So when a child who is cut off from all of the technology we have access to, gets a letter, imagine how joyful that excitement is magnified. They see the letter with their name on it and they know that someone out there in the world is caring for them. Someone is writing their name. During my trip to Nicaragua, with each visit to the center we went to, the staff of the church urged us to communicate the importance of letters. When we went to the Compassion country office in Managua, they did not care for one moment that this would create more work for them…..they wanted the kids to get more letters.Through a translator we were told by the church centers, “When the children get letters and gifts they are so happy, they keep them. They treasure them. But when kids don’t get letters, and they see their friends getting letters, they get sad.”
The children are so thankful to have sponsors. These bundles of sunshine emit a joy unlike anything you have ever seen. Compassion is a holistic program; physical, spiritual, educational/mental, emotional. Part of the emotional and relational growth of this program is executed through letters with sponsors.
Some kids can go a year without hearing from their sponsor. Others have their child files filled full of letters, pictures and gifts from their sponsor.
I’m going to finish this post with a story. The secretary from one of my favorite sites that we visited was telling us about the letter process so we could understand more about the kids and how correspondence functions on the other end. She was telling us that she goes about every other week to the country office to pick up, sometimes just one letter…..that’s how important these letters are. She probably doesn’t have a car. She either takes a bus or a motorbike. It’s anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half travel time. To pick up one letter. For one child. Because that one letter means so much.
If you have more questions about my trip or the processes that we got to witness firsthand, please feel free to connect via email or Facebook, and I would love to share more about this amazing organization.
