page–which is where people have been commenting on this particular thread. http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Compassion-International/6231686654?ref=ts
@Lisa –
My girl’s name is Marta. From what I understand, their 15th birthday is pretty significant. I’m excited to hear how she’s going to celebrate. Two of my other girls are also going to be 15 this year and I’ve had both of them for 7 years now as well. It’s been wonderful seeing them grow into beautiful young ladies.
The only country we’ve been able to visit so far is Guatemala. We have two little girls there, one is 9 and one is 10. They were 6 and 7 when we visited them. We had a wonderful time and I HIGHLY recommend visiting if you get a chance. My older girls often ask in their letters if they can meet me. It’s so sad that we can’t afford to do it right now
I found that Marta’s letters were very short in the beginning. She was behind in school so she is just beginning to write on her own. Now we get them a little more frequently, but they are about the same length. My Honduran girl and one of the Guatemalan girls are my most prolific writers. They could write pages if they were allowed to!
I have a question for everyone. What do you like to include for your child when you write? I usually just send stickers and pictures, but I’m looking for other little things I can include. Any suggestions?
Are there any sponsors for DR411. The sponsored girl I had there is now the project secretary!
My family sponsors girls in:
DR-450
ET-111
ET-323
ET-454
Ok, I’m reposting. My girls are:
Yessica from CO-154 (I get to go see her in May!!!!)
Regiane from BR-323
My parents also sponsor two:
Silvislane from BR-449
Eko from Indonesia (sorry, I don’t know his number)
I haven’t seen a match yet, but I’m eagerly waiting for one! A few people have had CO-153; does that mean the projects are very close to each other?
Close numbers do not always mean that the projects are close. When I went to Kenya we were given a book that included a map showing the location of all of the projects. I noticed that the numbers tended to jump around a lot.
There are a lot of good suggestions on the posts..
“Letter writing ideas”and
“Are my letters really that important?”
@Sara Benson –
I sponsor a child at BO284 in Atchacachi Bolivia
I have two, IO-766 and ID-129…I haven’t seen a match..but I really love the idea for sponsors to communicate. God bless you all,,,
@Erica –
Erica,
I usually say something encouraging, have a bible verse, and if I am doing anything interesting like my next upcoming triathlon race. I tell them what I hope to accomplish in the race. Depending on what they right back I answer their questions and ask a few of my own. My favorite letters are when I send a gift and get a picture of what they bought!!!
Wow…this is great to read!
Here’s my list:
EI 105
IN 281
IN 374
DR 243 **match with Michael and Andrea
ET 208
PE 358
GH 402
PH 411
NI 111 **match with Autumn and Kristen
KE 200
IO 946
I might have missed some matches…let me know if you see any more!
Here is the Facebook link:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/pages/Compassion-International/6231686654?v=feed&story_fbid=58150958482
Most, however, are just sharing the country, not the specific center. I think it’s awesome to see some of the centers match up! I’m excited to see what Compassion develops to connect sponsors of children at the same center.
Mike,
Yeah, we don’t really have any problems with things to say. All of our kids are very chatty and since we’ve had most of them for nearly 8 years, we are never at a loss for words, just space on the paper
I was just wondering if anyone had any suggestions of little items to include as special little gifts, like post cards, stickers, things like that. I feel like I’m always putting in sheets of stickers, and I know the kids appreciate them, but I was wondering if other people had some good ideas of what to send. I like the idea of putting a little something extra in with my letters when I write.
Thanks.
This is so fun to read!!!
I know I match with Pat Bell for NI-105, but I’m not sure about the others.
My kids are from:
EI-221
NI-105
TH-708
ES-862
UG-507
And my parents are:
TZ-501
PE-223
This is so neat to see how many projects there are in each country….I had no idea!
Erica,
I often include pictures of me and my family or postcards of where I live or where I might be visiting (like my boyfriend’s family in WV or something).
I get either pre-cut bookmarks or cardstock I can cut and make bookmarks for them or some other little paper gift. For the younger ones, I send pages out of coloring books.
Just a few of the things available to do.
I send lots of pretty cards that celebrate various events in Japan (hina matsuri, cherry blossom viewing etc). I send colouring pages to all my younger children and I have found postcards that you colour/paint for my older kids. I also send blank postcards that they can decorate themselves. There are some great websites such as “enchanted learning” or http://www.dltk-holidays.com/easter/worksheets.htm that have interesting reading activities, puzzles, crafts etc. Dover books have a free sample page every week and I often print things off and send them.
With the older kids I often send newspaper stories, chapters of a book with each letter, bookmarkers, pictures of my local area etc. The older girls like pretty writing paper and envelopes, mini notes, fancy sticky notes, jigsaw cards etc.
Geri
BR-371 Micaelly
BR-141 Danielle
IN-843 Mangesh
(great idea for this post…so wonderful to see some connections being made!)
blessings!
Thelma,
I have a match with your child in IO766. My child there is one of my newest, though, so I don’t have a lot of information yet. What have your thoughts been on this project so far?
@Thelma -
Mine are:
TZ 319
ES 768
DR 294
Honduras 204, 205 & 259
WOW! What a great idea…
I saw some others in DR but none were a match. I have a child in the Dominican Republic @
DR 161
God bless the ones who are trying to organize this. Thank you.
Just looking over the recent updates. Junior–do you have more than one child at a couple of projects? I noticed that ES794 and 526 were listed twice. I think it’d be cool to sponsor another child from the same project where Gabriel is!
My child, Maria, is at CO178.
Geri,(comment #224) You said you send newspaper clippings and chapters of books with your letters. Do they get translated along with your letters? I love reading and want to share that with my little girl, but didn’t know if it was OK since a book chapter would be much longer than a one page letter.
Honduras 268, 506
@Jonathan –
Oooh, a match! We sponsor a boy in HA610, he will turn 10 in April.
I have sponsored children in the following projects:
BD 203
BF 301
BO 180
BO 281
BO 418
BO 423
BR 302
DR 450
EC 258
EC 344
ET 327
ET 654
GH 512
GH 600
GH 801
HA 420
HO 404
IN 246
IN 627
IO 861
KE 553
KE 703
ME 780
NI 169
PE 219
PH 921
RW 251
TG 101
TZ 212
UG 438
I’ll have to look for matches later, but it would be great to hear from sponsors with children in the same projects.
I’ve visited the following projects: BO 281 PE 250, ET 203, KE 703, TZ 212, GH 600, BF 301 and IN 627
Hi, Steve K.
I got a correspondence child, named Matthias in PE-267
Kees
@Judith Tremblay –
Judith thank you!!!
It’s great to see people who sponsor so many kids!!! The most I ever read about was the lady who sponsored close to 70 and a gentleman who was on our Nicaragua tour sponsored 40+!!! It was an encouragement for me!!!
Packages arrived!
My boys are from RW546 and TZ237.
Erica,
I’ve been a Girl Scout leader for 11 years, and in corresponding with my Compassion girls have recycled many of the ideas that worked well with the scouts. One of the best places to find interesting gifts is an educational toy store. They have everything from light sensitive paper to books on optical illusions, stencils, and much more.
At bookstores, you can find magazines for kids which have great pictures and often nonverbal games. This is also a great place to find sudoku books geared for a younger audience. I’ve sent those in the hope it would help them learn addition.
Our local newspaper has proved valuable, too. Often there is a funny picture or a cartoon. Humor is difficult to translate from one culture to another, but often there are cartoons with universal appeal.
I’ve sent songs with musical notes/guitar chords, hoping that one or the other might be helpful. I’ve been disappointed with that, though, as I didn’t get any feedback.
Makingfriends.com has a great selection of multi-cultural paper dolls that you can print off. They have paper dolls celebrating American holidays and history as well. Janbrett.com has an amazing selection of fun and educational ideas all illustrated by this wonderful children’s book author. (Kees, I especially thought of you in mentioning this website as you’ve said that you are helping some of your kids to learn English. This is a great resource for that.)
Another book related idea is Flat Stanley – the story of a boy who is flattened by a bulletin board and mailed by his parents to California where he visits his best friend. Many schools around the world use this book for learning geography as each child colors a Flat Stanley paper doll and sends it to a friend in another locale. Flat Stanley then “writes” home detailing where he’s been and what he’s done. Flatstanley.com. is the site for the project. This is really popular with the 7-9 year olds.
I’ve also sent my girls Google maps satellite pictures of their towns and of mine. In the image of Managua, Nicaragua, I couldn’t figure out what in the world I was looking at until I researched it further and found out it was 2 water filled volcanic craters!
I’m currently working on a Bingo game that I’m making up with pictures of Nicaragua, to not only show her that I’m learning about her country, but in the hopes of making her proud of it as well. I’ve never had the opportunity to visit one of the projects, but my feeling is that it might be difficult to be proud of your country if all you see around you is poverty.
My next big project is going to be a calendar interspersing pictures of the 2 families with pictures of our 2 countries. Of course that means being really organized as it would have to go in the mail by September!
Hope some of these ideas help!
DR127
NI223
Sarah,
Your ideas were terrific! Thanks so much for sharing.
I,too, tend to send things that have been a hit with my own children and in the children’s ministry program that I direct.
Today we sent our child a paper airplane my son made and I’m also planning to send some Life Magazine Picture Puzzles where they have to spot the differences.
New and different “flat” things to send can be hard to think of, though, so I appreciate having some new ideas.
My sponsored child, Deyibeth, is from Ecuador. Her number is:
EC-555
@Lori – I sponsor a six year old in GH 212. I started in January and have since received a letter and a drawing from him. It’s very heartwarming!
My little boy, Elias, just turned 7 in December. I picked him because he is close to my son’s age, whose name is also Elias. What is your little girl’s name?
We got a match Mike DR:243
Me too for DR 243
Wow…..Sara – this blog has erupted! And with the blogging on FB – I am so blessed and so excited!!!!
Sarah – loved the ideas you shared….EVERYONE – I love the ideas you shared!
I have so many ideas that I am going to have trouble spreading them out through the year!!!!
If anyone has a BigLots/Oddlots nearby – there are some neat stickers you can get pretty cheaply.
I would like to know the answer to the newspaper articles being translated.
Thanks to everyone that has posted….you guys are going to be fun to rock with in the Kingdom!
It didn’t take long…just a bunch of copying and pasting. Of course a ton more responses to add at some point.
Mike – I just noticed that the girl I sponsored over the weekend goes to the NI-102 project – that is the one we visited where the video on YouTube of the girls dancing was filmed. Now I have to go through my pictures to see if she is in any of them!
Thanks for pointing that out.
Sarah,
Wow! Thanks for all the neat ideas! I love the bingo idea with pictures of their country! And the Google maps idea! I have sent postcards of Michigan and one of stuff just in Ann Arbor but the Google maps idea is great.
Thanks for all those great ideas!
I have two children.
Karla (10yrs old) from El Salvador ES-526
Jeeva (13yrs old) from India IN-788
@Hannah –
Hannah,
Coincidentally, I also sponsor a terrific 12 year old, Eliyas, (going on 30!), from the same project in Sashemene, Ethiopia, ET126. Please email me, Cindy…
(cellerman10@hotmail.com)
I plan to visit this year.
@Pat Bell – Kudos to making an excel worksheet for all of this… i could never do it! But I was wondering… where can I find this worksheet? I am less than computer savvy, so any help would be appreciated!
I sponsor Melissa at PE-158 and Maria at PH-500, and correspond with Josielle at BR-219 and Nihimi at EI-415. I’ve searched the whole page and haven’t come up with a match yet, but I still have hope that I’ll find a match later!
My child is in Colombia, South America
her name is karen
she is sweetest girl ive ever known
I did a count on my spreadsheet–Uganda is leading the list of most “popular” countries sponsored, at 27. Peru is a close second at 25. I’ve only seen 1 listing for Togo, but that’s understandable since they’re still a “new” country.
yay!! i found my first match! my sweet little girl lives in kenya too!!
ke553
@Pat Bell –
Pat that’s great, thanks again for all your picture taking during the Tour!!!
One of my boy, Wawan, is in East Java, and the other one, Marwan, is in Winuri, North of Manado. I receive letters from them 4 times in a year. I praise God for this ministry. I think it’s a good idea for sponsors to get to know each other..Facebook is good start..@Thelma -
@Compassiondave –
We both have an LDP friend that came from DR-243 — Ana Luisa!
@Compassiondave –
Oh! Mindy and Jane both have kids at DR-245 and I have a very special friend there, although I’m not his sponsor. I’ve been to the project twice — it’s really a great one!
@Jill Foley –
My sister and I sponser twins in PE 358 and have for almost 3 years now!
My sister and I also sponser another set of twin girls in PE 386, though we just started sponsering them last month. I’ve visited a few of the projects in Peru back in 2004. A few of the projects sounded fimilar, but I’m unsure of the numbers.
Any other matches I’d love to chat. My email is: (kute_queen@hotmail.com)
Mine are
UG-150
ID-241
Some of you are close but I don’t think I match anyone. If you do send me an email (mschwanda@hotmail.com).
I sponsor mainly in the Philippines and India. All the children write their letters in English and seem to have no problems reading anything I send. I don’t send book chapters to my girl in Tanzania because of the translation issues but have sent newspaper cuttings without any problmes.
Geri
@Lisa Herbert – Lisa, I have a little girl at BO 284!!! She is the most wonderful, sweet kid!!! Her name is Gladys and I think she’s the bees knees!! Who is your child?
We sponsor 3 girls,
El Salvador
Columbia
Honduras
@Robyn – I have a match with Robyn – I sponsor Tania (11) from Ecuador EC107 . . . I also sponsor Angela from Kenya (no matches yet) KE741. My email is (mariafaith01@hotmail.com). Just a tip, Ctrl + F (or Edit-Find) works well to search this page by your project number instead of having to scroll through the whole page.
My child is in Guatemala…and I really hope to visit sometime sooner than later!
Hello,
So, I asked for children to correspond with and when I didn’t hear from them for a month, I wrote in to ask for more children…. AND… I just received 4 kids to correspond with in the mail today!!
I am soooo excited!! They’re in the following projects!!
DR – 382
EC – 381
ES – 723
RW – 821
=D Now I have sooo many more children to write to (on top of the 1 I sponsor and 3 I already correspond with) its sooo exciting!! =D
I sponsor a little boy in Rwanda, but I don’t know where to find the number?? ANyone let me know?
He is at the Rusenge Student center.
maybe rw-438
Sue, I tried to leave you a message last week but I don’t see it…anyway, my Chucha is 18 years old at ET106! I have a photo of her grandparents seated outside of their house and a photo of Chucha and her grandfather with the cow they bought with my family gift. I can send you them as an email attachment if you want. Let me know.
@ Chuck
We have a match- HO259. I haven’t seen a match for my other two girls in HO412 and HO511 yet.
It’s just something I have on my computer.
Is anyone a match for
NI 160
This is my first month sponsoring a little girl in Nicaragua! I love being a part of this!
My sponsered children are in:
ET 109
ET 144
TZ 302
The Tanzanian chld is actually a correspondence child.
I don’t know if I matched with anyone though! The posts are way wayyyyy too long. Hopefully if the message board idea or something like it ever gets started it will all be listed by country.
(bono_jesusfreak@hotmail.com)
Email me if you happen to have any kids in the same projects as mine!
I did go ahead and get 2 more little girls – they’re in EC-457 & ET-546.
The rest of my list again is:
CO-153
EC-180
ET-130
IN-227
IN-789
Valerie
@cindy –
Cindy,
Yay! We match! Thank you for the offer! I will e-mail you shortly. I’ve been pretty busy the past few days.
How long have you been sponsoring Eliyas? I just love sponsoring Yehune and my other child, Kintherlord. They are both amazing!
How exciting that you are going to Ethiopia! Have you been there before?
I scanned, I didn’t see any matches, but I could be wrong.
I have
ID 119
IO 999
PE 439
PH 594
ES 767
ES 789
NI 150
NI 173
GU 939
BR 368
BR 374
HO 240
HO 412
EC 459
TH 703
CO 151
I had another in Thailand, but she graduated.
@ Mike Stevens….I am going to the Philippines in June too! See ya there!
God bless.
Mine is from Tanzania:
TZ-239
My husband and I currently sponsor 3 children:
IN-187 Durga Prasanna (match with Mallory)
GH-219 Elizabeth (match with Alyson)
HO-239 Amado de Jesus
I’m going on the Honduras sponsor tour in May, and I’m so incredibly excited! We won’t be going to Amado’s project, but I’m still looking forward to loving on those kids up north. My grandma just got back from her 2nd sponsor tour to Ethiopia last month. She and my mom both sponsor girls there, and she met up with them both. She also got reacquainted with a boy she’d sponsored for years who had graduated from the program. He’s a bright and successful young man, has a good job and his own apartment, and made a special (surprise) trip to spend the first part of the week with my grandma. Lots of happy tears, let me tell you! I don’t recall the project numbers, but between my mom and grandma, they have 2 in Ethiopia, 1 in Uganda, and 2 in Indonesia.
Erica – I found some beginning reader type books in Spanish that I send to Amado (all Bible stories with really basic vocab). They’re just the right size, and he loves having his own stories at home. And as he has some learning disabilities, they’re even more useful.
@autumn – I have a girl at BO 284 too!!! Her name is Gladys! What is your child’s name?
My child is from India… but I haven’t found a match yet.
IN682
Let’s see if this works…
I’ve uploaded my spreadsheet to Google Docs. I opened it, then copied the address in my browser. Here’s the link:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=psQHClunCqvF4hMK0tVCvVA&hl=en
Hopefully it’ll open directly to the spreadsheet. Ideally, I’d like for everyone to be able to edit it, in case you notice any typos on my part. If you can’t open it, please let me know @ (miztremblay@gmail.com)
If I made any typos and you aren’t able to edit it, please let me know and I’ll fix it as soon as I’m able!
Stephanie ~ You’re going on that Honduras Tour?!?!?!?! You lucky thing. I have a 15 year old girl in a project near San Pedro Sula that I would love to visit. Do you have the list of projects you are going to be visiting yet? I would love to know if you will be close to my child or not!!!!
@Judith Tremblay – I can’t open it…but will email you ….great idea!
@Misty Compton –
Misty, yes I have been anticipating it daily for almost a year now!!! I am amazed I was able to get a job to pay for it!!! Are you taking a video camera? I hope so, if not I am going to see if I can borrow one from someone. I want to take lots of pictures just so I can show others and for myself to remember the trip!!! See you soon!!!
To those who wanted access to my excel spreadsheet, I went in and saw that there was an option to “share with everyone”. I set it so that you should have access to edit it, without signing in.
Here’s a new link (which should work):
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=psQHClunCqvF4hMK0tVCvVA
@ Stephanie -
That is so great that we both have a child in GH-219! I began sponsoring her somewhat recently, but I have received a letter and drawing from my precious little girl and I am so happy to be sponsoring her.
Have you received any letters yet from your child Elizabeth?
Do you have an email address? I would like to talk to you more
My little guy is in Haiti. The number (I think)….is
HA743…any matches out there??
Also, I’m seriously considering trying to visit in March of next year with Compassion and would love to connect with anyone else thinking about going or who has visited before.
My Nicaragua kids are not in your project, but I have tons of pictures from last summer’s sponsor tour to Nicaragua at http://www.flickr.com/photos/pmbell64/sets/72157605779000292/
We sponsor a 15 yr. old girl from Tanzania. TZ208 have not found a match yet. let me know if we match.
Sara I have a match,
BF301
BF452
EC330
EC376
@Crystal – @Kay –
We have a match!!!!
BF452, I have a beautiful boy there, he will be 10 in June.
@Ceri –
I have BF301 a little girl who turned 8 in November, I just received my first letter from her. I began sponsering her in January.
Jennifer,
How wonderful that you were able to find a child with the same name and age as your little boy. What fun for both of them! I’d love to chat with you more about PE 391. My little girl is quite a writer and has given me a lot of insight into her culture. Please email me when you get a chance, we can compare notes. (Sarah.Cross@hotmail.com)
Yippee! When I went into “My Account” this evening, my correspondence child was posted! He’s from ID-231. Now I can check to see if this new one matches anyone’s!
I have a child ha-204, and would love to visit Haiti…can’t predict a year from now, but if I don’t go with you, I wouldn’t mind contacting you after the visit (maybe stealing some of your pictures), and if you don’t mind, I would love a chance to send a gift with you for my kid. This idea has so many possibilities.
I just began sponsoring a little girl in ES-807 and I’d love to know more about the project if anyone is a match (I haven’t seen any yet).
@Danielle – I did today and asked for 2!!! Can’t wait. It really amazes me how much we have and how little they have and the smallest things mean so much to them.
I didn’t see any matches yet, though I might have missed them. My kids are from:
BD 214
EI 406
HA 715
ME 823
TZ 124
@ Mike S.
Sorry, I don’t have a video camera. Just a regular camera! I take about 400-600 photos each trip. I have been to visit a few of my other kids. Sometimes someone from the local staff will also be taking candid shots and will give a disc, that then gets copied and sent out. And some of the sponsors will upload photos to a site where we can all share w/ each other.
God bless.
@michelle –
I’m also sponsoring a child : Carolyn in the same center EC129.
Here are all the centers where we are sponsoring :
EC 129
BD 510
TH 938
RW 638, 368
EI 154
HO 333
KE 207
@Caitlin –
Hi Caitlin…Not sure how that works to know if I would be able to visit the same child development center that your child attends or deliver a gift from you if we’ll be in a nearby area. If so, I’d be glad to do that…and definitely share pictures! I do absolutely love this concept.
@Walther Dominique – Where is RW 638? I sponsor a boy in RW631 (Gatore Student Centre – near Kibungo) and wonder if they are any where near each other.
@Robyn – Not really ! The center 638 is near Nyagatare in the north. I have a map of Rwanda with the numbers of the centers. Those who are nearest from 631 are : 620,627,630,636,637,640,641.
@ Erin
when you get your tickets for the trip, there will also be a booklet that says what projects you will be visiting. That’s about 2 weeks before you leave. Also, I went to Indonesia last year and I had a friend who sponsored a child there, at a project we didn’t visit. I brought a small gift for that child and left it at the Compassion office and they made arrangements to get it to the child. On your tour you will spend at least part of one day at the Compassion office, where you will learn a great deal more about how it all works!
Have fun and God bless.
@ Judith….I just checked out the spreadsheet, expecting to add mine in, and I was amazed to see them already listed! That was alot of work you put in to that, so thank you very much!
God bless
@Judith Tremblay – I am so blessed with how this works….
I was able to put my email address into the spreadsheet!!!!
I suggest you make a copy every now and then just in case someone accidentally makes some sort of mistake – since it is openly shared.
I am getting sooooo hungry to go on a sponsor trip…and working up the courage to be an advocate….and these blogs are really stirring it up!
Tanis,
I have just started sponsoring a little girl who is also 8 at EC-457. I don’t know much about the volcano because I just started sponsoring her on Monday but I’d still love to talk with you! You can e-mail me at (valeriedlong@gmail.com).
How long have you been sponsoring your little girl there? As I said, I just started sponsoring this little girl on Monday and my other girl in Ecuador I just started sponsoring about a week or two ago. So I don’t know much about the volcano and such. But feel free to e-mail me anyway!
Valerie
We do!! I just started corresponding with my Little guy named Kevin. He is 11 years old. Who do you have there. You can email me if you want (fishterp7@hotmail.com). I am possibly traveling to meet him this July.
@Judith Tremblay Thank you so much!! I pulled it up and put in my email address. I am not sure if it saved it or not though. If not can you add the address above to my kids info? Thanks
Ok.. I guess it decided to post my reply twice.. weird.
I tried posting the other day, but I don’t see it, so will try again.
BF 114
BR 111
IN 778
KE 708
GH 300
IO996
HA 788
BO 365
Marci from MO who has BF 114 also was my roommate when he went to Ghana and BF.
@Sara Benson – your email was in the document when I looked, so it must have saved. It’s possible that it’ll either save automatically, or prompt when you’re about to close the window (kinda like in the original MS Office version).
I’m glad this helps everyone. And if you haven’t had a chance to double check my typing, please do so–I might have typed your number in wrong, and therefore not have found a match!
Hi Diane!
We have a match in BR 111!
@diane -
@diane – Where is GH 300? I sponsor a girl in GH303 wonder if they are close, I know the numbers can jump in a seemingly weird way. My girl is Tema New-town I km from Tema.
Does anyone have a child living at a Compassion supported children’s home? One of my children Urmila (EI307) is living in one.
Geri
My child is from Haiti – HA669 Bognol CDC
Oh, I also found out that I am a letter writer for
Rony – HA789
I’m so excited!
@diane –
I was just reading through the newest posts and came to yours. I thought, oh, someone else in Burkina Faso, there aren’t many, and I thought this might be you.
It’s hard to think that it’s been just over a year, I think about that trip almost every day.
You were a great roommate!
Hi, Judy,
You did a really good job with the spreadsheet. I like it, because I imported it and I can sort it according to the best way to find fellow sponsors. It’s awesome.
It looks like I have a Bolivian child in the same project as Ceri and a child in the same project as Danielle in the DR.
Blessings,
Kees
@Walther Dominique – @Robyn – I want one of those maps lol
Random question here:
For the sponsored children from Indonesia, what is the difference between the letters ID and IO in the sponor numbers? My correspondence child (whom I just received yesterday – yay!) has the letters ID, but some have the letters IO. Does this indicate which part of Indonesia they’re from?
Hmm.. correct me if i am wrong… but isn’t ID the code for india? =)
@Robyn – I live in Switzerland and I had this map by the office of Compassion Suisse. If you want to get it, I can send it by mail. If you want contact me, my address is on the spreadsheet so usefull !
@michelle – I sponsor a girl in the same center EC129 since end 2006. Did you visit Lenin yet ?
@Rebecca – @Hannah –
I noticed the two different codes for Indonesia when I was working at a Compassion table back in December. ID is East Indonesia, so IO would be “Indonesia”, essentially the western part. I glanced at some of the locations for children in East Indonesia, and they’re as far west as the midpoint of the country. Basically, draw a line down the middle of the country, and that’s roughly the dividing line. (Chris or someone else more closely affiliated with Compassion, please verify–these were just observations based on the child packets I had available.)
India seems to be IN (and EI, for East India–not to be confused with ET for Ethiopia). Confused yet?
Judy,
You’re correct regarding the codes.
@Allen –
Hi Allen,
do you have any information on the project or anything? I haven’t been there yet. I have a boy, age 11 named of Welson.
@Robyn –
Robyn, my little girl lives in Tema, and I was able to visit her project and her home. so if you want anymore information, just e-mail me at diane.wolfe@gmail.com
I have pictures, etc…
ex: if you have a boy, sometimes they put the day he was born on- I daughter -in-law sponsors Michael Kofi _____
and Kofi means he was born on Friday.
@Marci in MO –
Hi Marci, I had a great time with you as my roomate also. I miss Ghana and BF.
@alyson – @Erica – Erica,
I will be IN San Pedro Sula! Not sure which centers we will be visiting, but there’s a good chance if she’s near there that I’ll be at her center. My going on this trip has totally been a God thing. The timing, finances, etc. have all fallen into place, even down to the fact that I’m leaving the one week my husband will actually be able to get leave in May (He’ll be home with our 4- and 2-year-olds). I can’t WAIT to see what He has in store!
Alyson,
I’ve only been sponsoring Elizabeth since just after Christmas, but have gotten two letters so far. The last one had her little hand traced on the back. I started crying right there in my car with my mail in my lap! I’m so looking forward to getting to know her better. She’ll be six in May, within a week of my wedding anniversary.
You can both feel free to contact me. My email is Odessa1117@hotmail.com.
Correspondent sponsors…
I am thrilled to have received my first correspondent child yesterday and want to write as soon as possible. Any tips on introducing myself? Do they believe that the correspondent is their sponsor? I don’t know what the children are told about having a correspondent sponsor and since I’m not her official sponsor, I am wondering how others have handled that first letter to a new correspondent child.
(I discovered my new child’s name posted to my account online but the Compassion office in CO is closed the last few days due to inclement weather so I can’t ask these questions of them until next week.
Thanks in advance for any help or advice on this!
Stephanie G – I was inspired to request some correspondence kids from previous posts on here and I just got my first 2 correspondent children on Wednesday – I was beyond excited. I wrote them right away online yesterday. I was wondering how much the kids knew about it, too. I assume they were told originally who their sponsor was and they know they haven’t been getting letters. I just told them my name and said that I was excited to be able to write to them. I am new to sponsoring but didn’t use the word “sponsor” in my first letter to my sponsored child. I just said the same to her, that I am thrilled to be able to write her. Don’t know if that helps or not!
Hi, Stephanie,
In general the children believe that the correspondent and the sponsor are one and the same person. The project (staff) does know that you are the correspondent and not the sponsor. I think they want to keep it that way as much as possible. They don’t want to send the message to the child that their sponsor doesn’t really care for them, especially with the younger children. At least that’s what I understand.
A few weeks ago, I was in Columbia, visiting one of my correspondent children and she asked me if I was a correspondent or also a sponsor. Then of course I told her the truth and that I was the correspondent, but that I loved her as if I sponsored her.
As far as your first letter. I always introduce myself, tell a little about myself and ask them some questions. They also want to see a picture, which I can imagine. If I sponsored a child and had never seen their picture, I would want to see the picture too.
Kees
@Stephanie G – I got my first (and so far, only) correspondence child back in December. I found it awkward to write my first letter, also, since I knew I wasn’t her sponsor. What I wrote in my first letter was similar to what I wrote in my first letter to my sponsored child: a bit about me, and how much I looked forward to writing to her and getting letters from her. I kept it at that, and from then on I have pretty much written her the same things I’ve written to my sponsored child–often a simple cut and paste, occasionally editing when necessary (due to the age difference between the children, and what they can understand). Treat them like you would a “financial sponsorship” when it comes to letter writing.
The main recommendation I got from someone who’s been a correspondence sponsor for a while included: try to avoid the topic of being their sponsor (since you’re not)–at least don’t bring it up. They might mention it, as it’s quite possible they’ll be told they have a new sponsor. The folks at the child centers might know the truth, but it’s probably often the easiest way to explain it to the child.
The main thing is that you write! It’s one less child that has to wonder why their sponsor never writes to them.
I sponsor a child at UG137.
My sponsored child is BR-111 is Brena, a 12-year-old girl. They may know each other since they’re pretty close in age… I have only been sponsoring her for a few months, so I haven’t heard back from her yet. How long have you been sponsoring Welson?
@diane -
@Stephanie G –
Their being in the correspondence program means one of two things.
1)Their sponsor did not write to them for a long time and then agreed to have someone else write to them,
2)Their sponsor asked for a correspondent when they first got their child.
In the second case the child may not have even known that they had another sponsor.
Most of my correspondence kids write to thank me for sponsoring them. For all intensive purposes, you are their new sponsor. You are the one praying for them, writing to them, receiving the updates and pouring your love out to them.
I usually resolve the issue of what to say in the first letter by saying that I am so happy to get to know them and be their friend. If they want to call me their sponsor, I let them.
Hey guys,
I was really bored so I was playing around with the spreadsheet that Judith created! I tried to organize it such that it is first sorted by country and then by Project Number so that it would be easier to see if there is anyone sponsoring a child in the same proj as you! Also, I created a list that shows how many children are sponsored in each country!! =)
Go check it out! Also, I don’t think most of the later posts are updated onto the spreadsheet yet….
ok i lied… i was THAT bored that I was about to try to key in those that weren’t in… but I found out that most of the last few posts (i went back more than 10) were already entered into the spreadsheet!! =)
Since visiting this blog I have now heard about these correspondence children, but where does one sign up for them? Can you choose a child to write to just as you can to sponsor?
@Karen –
That didn’t come out right! Im going to try again…..
Yeah!! How exciting!
I’m sure you can’t wait to find out who your child will be and to start writing asap!
I just got my first 2 correspondence children yesterday.
I believe that I just said that I was happy to be able to write to them and to get to know them better.
I think it’s awesome that Compassion does correspondence sponsors for kids who don’t get letters.
I love writing to the kids so it’s a blessing to me to have two more to write to. 
My two new correspondence kids are in IN-267 & TZ-331.
Valerie
Thanks for clearing that up, Judith!@Judith Tremblay -
I sponsor 2 Children.
Adrian- ME 915
and ..
Khushbu IN 963..
sent the other one too quickly..
I just added another child:
BO702
Geri
@Rebecca – Yeah, I’ve been trying to keep up with it. I have noticed that a few people found the spreadsheet on their own and put their own info in (new entries, not just an edit or addition of email address), so thanks to all of you who are helping keep the data correct!
Rebecca–I’m not sure whether the tally on the right is supposed to automatically tally by country, or whether we’re supposed to enter it in ourselves each time it’s updated. If it’s automatic, I might have screwed it up by editing a number manually. Can you check it out? Specifically ME, IN, and TZ. Thanks a bunch!
@Judith Tremblay – Yes, I do. The children I sponsor from ES-794 are siblings.
Hello June I’m also a sponsor for ES-526. I have two chilren there. I have two girls. One is twelve and the other seventeen. I visited this project serval years ago. I was at childs home for lunch. It was a awsome meal.
Just call Just call (800)336-7676 M-F and they can get you all set up to get a correspondence child! You can request a gender, country, age range if you like. It’s possible that may take longer though. I requested a girl from El Salvador(I wanted a country on the reciprocal system). Took a little over a month to get her packet.
@Judith Tremblay – Hey Judith! I used some codes so it will automatically tally by itself! So no one will have to edit that section.. =) Thanks for the work Judith!!!
I may be the only one wondering this, but I was wondering what you mean by “reciprocal system”? I’ve never heard of that term used with Compassion before. Can you explain it a little? Just curious because I have 2 girls in El Salvador myself.
Thanks,
Erica
Thanks, Danielle, for telling me how to get some correspondence children. Now can you explain the reciprocal system to me? Is that where children write to their sponsors based on how frequently their sponsors write to them as opposed to strictly writing only three or four times a year?
@Erica –
The reciprocal system is where the children respond to each of your letters. There are 10 countries that do this: Peru, Ecuador, El Salvador, Thailand, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Indonesia, Nicaragua, and Ethiopia. The rest of the countries have the children write 3-4 times a year.
@Rachael –
Exactly Rachael!
ES788 anyone? The child I sponsor is eight-year-old Patricia.
Rachael,
You can also use the Contact Us section on the website to get a correspondence child. That’s what I actually did. I used the “Ask a question” area and just asked “How do I get a correspondence child or two or three? I’d love to have some!” and they added 2 names to my online account within about 3-5 days. I haven’t received their packets in the mail yet but I sent my first letter via e-mail on the site.
Oh also, I also had a question about the reciprocal system. How do you know what countries use that vs. just strictly writing 3-4 times per year?
Valerie
Valerie,
Peru, Ecuador, El Salvador, Thailand, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Indonesia, Nicaragua, and Ethiopia are on the reciprocal system. The rest of the countries have the children write 3-4 times a year.
Does anyone know why one of the children I sponsor is in one of the countries (Kenya) that are on the reciporal system but I don’t get more than the 3-4 letters per year? I tend to write to my children twice a month.
@Danielle -
This has not been my experience with reciprocal letters. I have had children in Ethiopia and Peru for the past six years and have only ever gotten 2-3 letters per year from them. I have received replies to each letter from children in Tanzania, Philippines, Thailand, India, and occasionally Uganda.
I don’t have experience with the rest of the countries listed.
My girl and boy in Ghana and Burkina Faso respond to each letter I write, but my girls in Kenya and Indonesia have only written once, and I have sponsored them since August.
Odd about the recipricol system. I have found that my little girl in Honduras writes A LOT! We also get response letters from our correspondence child in India as well. We ususally get letters from her that are marked Semester Letter or Response letter. However, I think we ususally only get 3-4 letters from our child in Rwanda. Strange.
I sponsor a child in Bolivia and I receive a letter for each letter I send. I don’t for Uganda and Ethiopia. I have two children in India, one of whom writes frequently (almost letter per letter) and the other who doesn’t.
I have also received additional photos of the children (and sometimes family) for Bolivia, Uganda, and India. I have asked in my letters if I can have an additional photo and I do get one although I don’t know if it is in response to my request or not. It doesn’t hurt to ask!
I know this is off the topic, but with so many people viewing this I wanted to mention a few books that might interest you. They are expensive but you can still browse through them at your bookstore
Material World- A Global Family Portrait (Peter Menzel)
Women in the Material World (Faith D’Aluisio)
Hungry Planet- What The World Eats (Peter Menzel)
These are great books with great pictures that show how people live in other countries. In Material World families are pictured with all their material possesions outside their homes. It is great for helping your children actually “see” with their own eyes the differences between our material wealth compared to the one example family with only a few bowls.
Sorry if I upset anyone with this post, but the books helped me to understand my sponsored kid’s lives better.
@diane – My girl in Ghana writes soo many letters. sometimes she even writes 2 letters on the same day with different information! The ones I have in Kenya write maybe 3 a year.
Regarding the reciprocal system…I don’t have a lot of personal experience to go on, so I’ll give you that disclaimer up front. I have heard that while a country may officially be on the reciprocal system, it may not have yet taken effect in all projects. Not sure how that works, but it’s a theory.
As for my correspondence child in Peru–I specifically requested the country because I had heard it was on the reciprocal system. I was assigned a child in early December. She wrote a letter in mid-December which arrived mid-February (2 months in transit). I’ve written her several times since I was linked to her, at least once a month, including an emailed message in early December. But if a letter from me takes 2 months to reach her, I figure we each got our first letters at about the same time. Even if she wrote back right away, I don’t expect to receive a reply until mid-April at least. Basically, I want to give it about a year to see how it works with PE-125, whether they’re on the reciprocal system or not.
@Shelly Quigg – That’s wonderful Shelley! I have the dearest little girl at BO 284 who writes me all the time. Her father writes me too and I have two pictures of Gladys and one of her beautiful family that I cherish.
They are the most wonderful people and it’s such an honor to be a part of the Church Family with them!!!
With my experience with kids and letter writing it seems that those who live farther from the Compassion base of the country don’t seem to write very often. I had a 12 year old girl in Thailand who lived in a very rurual area and I didn’t recieve many letters, but they were always in response to the several letters I had sent her.
Now the twins in Peru, my sis and I recieve letters from quite frequently, but they also live in a much bigger city.
Don’t know if this is a general rule of thumb or just experience.
I’ve sponsored a girl in the Philippines for 7 years and have written at least once a month. She responds to every letter I send as well as the required letters. I’ve had similar experiences with Tanzania and East India. I’m surprised to learn that the Philippines and India are not on the reciprocal system.
geri
How do I add my latest child:
BO702 to the database?
Geri
@Geri –
Click on this link (it was buried back a few posts)
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=psQHClunCqvF4hMK0tVCvVA
Then the easiest thing to do is to add a row among the Bolivia listings. It should be pre-sorted by country and project number, so it should be easy to find where 702 would go.
Once you add the row, type in your name, country and project number in the appropriate columns.
If you have any difficulty, let me know, and I’ll go in and add it for you.
I just called Compassion because I had a few questions–I figured it was easier than using the online form, with multiple questions. But I thought some of you might be interested in a few of the responses.
1) Letters mailed by us to Colorado are shipped out weekly to the different countries (I thought at one point I read that they were mailed out monthly). But it’s weekly.
2) Correspondence sponsors are allowed to send birthday gifts, etc. I didn’t think we were, since we weren’t financially linked to the children–or at least we couldn’t send payments online. We’ll have to send a check. But it’s cool to think that I can make sure all my kids get birthday gifts!
3) Did you realize that there are sponsors from Europe and Korea (and others)? Ever wonder how their letters get translated from French, Italian, or Korean? Yes, the countries have translators that know all the languages where letters may be coming from. Each translator may only know one additional language beyond the local language(s), so there are enough translators in each country to get the job done.
Cool, huh?
Hi, Judy,
I have paid for gifts for my correspondence children via credit card too by calling the phonecenter.
From what I understand in the other countries, the sponsors write in their own language, then it gets translated to English in the country and then sent on. It might be very difficult to find someone, who speaks Tamil in some of the countries that have sponsored.
Now, this is kind of funny, but when I was in Columbia a few weeks ago, I met a child, who claimed that their sponsor was from China! Maybe the sponsor was Chinese and lived in the United States or so, but she really was convinced, he lived in China too!
Kees
Hi everyone. Great discussion!
I just wanted to answer the question that was raised regarding project numbers…
Project numbers are assigned in the order that projects are opened. So just because projects are close in number does not necessarily mean they are located close to each other … it just means the projects were opened around the same time.
However, often there are several projects with successive numbers in the same area. In these instances, we likely opened a cluster of projects located in the same area at the same time, so their numbers would be close.
Does this make sense?
My Husband and I just signed up to sponsor a child in Honduras. Since we filled out paperwork at a concert, we don’t have our sponsor number yet… We are excited!!
HO 353
With regard to letter writing I try to write at least once a month and have no idea what system any of the countries are on. I agree it is great to get the letters but I try to write and pray on my end and even if I only get 4 letters in a year or even 1 in a year that’s great!!! But more importantly than that I like how Compassion suggests “why not deliver the letter in person?” I figure that is the best way to make sure they get my letters the quickest!!!
I sponsor a 7 year old boy at the Mutunda Student Center in Rwanda. I have not yet found a match.
RW-734
I live in Japan but sponsor through Compassion in the US.
Geri
@Judith Tremblay –
@Judith
Help! When I try to add BO702 the spread sheet keeps changing to Japanese. The numbers are ok just the BO becomes ボ
I don’t want to mess things up for everyone.
Geri
こんにちは Geri さん！ (hello Geri!)
Haha… just learning jap now so thought it would be fun! Its not a problem.. I’ll help you add you onto the spreadsheet! =)
Oh by the way…. you have a match! With someone called Gene! BO 702 right? that’s what it appears to be on the spreadsheet though I don’t find a post by a Gene here so I don’t know if it’s a mistake!
Rebecca-さん、本当にありがとうございました。 (Thank you very much)
I saw “Gene” but couldn’t find a post either. It would be great to have a match!
Geri
Rebecca he might have just entered his info on the spreadsheet. The reason I say this is because I know a Gene b/c I took a bible for his sponsor child to Nicaragua. I was able to see the picture of Rossman and his new bible when I worked an event with Gene at a Compassion table!!! However it may not be the same Gene!!! I just wanted to shed some light that it may not be a mistake, but it may be I am not sure.
@Rebecca – Good point about Gene’s listing. I don’t know if I imagined it, or if Gene posted a listing on the spreadsheet without posting on the blog.
Gene, if you’re keeping up with the comments, we’d love to hear from you!
Does anyone know if UK sponsors are able to have an account online? I have tried to sign up for one one the compssion Int website and am unable to and I can’t seem to find a link on the UK website to be able to sign up for an account online.
If there is not this option at present, is there a plan to have it in the future?
Jo,
Not all of the Compassion partners have a My Account section on their websites like the U.S. does. The U.K. is one of the countries that does not. For all our partners, there is a desire to have this functionality. I will try and get a more detailed answer for you about what their plans may be.
I sponsor two children-one from Peru and another one from Ecuador. I love Compassion and I appreciate the communication that we have with my children. It is an inspiration to be able to reach out to them and to be used by God in such a way. I thank God for leading me to Compassion and to get to know these wonderful children.
Thank you Chris
@Chris Giovagnoni – will it be possible to have a My Account section for Switzerland ?
Walther,
I know that each of our partners desire to offer that functionality to sponsors, but I do not know what resources each has available or the competing priorities each has in trying to deliver the best service and experience to sponsors. I apologize that I can’t provide a better answer. Someone in the Switzerland office should be able to be more specific for you.
@Jo – To be honest a My Account section on the scale that the US has is a long way off at the moment. The software that the US has to link to the sponsor/child database is exceptionally expensive for the UK to implement at present.
At the moment we are working on developing other facilities that for sponsors to view the picture of their child and keep track of correspondence.
Because of the spreadsheet (btw: Thanks, Pat, for starting us off with the idea in the first place!), I’ve noticed something about child development project numbers.
It’s been stated that projects are numbered based on when they are opened, no matter where they are located in the country.
I noticed that no one sponsors a child in a project numbered less than 100, or greater than 999. Do project numbers start at 001, or 100? And once project 999 is opened, is that the last project that can be opened in a particular country, or would we start going to 8-digit child numbers (4 digit project numbers, 4 digit individual child numbers)?
I had heard about reciprocal letters. I had thought all countries were shifting to that quickly. In the posts I read that is not happening. However, I have a child in Thailand and one in the Philippines and both write way more often than the 3-4 letters a year some countries do. I get the least amount of letters from my kids in Brazil, and the most from my child in the Philippines. I’m not sure being officially on the reciprocal system means much!
God bless.
Hmmmm…. In Bolivia, the projects that start with a 1, 2, or 4 are all in the La Paz/El Alto area. (Those two are really together, sort of like Dallas/Fort Worth. The projects that are in Santa Cruz all starts with a 3 and the projects which are in Cochabamba all start with a 5.
Kees
I have not found any matches yet, but a few are close.
Mine are:
BF 350
GH 304
Hi Audrey!
I’m an alumna from PH562. I now sponsor a child. God bless
My children, Jose and Mufashiwabo are in
ME817 and
RW 529
Anybody got a match with me?
@Brianna Rohrs – What is the name of the project and where is you child in GH304. I have a child in GH303. she is in Tema – New town Tema. Just wondering if they are close.
Hi everyone!
I am looking for ways to connect with people:
#1 – People who may be going to Haiti with the Compassion in March 2010.
#2 – People in the Louisiana area who sponsor kids. Wondering if I could get some people together to do a letter-writing night or something similar.
Any ideas or leads??
God Bless,
Tina
Oh my goodness, it took me a long time to read through all of these :p
My children:
ID209
PE158
IN200
RW342
From what I can see, I have two matches!
Carol (PE158)
Shelly Quigg (IN200)
Tina,
What part of Louisiana? I live in the New Orleans area. Are you close? (“Close” for me is Baton Rouge to Hattiesburg, Northshore, etc.–basically no more than a 2 or max 3 hour drive.)
I would like to chat with people who sponsor in Ethiopia. I know in 2008 the country had 41% inflation and there is the possibility that the birr (the Ethiopian unit of currency) may be devalued this year. I have sent a $300 family gift this year to give my child’s family some kind of cash reserve and stability, although they are so poor they may survive on the barter system in a daily basis…anyone with any insight into the financial situation in Ethiopia or anyone who has first-hand knowledge from a visit, please contact me to schedule a chat on AIM if you would like
Thanks! Most of what I know is what I find on Google News-Ethiopia.
Kim in Iowa
My child is in Thailand. TH-946! She is adorable!
@Judith Tremblay –
Judith … that’s awesome! I’m from Baton Rouge area … specifically a little town north of it called Zachary.
I’m originally from a town that is a little closer to New Orleans it’s called Lutcher.
What a small world!!
Tina
@Amy Wallace –
Hi Amy,
I am glad to have a match with you in India 200. I started sponsoring a boy there not too long ago. His name is Shiva and he just turned 11. His bio says his father is a snake charmer! I would love to talk to you about our children. Please contact me at Shecass9@aol.com
My child, Laura, is in Mexico at the Jesus Christ Loves You Student Center, ME-885.
@Rebecca – Actually ID is East Indonesia I believe, unsure, but I know that IN is India.
@Tina Adams –
Hi Tina…I’m thinking about going on the Haiti trip next March. Are you as well? I’m pretty excited as I’ve never been before and it’s been a few years since I’ve been out of the country (think it does wonders for our world view). I sponsor a 9 year old boy there. I’ve put my email on the spreadsheet.
@Erin –
Hi Erin,
I am thinking about it. I made myself a “saving chart” to save up the money. And the money is not the real issue, I know I can save enough by then. It’s me … I’m not good with new things … especially travel. Last May my husband went to New York and the minute I got off the plane, I went to the restroom and panicked. I wanted to turn right back around and go home.
I’ve never been on any trip like this at all, so I’ve been doing a lot of praying and soul searching.
I just thought it would be nice to start chatting with others before the trip. There isn’t much info online. I guess because it’s so far away. I’m just curious of what to expect.
My email is on the sheet, too!
Greetings,
My children are in the following areas:
HA 312
HA 790
KE 611
KE 726
KE 736
I would love to correspond with folks who sponsor in the same area.
Regina
@Karen -
Hi Karen,
We have a match in Kenya! I started sponsoring a young boy last month, I haven’t heard from him yet, but hope to soon.
Would love to correspond with you.
Thanks,
Regina
I do not seem to find anyone to match with ES801 or GU853 or EC150. My hubby and I are praying to make a trip to one of the three countries next year and then each year following to go a different site! We just keep praying!
@Robyn – Alice lives on the plains of North Gbawe, her center is The Sanctuary.
Sorry if I missed anyones, but I have a center numbers
IN 620
IO 553
okay, I have searched and searched, and where ever the link is to this mystical spreadsheet people keeping writing about, there must be a hole in my webpage…because I can’t find it. Somebody help please?
Hi Everyone,
I currently sponsor one child and am considering sponsoring another that is older…maybe 16 or 17. I was touched to learn that many kids that age have lost their sponsor for some reason but I wondered what kind of impact a new sponsorship has on a child at this later stage. At what age do they typically graduate from the program? What determines when they are elegibile to graduate (is it age, knowledge or skills-based)?
Also, I often wonder what happens to Compassion kids after they graduate. I have only ever heard of the LDP program but I understand that represents only a small number of all formerly sponsored kids. What becomes of the rest?
Lots of questions…I know – but any feedback on the subject of older children would be appreciated.
@Sara Benson –
I have kids at:
B0377
B0437
CO341
CO556
Would like to connect with other sponors!
lori
Yep. ID is Eastern Indonesia.
I haven’t gone through all of the previous posts so if this was posted earlier forgive me.
I noticed that if you are searching for a match with your child’s project that you can enter the project number in the search box at the top right side
of this webpage and it will search for you. Remember it will search for EXACTLY what you entered. It does miss entries once in a while but helps.
Good luck and God bless,
Mike
ET-311
KE-603
@Lesli – correct. ID is East Indonesia. Just saw a few of those codes at a concert last night.
IN is India (also EI, East India).
@Tina Adams – That is so awesome!
I was just in Baton Rouge last night at the Mercy Me/Roadshow Tour! I didn’t get to watch much of the concert, although I could hear fairly well; I was working one of the Compassion tables.
75 kids sponsored at one event! The coordinator was hoping for more, so he was a little disappointed I think. But I’m still praising God for the 75 children now being released from poverty, in Jesus’ name. And it was so much fun working with other sponsors at the table, sharing stories, etc.
And I did it–I brought a child home. A girl from the same part of Indonesia as my first sponsored child, so that when I go for a visit I can visit them both. Unfortunately, I’ll need two translators since they speak two different languages.
IO 592.
@Sara Benson – Hi Sara, We just started sponsoring a 14 year old girl in project UG 134. I’d love to hear from you!
Leigh Ray!!!! My darling little girl Yvette is also at RW-529!
I am very new to Compassion and wanted to connect with others. What can you tell me about the school there?
OK I’ll take a bite at this thread. I have two kids that have disappeared from the program:
PE-113 Humberto,14, after his mother went to hospital for breast cancer
and
IN-774 Syam,15, who moved about 100km away due to a family emergency. He has since moved to within 1km of the project and CI was able to find him for the Feb’09 Sponsor visit.
My current sponsorships are:
PE-369 Fabrizio, is a 5 y.o. replacement for the absent Asim@113.
IN-774 Gopumon,15, was Syam’s replacement, but after the Feb’09 tour they are brothers, and Gopu is a go-between for Syam & me.
IN-597 Poovarasan,8, was adopted during the tour. I saw what seemed to be a spotlight shining down on him in broad daylight as we were watching his dance troupe. He performed with so much more skill for a youngster that I felt it necessary to single him out for prayer with his pastor/principal. When we visited the IN office later that week they were gracious to help me search student photos and find this one to sponsor.
Does anyone share these project locations and/or experiences?
@Lindy –
That is great! I have gotten one letter from my correspondence boy Danstun in UG-134. He is 13 years old. It is a beautiful letter written by him in English and full of information about himself and his family. I do not know too much about the project yet but I would be happy to keep in contact with you especially as our kids start writing more. My email is (fishterp7@hotmail.com)
@Caitlin -
Here is the link to that spreadsheat.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=psQHClunCqvF4hMK0tVCvVA
You can add your information and easily check for matches.
Hi Cheryl! How awesome! Please tell me about your Rwandan child. We can email at (leighray1@gmail.com); I’d love to correspond.
Stephanie, I would also like to know what becomes of the sponsored children that leave the program. I believe it ends when they are 22 but I am not sure. If they are not involved in the LDP what DOES become of them? They will most likely be in their same living situation. I would love to hear more information about them. Also, I highly recommend sponsoring the older children. I have several and their ability to correspond is on such a different level than say a 4 year old. I appreciate my older children very much!
Hi Lisa,
My new sponsored child is in EC-420. I also has a child in BD-313.
Anyone else?
@Lisa Herbert -
@Lesli –
Lesli,
We have a match at IN620! I sponsor a terrific 16 yr. old boy.
Please email me at (cellerman10@hotmail.com) and we can discuss.
@Firedude Dave – @Geri –
Dave and Geri–I noticed you have a match at IN 774! Check it out at http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=psQHClunCqvF4hMK0tVCvVA&hl=en
Lisa, Kara, and Sara – I also have a match in IN791!
I added a couple of my new correspondence kids to the spreadsheet last week but now when I go to add 2 new ones for my daughter it won’t let me add a row! Could someone add IO801 and ET453 for me? These are 2 new girls that my 14 year old daughter is going to start corresponding with but you can put them under my name and email address – (pettyakje@hotmail.com) Thanks!!
I just e-mailed you from (lesliconley@yahoo.com). I would love to hear more about yours. I have a 9 year old boy. @Cindy -
YEAH!!!! Dave, I’d love to chat. My e-mail address is (gershin2003@gmail.com)
Geri
we sponsor 3 girls-Kularb-Thailand-Pra Kun Kaolang Chruch Child development center.
Neema-Tanzania-Mchungaji Mwema Student Center
Florence-Uganda-Kiziba Student Center
my e-mail is (faithkeeper@live.com)
@Stephanie G – I sponsor through Compassion Australia. Last April one of my ‘boys’ left the project at 22. I could apply to keep in contact with him which we do occassionally through email. I had to ask for this and they do have a procedure in place for it but they did not give me this information until I asked (It opens us up for all sorts of begging letters from others who my come across our personal info). They either leave at 22 or when they complete their objectives which are set up when they begin the sponsorship. Just ask your kids what are their plans for the future and you may get back a response. Several of my kids responded but not all. My boy is still continuing his studies. I began sponsoring him when he was 18yrs so he must have had a previous sponsor. I pray like crazy for him cause he wants to become a doctor and he had only finished grade 10 not sure what the equivalent would be in whatever country you are from but here it is part way through secondary school. I was told that he may get part time employment while still studying to help him finish. It didn’t seem that would be a problem as with the education he has he already has an advantage.
Best of luck
Robyn. If you want my email is on the spreadsheet.
@Cheryl – Hi Cheryl I see you sponsor a child in RW529 I sponsor 2 boys – in RW430 (Kibungo) and RW631 (Gatore – 20Km from Kibungo). I believe your boys project is also in this area. My email is (r.midson@optusnet.com.au) if you want to chat.
Someone here was able to email me maps of Rwanda, Ecuador and Kenya with all the project numbers marked on. It was great as it helped me find exactly where one of my boys lives does any one else have such maps for Tanzania, Bukina Faso, Ghana, or Dominican Republic? (r.midson@optusnet.com.au)
@Kristen – Sorry it wasn’t working for you. Might be possible that it only allows one person to edit at a time? I was adding listings earlier this afternoon…
Either way, your new listings are now there. No matchs, but we do have a three-in-a-row. ET 452, 453, and 454. That’s gotta win you some sort of a prize for making the link!
my sponsor child is from Haiti
HA-310
I can’t wait for Compassion Sunday!
@Rebecca -
Wow! Looking at the spread sheet makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, because all of us who have posted on here, represent the 575 beautiful children that we sponsor!
@Regina Carlyon – Certianly feel free to email me at (kenkar@windstream.net) I sponsor Mary at KE726. I have only been sponsoring her since Jan and have only received one letter from her. She did write to me in English which was nice.
@Cheryl –
What is the name of the project your child attends in Rwanda? I don’t know where to find these numbers everyone is taalking about…
@Leigh Ray –
Not sure where to find the numbers…but I sponsor a little bot in Rwanda near Butare.
ok now i got it I sponsor a little boy whose name I can’t pronounce, so we call him NJ, from RW438 RW 438 RW-438
I sponsor a sweet 10-year-old girl named Pornsuda in Thailand.
TH-981
I was thinking also that it might be easier to “search” this page for center if we all use the same naming convention. It looks like the following format is the most common so far:
CC-NNN
CC= Country Code
NNN=Number of center
Maybe we can use the same format until Compassion sets up something more sophisticated (online database we can query, instant notification of new sponsors at your particular center, etc.).
Thanks & God bless you all!
@Melody
Wow Melody, that is awesome! I have been sponsoring a child there since 2002 – he will graduate from the project either next year or the year after. I would be very honored to talk with you more about your experiences. would you please drop me an e-mail? (alschiavo@gmail.com)
thanks!
~audrey~
@Stephanie G – I have put a reply here but can’t seem to see it. Have most of your answers but don’t feel like re typing them so if you want to email me feel free. (r.midson@optusnet.com.au)
@Judith Tremblay – Thanks Judith! Isn’t it amazing how many people are on this spreadsheet now and how few matches? It really gives you a sense of the broad scope of Compassion.
My kiddos are EC 148 and EC 149, but I don’t think that I have seen any matches. For those of you sponsoring children from Ecuador, what made you decide to sponsor children from that country?
@Crystal
Hi Crystal, I sponsor a child in KE 206 and goes to ACK Ngoce Child Development Center. I just started a couple of months ago.
I have a little girl at
UG 925
I can’[t figure out how to edit the spreadsheet. My little girl is in NI 160…
Thanks! (agmcgaha@gmail.com)
@Danielle –
Hi I have a little boy in El Salvador–the first numbers are: ES789. So, we’re close
Hi How do I get added to the spreadsheet. My child is Bryan in El Salvador–project ES789
I noticed in the spreadsheet that someone named Misty Compton has a child in the same project… Anyone else?
Drop me a line at (baseballmaven1@yahoo.com)
@donna –
I have a child at IN-441! I am on Facebook if you want to look me up. Yay!
Ok…
My Kids are at
UG-926
IN-383
IN-441
BD-206
I am on Facebook if you have a match.
I am also interested in what happens to children when they grow up. I am curious if I can continue to keep in contact or perhaps help with college in some way. Any info would be great. I was dissapointed to not see too many more from Bangladesh. I have fallen in love with the country and my little girl!
Jessica,
I chose Ecuador because I was looking for an older child and the young lady I chose, Alexandra, just kind of leaped off the screen at me, so to speak.
She’s got a really bright smile and looks like she’s always full of energy. So I picked her. 
My 2nd child, Maria, I chose her mainly because she was just on my heart. I’d seen her pic on the front page a couple of times when I went to log into my account and I noticed that she’d been waiting a long time (I think she had a red heart even in like January) so I finally just decided that she must be waiting for me.
I sponser a girl named Jennifer at ES-831. Havent seen any matches. Maybe this is a new/small center.
@Paige Farmer – Paige: My little girl attends Karenge Student Center. In case someone hasn’t already mentioned it to you, the two letters (in our case, RW) are the country code and the first 3 numbers are the location of the specific center in that country.
Nice meeting you online!
Is anyone going to Peru later this month or to Colombia next month (May)? If so I’m wondering if I could send a few small and light things to give to the country staff for my children?
I have 2 in Peru and 2 in Colombia.
I think I have this right now, so here goes: First: we sponsor Neema TZ323(I assume the first 2 letters after the country code is the project code.
Florence UG 447
Kularb-TH334, then we have kids we correspond with as follows: Melat ET148-female; AsterET420-female; FernanPH411; Nagaraju-IN111; RamonHO515; OvaliaID309. I am retired and this is something I really enjoy. I would like to hear from people that have kids in the same project. Diane
Hi
We’re sponsoring a child in project BF 682 too
If anybody has a match, email me at (janetreavis@yahoo.com) or I am also on Facebook.
@Bethany Henderson – Hi, I sponsor through Compassion Australia and I was able to “apply” to keep in contact with my child who had completed the project. We had to both fill out a form with our personal details. there was a lot of warnings about the dangers of others getting my details and even pretending to be my child and begging for money. We do email, although not regularly but I have never set it up to send money. Instead I am going to try to find him if I manage to visit his country and do it that way.
I have two kids – KE 712 and BF 660
Sorry, but how do I add my children to the spreadsheet?
I went to the Hillsong Colour conference this week in Sydney and 850 Kids were sponsored!
Hey what happened to my posts? they were there now are gone.
BF660 and
KE712
And how do I put them on the spreadsheet?
I sponsor a little girl in Bangladesh, BD-227. I’d love to hear from any matches (lady4praise@hotmail.com)! I’m considering having another sponsor child, too, and this time I’m thinking of India.
I’m also outside the US, and I’m so grateful for Compassion for letting us non-US folks sponsor through them, too. God bless Compassion, and thanks for all the work you do!
@Bethany Henderson – I’ve recently found out that yes, you do have the option to stay in contact with your sponsored child after they leave the program. Call Compassion, and they have a form that you can fill out, but it basically takes Compassion out of the loop. They no longer are keeping your information private from the child, and vice versa, and they no longer will assist with translation services.
The lack of translation shouldn’t be too much of a problem for me regarding my girl in Peru, because I know a bit of Spanish and intend to learn a lot more before she’s old enough to graduate.
Also, I’ve heard at least from Uganda, that the children write in English–so that’ll help with communication, also.
As for helping with scholarships for your child to go to college… I just read about that yesterday in the brochure where Compassion answers top 10 questions about sponsorship (or maybe it was the one about gifts?). Basically, it’s wonderful that you want to help out your child in that way (and those of us who take a real interest in our child, who wouldn’t want them to be able to go on to college?). However, it’s very likely that a high school education is as far as our children will go–and for them, that in and of itself is a great blessing, not to have had to drop out to work and help provide for their family. But if your child is selected for the Leadership Development Program, they will definitely need a sponsor while they are in University through LDP. It’s still a one child/one sponsor program, which is why the cost is so high–$300 a month. But that’s tuition, books, possibly room and board (I’ll have to go back and check out my info for clarification).
@Luann Marzinzik –
I’m going to Colombia in July…
@Lynn Lawson –
i have a child at ec-150 too!
Four of the children that I sponsored I still have contact with two work at Compassion project’s DR_411 and UG-143. The other two are continuing their education
Hi Sara!
I’m currently sponsoring a kid in India! I just started in March and I’ve sent him a couple of letters but am still waiting on a response. I’ve been gone for a week though, so maybe when I get back!
Our Kids are here
EC 180 – saw a couple other sponsors here
EC 400
ET 650 – prayer request: that I have funds avaliable to vist this child in 2010
ID 211 – and a sponsor here
GU 987
PH 939
UG 153
The child at ET 650 is the oldest she will be 17 soon.
Wow!!! What a blessing to these children, so many sponsors, I too have four children, I posted them earlier #294-296, and recently asked for two correspondence children, which I never would have known about if it hadn’t been for this wonderful blog, although they did tell me at CI that they did not have any correspondence children at this time, which I thought how sad for me but how wonderful for the children that do not have to wait any longer for a letter. You are all such wonderful blessing to these children.
God Bless.
I have sponsored a girl in India for about 8 yrs now. Her name is Mydeen. In Feb 2009, I was able to travel to Southern India to meet her and her mother. A dream come true! Anyone else with a child in India??
I’ve just discovered this forum. I haven’t found any matches with my children yet, but I’d sure like to. I have two sponsored children,
ID208 and EI 409
and four correspondence children, Et409, TZ902,In661,and IN445. I’d love to find a match with any of them.
Here’s a thought, would it be possible to get the maps posted on the google site like the spreadsheet? That way we could try to collect all the country maps so we could all see where our kiddo’s projects are?!!
I have a map of Guatemala projects for anyone interested.
I just signed up to sponsor Rony a couple of weeks ago and don’t have a sponsor number yet. I am waiting for it anxiously so that I can send him a letter! I haven’t seen anyone post the same number that he has:
HO 341
If anyone writes to, or sponsors, a child in this project, will you send me your email? I’d like to learn more!
(srsopek@verizon.net)
we have two girls in the philippines
PH814
PH842
Aloha Everyone! I am so happy that so many children are being sponsored–it is so great to see so many names. We just started sponsoring a 5yr boy…ID 136. Does anyone have that area? I would love to hear about the interests there, as I haven’t received a letter yet.
Our little boy is PH254.
We would love to find a match.
Ideas for things to send? Well, we sometimes include maps and colouring in sheets which we print off from Christian sites on the web.
Hi,
I have been searching the listing and finally found one match with post 411, Kelly wrote that she sponsors Laura at ME885. We just recently began sponsoring 7 year old Citlali there. I have written but not heard back yet. We also have Ana a t ME780, Tahaschnie at HA264, Ricxy at HO219, Chidchai at TH511, and 2 correspondence children, Tsega at ET339, and Nova at IO 958.
I am spreadsheet challenged so I haven’t tired to enter them in. Can anyone help me out?
Is there any way to find out more about specific projects?
We haven’t been sponsors real long. Has anyone ever heard of Puzzlemakers.com? You can create mazes, word searches, and crosswords. Depending on the language barrier it may or may not work. I was considering sending mazes or making a word search of family member names. Just a thought . . . .
I also recently went to Meijer Gardens here to their butterfly exhibit. They handed out small brochures of the butterflies. I numbered them and have sent them to some of the children asking them to let me know the number of their favorite butterfly or ones they see. I can then check my booklet. So far, I haven’t heard anything, but I am hoping they at least like looking at the pictures. I wasn’t sure if the actual booklet would or could be translated. The booklet lists butterflies from Central/South America, Asia, and Africa.
Have a great day!
Sara
My sons sponsors a girl in
BF 350
Robyn, how wonderful that so many children were sponsored! I’d love to attend the Colour conference one day!
Joanne, you can send stickers, paper toys (that fold flat), flash cards, bandaids, and postcards/photos of your hometown. I think http://www.makingfriends.com has already been mentioned here (they have e.g. printable multicultural paper dolls), and http://www.toymaker.com is also great: the artist has many paper toys to print for free.
I send a lot of sticker play scenes to my girl: they include a cardboard scene, for example a playground, a circus, a farm, etc., and stickers to match (for example a farmer and his animals). The stickers can be positioned anywhere on the scene and they can be used over and over again. I get these from a local craft/paper store, and they’re very affordable.
@Erica –
Hi! It would be great if you can send me the map of the projects in Guatemala to (cchan345@uwo.ca)! Where did you find it?
Since I have no clue about myspace and facebook…could we make something that links or looks like this? I am making up numbers.
Compassion
Ethiopia
ET001
ET002
Ecuador
EC001
EC002
I am laughing do you suppose when they get their letters from us they wonder if we know the other ones sponsors? I always tell them that I am praying for them (family) and their friends and the children with out a sponsor. I have never once thought about praying for the other childrens sponsors. I am really sorry. God Bless you my fellow sponsors. Does that make me a Sponsored Aunt to your Sponsored Children? Wow I am blessed and very loved.
This is such a great pictrue of the Body of Christ.
Wendy
Claudia,
My husband and I went on a Guatemala Sponsor tour in 2006. With our materials, we were given a map of the country with all the current projects on it. It lists the projects with their general location on it. I was happy to have a better idea of where the projects are located. I’ll try to get it scanned soon and then I’ll email it off to you.
Susan: Call Compassion @ 800-336-7676. They can look up your sponsor number for you. Have you received his packet yet? If you got him at a concert, they will likely mail you something with your sponsor number. When I sponsored my child from the website, I got my sponsor number with my packet–although I had gotten it earlier by calling, so that I could set up an online account.
Also, Sara F., your child at ME 780 matches children sponsored by Gin and Ceri!
Someone mentioned that we could be sponsor aunt and uncles to these sponsored children, especially the ones who are lucky enough to find a match.
This comment reminded me of a thought I had this morning. Since I don’t have any biological children (and won’t for a while, if I do at all), so I consider the kids I sponsor as my own children. Since I chose them personally, I seem to have a greater connection with them than with my correspondence child, somehow–so perhaps she’s my niece! 
I love all three of them, though!
If anyone has a child in KE-744 you can send me an email.
I visited there in the summer of 2008 and I have quite a few pictures of the church and activities.
(fishterp7@hotmail.com)
Does anyone have a map of Haiti that shows Compassion Projects?
That’s funny; I sponsor one in IN-111 and one in NI-121. Close but no match yet! BTW, I have one in IN-459 and one in HO-234 as well.
@Deborah –
Hi Deborah,
You are my first match! I have a young girl in BF682. Is your child a boy, or a girl?
Diane,
I forget that we have a match in BF114. Do you have a little boy there?
@Stephanie – I’m going on the Honduras tour also! I’m so excited; this is my first time. I’d love to talk to you! You can call or e-mail me at 573-248-8124 or (wildclover@sbcglobal.net).
Or a map of the projects in Honduras?
@Diane Nichols – Wow, I can’t believe I finally found someone who sponsors a child in the same project as one of mine! I recently started sponsoring Vijay in IN-111. How old is Nagaraju? Boy or girl? Vijay is 18. Feel free to e-mail me at (wildclover@sbcglobal.net).
I sponsor a girl in HO-241 in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. I visited her last year and hope to do so again this year. My church sends a mission team there every summer. I just take a day off from the official mission work to visit my sponsored child. We had a great time.
I sponsor a boy in India he’s 9. @Joy -
I have two sponsored children.
EC-124
PE-163
Anybody on here match these?
I’m looking for someone who is sponsoring also in Ghana. Madina specifically. Our little girl is GH-402
Thanks!
I have a new one at ET333 as well.
Bethany
My son Timothy sponsors a child in
BF350
We have a girl in RW 828
@Richard – @Brenda Emmett – Hi Richard I don’t have a match for EC 124 but I do sponsor a girl in EC107 which is in the same area. She is in northeastern Quito. I have a map of ecuador and corresponding projects if you would like a copy. My email is on the spreadsheet.
@Brenda Emmett – Hi I have a girl in Ghana. GH303 at Tema New-Town. I’ll have to check to try find where your child is. I don’t suppose you have a map of the projects in Ghana. Have you ever visited Ghana?
(r.midson@optusnet.com.au)
@Robyn – Hi! would you be able to email me the map of ecuador with the projects on it? I’d love it!
Thanks! My email is (cutepuppy87@gmail.com)
I had a another thought. How great would it be to have a Compassion online Forum/Message board for us to continue our communications on?! We could have areas for each country, prayer requests for us and our sponsored children, news, tour information, etc. It would allow us to post information and find others with children in the same country/project very quickly. It amazes me how many children we sponsor just here commenting on this blog. It would be so cool to be able to carry on conversations with everyone on a message board devoted to what we’re all passionate about, our children and the Compassion program. Again, just a throught.
GH 405 Nyakrom Presbyterian Child Development Centre
-one beautiful and strong 11 yr old girl
TZ 304 ELCT Daudi Student Center
-a lovely happy 6 yr old girl
@Sara Benson –
great idea…
I sponsor a little boy in Mexico
ME 700 center.
oops that was a typo he is in
ME 730 Kings Children Ambassadors Center
@Cindy – You should take a look at this post. It contains a short video from ME730 – as well as ME737.
@Erica – Chris G. did say there was something in the works for us to be able to more effectively connect; this blog thread is just a start. I’m glad there’s been so much of a response, and I’m looking forward to whatever Chris/Compassion has in mind! Can’t wait til it gets up and running!
I haven’t seen a match for mine yet. I have a feeling this is a newer center since my child’s number is very low.
I’m looking for:
TZ-236 (ELCT Shinyanga Mjini)
I’ll add my info to the spreadsheet but thought I’d share it here, just in case. I’d be very excited to be in contact with another sponsor from this center!
Ummm…I tried to add my information to the spreadsheet but it won’t let me make any changes. I’m signed in.
Any ideas what I might be doing wrong? I’ve used Google Spreadsheet before, but maybe I’m missing something obvious.
I was just assigned another correspondence child! Luis from Ecuador. EC-455. Gonna go check the spreadsheet and see if I have any matches!
@Judith Tremblay – It’s great to hear that! I can’t wait for it either!!!!! I hope it’s sooner rather than later!
Darn, no matches in Ecuador.
I’ve got four kids now, and no matches. It does show the scope of Compassion’s work around the world.
@Jodi – I went ahead and entered your info in TZ. Not sure why you couldn’t edit it. Was the toolbar mostly greyed out, especially the Insert tool? I noticed that when I looked at the spreadsheet without being signed in.
Judith – thanks! Yeah, it’s all grayed out. I tried logging out and signing back in…nothing seems to work. Can you add my email address: (hghearts@gmail.com)? I really appreciate it!
Found a new match!!
Clara and Michael for ure kids at DR – 245!!!! =D
@Rebecca – I’ll do it tonight (Australia time) as I have to rush to work now.
@Robyn – If you could email the map to me too that would be great. (fishterp7@hotmail.com)
I am so excited I recieved my two Correspondence children today, a girl from Columbia CO178 and a boy from Tanzania TZ 186. I sat down to write them and have gone blank. I am just so excited and look forward to writing, but am unsure as how to start. I am thankful to this blog for mentioning this program I called last Monday, with no specifics on children and here it is Tuesday and I have two.
I sponsor a little Girl in Kenya, I don’t really know what everyone is talking about with these numbers… but My girl is in Kenya =]
Okay I was so excited but after thinking about it, it really was not difficult at all.
Our god is an amazing God, we just need to listen to Him and He will guid us to what is right.
Thank you all,
Blessings
Correction: The two projects are:
EC182
PE163
@Erica – That would be a great idea, Erica. I’m wondering if there are other people on here who share the same projects I do. That would be a great idea.
Where do you get these project maps from? i’d love to see one of Tanzania.
Also, i was wondering about these correspondance children. is that when you write to them but not actually be a paying sponsor? Is it true that someone can be a corr person to an already sponsored child? If that’s true,as a sponsor myself i kind of don’t like that idea. But i really don’t know how that works.
Judith – I’m having trouble too with the spreadsheet and I think it’s because I have GMail for school so could you add access for that account too (valeriedlong@gmail.com)?
Wendy – I just started sponsoring a young lady in EC-180 not too long ago. Her name is Alexandra and she’s 13 – do you have a boy or a girl there?
Feel free to e-mail me at either address (rainstar76@yahoo.com) or (valeriedlong@gmail.com).
@Tina Adams – I also sponsor a child at HA-669!
My children are at:
HA 211
HA 254
HA 277
HA 669
HA 804
Updating my post…I’m now also the proud sponsor of the sweetest little girl in Kenya!
So, my numbers are:
BD-227
KE-450
Jess, these numbers are the first five digits of your child’s number (two letters, three numbers). You can see it in your web account or in the documents from Compassion.
@Melissa Kulak –
Hi Melissa,
This is the explanation that Sara B. gave us when we were wondering about the correspondence program …
“Their being in the correspondence program means one of two things.
1)Their sponsor did not write to them for a long time and then agreed to have someone else write to them,
2)Their sponsor asked for a correspondent when they first got their child.”
@Meredith –
Hi Meredith!
Finally a match for me!!
Tell me more about your child … how long have you been sponsoring him/her???
Have you checked out the spreadsheet from this blog? It has my email address if you want to contact me.
@Kees Boer – Hey I have a match with you! My boy is from EC270. I do not know the name of the project for him. Do you know what it is?
My little guy is in HA 813. I visited this past December and it was a life-changing experience, I hope to go back again this coming December!
Hi Melissa,
You wrote: “Also, i was wondering about these correspondance children. is that when you write to them but not actually be a paying sponsor? Is it true that someone can be a corr person to an already sponsored child? If that’s true,as a sponsor myself i kind of don’t like that idea. But i really don’t know how that works.”
I have 5 sponsors kids and 2 correspondence kids. My knowledge of the correspondence kids is that no one is assigned one unless the official sponsor has specified that they do not wish to write or just does not after a year (?) or so. The children value correspondence, and so it is a way for them to receive mail like everyone else and feel that someone is thinking of them. Your children would not be given a correspondence volunteer unless you requested it. While I think writing is a very neat part, some people can’t write but still want to help a child financially. I wasn’t sure that I could add any more children financially, but I don’t have a problem writing. So, it works out.
There is an earlier discussion about correspondence around posts 335-345.
Hope that helps. it is my understanding. Compassion could answer more questions directly.
Sara F.
@Jess –
Hi Jess, these letters/numbers can be found on your account statements, online, etc and refer to the country and location of your sponsored child. For example, the child I sponsor is from Kenya, his code is KE and the first three number corresponding to his location is 206.
@Jodi – i can’t either. almost everything is grey so i can’t do it
@Lisa Miles –
Ooooo, I just signed up to sponsor a little girl in Ethiopia three days ago. I would love to hear what you know about the project she is in. Her project number is:
ET444…..just like yours.
I’m very, very excited about this. would love to hear from you.
@Melissa Kulak – They only assign a child as a correspondence child if that child’s sponsor is not currently writing letters to the child. My daughter and I together have recently gotten 4 correspondence kids. They have people who pay their sponsorships but don’t or can’t write to them so we do! You don’t have to worry about Compassion assigning one of your sponsored children to someone else to correspond with as long as you are actively writing to them. It’s just for those kids that wouldn’t otherwise get letters.
My kids are at:
BO 283
EI 102
ET 423
HA 399
KE 703
TZ 600
Plus my corespondance kids at:
BO 413
CO 604
HA 397
HA 629
IN 641
UG 608
UG 922
I love ‘em all
@Amy Wallace – Yes, Amy! We do have a match!
@Meredith – So many Haiti kids, my hopes got up that you would match me. Nope. Kudos though.
The people who have maps are those who have traveled to the country to visit their sponsored child. Compassion has maps that they give as a part of a travel packet.
With the correspondence children, yes they already have sponsors. BUT it is only with the sponsor’s permission that the children are in the correspondence. Sometimes there are some well off people or even businesses who sponsor hundreds of kids but do not have the time to write them all. Because Compassion understands the importance of communication with a loving sponsor, these sponsors can ask that someone else be assigned to write to their kids.
Your kids will never have someone else corresponding with them unless you specifically ask for it.
@Lisa – I’m confused. What is a “correspondence child” and how is it different from a sponsored child?
@Robyn – I sponsor a boy in KE 323! When did your child graduate?
@Carol –
Woohoo! You can email me at (awlgjchs26@yahoo.ca), and I have Facebook too (Amy Wallace, network is University of New Brunswick ’11 – anyone else on here can add me too
). I would love to hear about your sponsored child!
@Sara Benson – Other suggestions I’ve heard of are bookmarks, coloring pages, postcards … I am sorry if this is a duplicate response! I am just now reading the blog!
@Sara Benson – also Christmas or birthday cards … any kind of greeting card!
Does anyone sponsor kids from these projects? Here are where my kids are:
HO 201
HO 409
KE 323
KE 701 (graduated from the program)
@Tina Adams –
Oh! Thank you very much for explaining that! Sorry, there’s so many replies here i guess i didn’t see it.
i hope we can get a forum where we can discuss these things easier.
That makes sense then. So i don’t have to worry about my child getting letters from anyone else. lol. It is a good idea though for those people who don’t write (although WHY they wouldn’t is beyond me. i absolutely enjoy it).
thank you again for letting me know.
@Sara Benson –
Thanks!
I never thought of that, that some people have soooo many (God bless them) that they might not have a chance to write to them all.
Mine is at tz700, though haven’t seen anyone with that number yet.
If anyone is, please email me at (anointedforgodsuse@yahoo.com)
@Suzanne – Suzanne, I sponsor a boy at BO-283. My email is (jcryer@mindspring.com).
@Robyn – Hi Robyn. I haven’t been on here for a while before I went on recently, so is there a way I can find this spreadsheet? I’d be interested in finding a map with the projects in Ecuador. Thank you.
@Robyn – Also, my e-mail is (Ramgeoport@hotmail.com) if you want to e-mail me directly. Thanks again.
@Richard – Here’s the link to the spreadsheet. Thanks for asking for it–it’s probably gotten buried back in so many posts!
I’ve got it set up so that everyone can work on it; however, I’ve had people tell me some of the functions are greyed out and they can’t add new rows (basically a read-only mode). You may have to still sign in with a Google account to be able to edit it. If you need any help, you can email me at (miztremblay@gmail.com)…or leave a post here. It just might take me a bit longer to get to it.
Thanks to all of you who responded about sponsoring older children. I’ll be looking for that child that catches my eye in Tanzania(where my other two children are).
Robyn – I loved reading your comment about the 850 kids sponsored at the Hillsong conference.It made my heart happy:-)
It also reminded me of the Compassion sponsorship drive held recently by our local Christian radio station (in the DC Metro area) – over 1300 kids were sponsored!It’s exciting to think that over 2100 children are now sponsored just through those two events.
I just started sponsoring my 5th child from Brazil on Monday. His project number is BR111. After looking at the spreadsheets, I saw that 2 sponsors have kids in BR111. I’m not too good with computers so could someone add my name to the spread sheet along with the project number. Thanks.
Ken M.–BR111
@Christina Lange – Go to Compassion.com, and log where it says “my account”. If you don’t have an account set up, it is easy to do. When logged on, you will be taken to your “account summary.” There, you will find your children, there project numbers, and can also email them from there and print out all the info on eack child.
@Lisa – Lisa, I sponsor a girl at GU-815 named Blanca.
GU-932
GU-815
CO-610
@Stephanie G – The 850 is awesome isn’t it but I am just as moved by 3 girls in my son’s youth group who go to uni and co-sponsor. Great stuff isn’t it. Danni (one of the girls) has entered her girl here.
@Richard – Richard i will gladly send you the map but for some reason my blog page has gone small and I can’t read your email address very well. If you could send me an email with it in I could be sure it is going to the correct email address. Sorry. My email again is (r.midson@optusnet.com.au)
@Elizabeth Marvin – Hi Elizabeth My boy Ken graduated April (2008). I’d love to know if he is still in the area as i was unprepared for the letter saying he was graduating and didn’t have any money at the time to send him a graduating gift. I’d have loved to send him a few hundred dollars to help him on. I am hoping to go to Kenya maybe next year so will do my best to find him.
Hi Brianna Rohrs you have a match with my son, timothy. For some reason I can’t add my email to the spreadsheet even when I’m logged in. I didn’t have any problem before but now? anyway if you want to swap info email is (r.midson@optusnet.com.au) Would love to hear from you.