Write to Your Sponsored Child!

I know, I know, you've heard this countless times (here), but this is a really a cause that is near and dear to my heart.

Yes, sending your money each month is an extremely important to be able to feed, clothe, educate, and nurture these beautiful children. But, that's not all there is to child sponsorship. On both ends of the sponsorship relationship are actual people, actual human beings with thoughts, feelings, emotions, and questions. Human beings that want to know about each other. Who is this person that lives so far away from me? Who's in their family, what do they like to do, how do they celebrate holidays, what's their favorite bible story? The questions can truly be endless.

I have been told that a study was done with Compassion children. It was proven that sponsored children who receive regular letters from their sponsors do exceedingly better in school than the sponsored children who never receive letters. Compassion says that children who receive encouragement and love from many miles away have a much higher self-esteem and higher drive to do well because they know they are loved.

Even though I was told this and I believed it, it was just hard to imagine. I couldn't picture what a child like this would look like.

Now I can.

My correspondent child, Erick, is 17 years old and lives in Uganda. When I was first assigned to him, I found out that he was only in 3rd grade. In his first letter, his tutor wrote to me that he was really struggling in school, especially with his handwriting and English skills. In the last year, I have been able to watch Erick get promoted to 4th grade and I have been able to see his handwriting improve dramatically! It's abosolutely astounding. I want to share some handwriting samples with you:

 

Erick's Handwriting: January 2012

 

 

 

Erick's Handwriting: June 2012

 

 

 

Erick's Handwriting: December 2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am a true believer that writing letters makes a world of difference!