Bad News Bears

Unfortunately, I don't mean the funny, adorable, inspirational baseball movie.

Lately, I have gotten two pieces of bad news from Compassion. One bit of news, I've known about for about two weeks, but I didn't know if I was going to share about. Today, I got the 2nd piece of bad news and figured it was time to write about them both.

First, I will share the news that has a potential to get better. IN-860, the project that my Sagar attends, my all-time favorite project, the project that serves families living in the Miraj Red Light District (all things you know already) is on probation. Compassion has found that the money was not being used according to Compassion's high standards and that they children were not benefiting from the money in the way that they were supposed to. Compassion worked with the leaders at the project for two months, but wasn't able to work out the problems. At that point, sponsors were contacted. This project has three months, until November, to get the problems solved. At that point, if things have not been fixed, the project will close.

This project, which is a beacon of hope in a dark, dirty, degrading community, could close. All of the beautiful children, that I have come to know, by name and face, may not have a safe place to go, a place to receive the love of Christ. Without Compassion, many of the children may end up being trafficked into the sex trade, because they won't have another option.

Sadly, also when it comes to Sagar, his updated photo is now almost 2 months overdue. Unfortunately, Compassion will not put in an inquiry about his photo because his project is on probation. I will either have to wait until November to either receive a new photo or even to simply begin asking for me. Or, if the project closes down, I will not receive one. Heartbreaking.

I have to admit, I have been mourning this quite a bit lately. I have also been praying very hard. I suppose I will have to continue praying for the next few months until Compassion makes their decision.

Will you join me in praying for this project, these children, and for sweet Sagar?

Selfishly, I do not want my contact with Sagar to end. Of course, I don't want Compassion to lower its standards and support a project that can't follow the guidelines. But, I am having a hard time imaging my life in the future without this sweet boy in it. 

Well, let's add insult to injury, shall we? 

I got a call from Compassion today. I didn't immediately recognize the number on my phone screen, but it was an 888 number, which I guessed was either from Compassion or World Vision. I knew that the phone call would not be good. A sponsorship organization typically does not call a sponsor unless there is bad news that needs immediate attention. 

I was right. 

I learned that my precious little girl, Debora, has moved out of the area with her family and will no longer be attending her project. Compassion looked into where she is moving and there is no Compassion project nearby that she could attend. My sweet girl, who is going to turn 6 years old next month, is gone from my life. 

I can only pray that she has moved to a safer neighborhood. The community that she lived in, a community that I visited and walked through, is very dangerous. Its gang activity has gotten so bad that a young child was murdered right outside of his school, for no apparent reason. I can only hope that Debora is moving to a better neighborhood. 

I find comfort in the fact that her parents are both very strong Christians. I attended church at this project and Debora's dad was front row, center, clapping and singing and dancing his heart out while the praise band played. He prayed fervently with his hands up in the air. He and his wife held their children closely with love. I know that, as long as the family can stay together, the family will be okay, under God's protection. 

I will miss seeing this sweet face on my account. I will miss finding cute things in pink and purple (her favorite colors) to send to Debora. I will miss the long, detailed, loving letters her mother wrote me. 

I was told that a final letter is on its way to me. I was told that the letter was written by a project worker, so maybe I will get some more information about why the family moved. I hope the circumstances are good, but I also know they might not be. Because she moved, I will not be able to write her a final letter. I just pray that Debora knows how much I loved her. 

With this loss, and the threat of more loss in the near future, I can't help but feel discouraged.