OK, so I need to make a confession … I’m not as good as I should be at writing letters to my sponsored child. And I make all sorts of reasonable excuses for it, too:
“My life is already so busy with my work and kids that it’s hard to find the time.” “I feel like I just wrote a letter a couple months ago.” (It was 10 months ago.) “I need to wait until I have more to say.” “My letters don’t really matter anyway.”
I don’t know if you can relate to any of these. If you can, you’re definitely not alone. And you’re not a bad sponsor. Even if you never wrote a single letter to your sponsored child but you remained committed to their support while they worked with their church leaders and staff at their Compassion center to grasp the vision that God has planned for their future, you’d be making a profound difference in your sponsored child’s life.
That said, writing letters does some have amazing benefits, not only to your sponsored child but to you! And, yes, I am writing this blog to remind myself of that as I hope to encourage anyone else who struggles with writing.
So let’s take a look at four benefits of writing letters to your sponsored child:
1. It deepens empathy …
Without writing letters to correspond with your sponsored child, it’s hard to know what is actually going on in his or her life beyond the basics. You’ll receive regular updates on how they are progressing, but you may not feel involved. Through exchanging letters, you can ask questions and share about yourself. That may make your sponsored child more comfortable sharing the details of their life and their struggle with poverty with you. When you learn more about your sponsored child’s story, your opportunity to deepen your empathy for your sponsored child expands.
How that benefits the child:
There are so many ways deepened empathy can benefit your sponsored child.
- It will make you more of an active participant in his or her life. Empathy naturally lends itself to engagement, so you’ll feel compelled to reach out more to your sponsored child.
- As you reach out, you’ll be more engaged in coaching, listening, supporting and guiding. All of those things are profound to a child whose life experience and circumstances tell him or her that he or she has zero chance of amounting to anything.
- Your sponsored child will begin to see things from a broader perspective. Their empathy for you will open them up to new horizons and challenge them to think more critically about the world, their place in it and how they can work to make it different by starting with their own families, communities and countries.
How that benefits you:
Empathizing with someone else’s experience and perspective is a great regular practice.
- It challenges your own notions of how the world really works, and it forces you out of your comfort zone. Growth only happens when there’s discomfort, so empathy forces us to grow.
- You’ll also learn much more about yourself. You’ll analyze your own life and perspectives and gain a greater appreciation for the things you have, the place where you live and the life you live where you’re able to bless someone else.
- You won’t have to wonder if you’re really making a difference. Having greater empathy means you know what’s at stake and you’ll see more clearly what living in poverty is like for a child. And after knowing that better, you can be proud of the choice you made to change a child’s future.
2. It helps develop curiosity …
By engaging with your sponsored child through letters, it’s only natural that questions will come up. You’ll want to know more about how your sponsored child lives and his or her specific situation, and he or she will want to know more about your life.
How that benefits the child:
- Curiosity leads to discovery. It lets your sponsored child know that asking questions is OK – that by asking questions we learn and grow.
- Your sponsored child will begin to see that the world is full of possibility if you simply ask the questions. And it’ll open his or her own mind to the possibility that the world could be different for him or her, too.
How that benefits you:
- In much the same way, you’ll also learn and discover things you never knew. You’ll want to know more about where your sponsored child lives, what their life is like, what it’s like in their country and what they believe is possible.
- Curiosity may open you up to even one day visiting your sponsored child’s country. And that can lead you to have deeply fulfilling and exciting experiences with memories you’ll cherish, all because you asked questions.
3. It grows a greater understanding …
Through exchanging letters, you’ll learn more about how Compassion works, what your sponsored child’s time at Compassion is like, how the lessons and support are helping, and what else could be done (i.e., where else you can lend your support) to make things better.
Your child will also have a better understanding of why they should listen to his or her pastor, teachers and tutors and fully engage with all the Compassion program offers them.
How that benefits the child:
- Your child will begin to see that the Compassion program is about way more than just providing them supplemental food while sharing some Bible verses with them. They will know you are investing in their future. They will know that you believe in them, and they will want to work to live up to their full potential.
How that benefits you:
- When you practice empathy and curiosity in your letter exchanges, you’ll gain a fuller understanding of the entire system, from how Compassion works in your child’s country to what your sponsored child’s day-to-day life is like to why anti-poverty work is so much more complex than simply giving people more money and stuff.
- Ultimately, you’ll clearly see why deciding to sponsor was such an impactful decision.
4. It inspires people everywhere …
It might be hard to imagine, but in many places where Compassion serves, people aren’t really used to getting letters at all, let alone from people living in foreign countries. So when a child receives a letter from their sponsor, it’s not uncommon for the whole village or community to know about it and want to know what it says.
How that benefits the child:
- It boosts your sponsored child’s self-esteem to share his or her letters with his or her family, friends and community because he or she gets to feel special. It’s not about showing off, because communities often celebrate letters together, but it reinforces what your sponsored child hears from his or her pastor and staff at the Compassion center – that he or she has value and a purpose.
How that benefits you:
- You can feel great in knowing that not only are you making a life-changing difference through your influence on one child’s life, but you’re also touching his or her family, you’re reaching his or her community and you’re sharing hope with more people than you could ever know. That will make you feel both humbled and honored!
Writing letters to your sponsored child can be a hard thing to prioritize. But hopefully you see at least four reasons for why it might be something you’d want to do. (Yes, I’m talking to myself again here, too).
The simple fact is that through developing a real relationship with your sponsored child through exchanging letters, you should experience the joy of actively changing someone else’s life for the better in a more full and more fulfilling way.
So, make writing to your sponsored child a priority for this week. Here’s the link to write now if you’d like to write immediately. Otherwise, even just a short letter to say, “Hello! How are you?” is a great way to begin reaping the benefits of letter writing – for you and your sponsored child – this week!
Leave a comment below: What other benefits can you think of when it comes to letter writing?
International photography by Tigist Gizachew, Galia Oropeza and Juana Ordonez Martinez.
