Making a difference

Everyone has heard of child sponsorship. You’ve seen the ads on TV. The catch phrase used to be “a dollar a day”, but it’s more like $40/month now. This small amount of money can make a huge difference in the life of a child.

We currently sponsor two children, one through World Vision and one through Tear Fund.

Tarike, from Ethiopia, was our first “sponsored kid”. We began sponsoring her just after we got married.
About 3 years later, we began sponsoring Zacharie, from Mali.

Zacharie is now 10, and Tarike is about 16.

We pray for our sponsored kids everyday. We pray for them whenever we say grace at mealtimes, and at bedtime when we say prayers with the boys. Ethan and Tyler are very involved and informed about child sponsorship, because we believe it’s something we should do as a family, not just a couple.

Ethan in particular has a genuine concern for children who are poor and hungry. He often asks why some families don’t have enough money or food. He has asked why God doesn’t provide for them. We are honest with him, and tell him that God has given more than enough for everyone in the world, but that some people are greedy and have more than they need, which means others have nothing. We tell him that there are rich people in the world who don’t help others, and that is wrong.

A few months ago (March 17th, to be exact), as I was putting Ethan to bed, I was touched by the words of his prayer. I immediately went and wrote them down so I wouldn’t forget. This is what he prayed (word-for-word, from his own lips):

“Dear God,
Thank you for our world, and that we have a good world, not like some people who live on the street and have no food. Please give them food and help them because we don’t want them to have no food and to be starving.
Thank you for your kindness to us and that you made us.
Amen.”

He knows that we give some of what we have to help Tarike and Zacharie. He knows that we are trying to make a difference.

Last night, we had to give Ethan some sad news about Tarike.
I received this letter yesterday:

“Tarike has not been attending the Student Centre and is no longer part of our Sponsorship Programme. Project staff made every effort, through encouragement, counsel and advice to ensure that she remained in the programme but were unsuccessful.”

Attached was a letter from the Project Staff in Ethiopia:

“Thank you for all your help for Tarike. Now Tarike can’t attend school and Sunday School. Also she has stopped her medication by her own self. She is not communicating with her mother. Through her mother she informed us she don’t need any support from the Project. We are sorry to inform you but we encourage you to carry on your ministry to support anyone in need of your support.”

The last letter we received from Ethiopia had informed us that Tarike was not attending school because she was being treated at a mental hospital in Addis Ababa. For some time prior to this, Tarike had been writing to us about her medical problems, including headaches, heart problems, and mental problems. Of course we were very concerned, but trusted that the Project would be able to help her and ensure that she got the necessary treatment.

It was really sad to discover that she has withdrawn herself from the Sponsorship Programme. My heart broke a little when I read the letters. It’s hard to “let go” of someone who has been part of our lives for almost 10 years, and to know that we won’t ever find out what happens to her after this.

Rob explained things to Ethan last night, and he was extremely sad and genuinely concerned. He said, “But why doesn’t she take her medicine? Doesn’t she know it will make her better? Why doesn’t she want our money? Now she will have nothing to eat!”
A hard lesson for a 6-year-old to learn. He is hurting, too.

We will soon be receiving details of a “replacement” child. I have asked for another girl, around the age of 5. It feels good to know that we will be able to help another child, but I wish we could have done more for Tarike.

Tarike will continue to be in our prayers. We will just add the name of our new sponsored kid, and we’ll pray for all 3. I know that we have tried our best to make a difference, I am just sad that we weren’t able to do enough.