Waiting Children

This post is part of a series I am writing about our trip to the Dominican Republic with Compassion International

 

 

Waiting Children

While the average wait for sponsorship for a child in the Child Development program is only 3 months, Jhon Henry had waited one year for sponsorship.

Although he had been enrolled in the program and had received every service or program a ‘sponsored’ child had, tears rolled down his mother’s face as she repeatedly thanked us for sponsoring her son.

“We waited so long.   What made you choose Jhon?” she asked us.

 

Choosing a child

In an effort to serve more families in the community Compassion limits enrollment to only one child per family.

As she sat with her youngest son on her lap, I wondered what it must have taken for this mother to choose one son over the others.

Yet, she did it…and then she waited for someone else to choose her child.

And Jhon Henry waited to be told that he had been chosen.

That someone believed in him.

I wonder how hard it must have been for him to watch other children in the program writing letters to their sponsors and receiving letters from their sponsors, while knowing that he had still not been chosen.

Did he lose hope of ever having a sponsor?

Did his lack of sponsorship reinforce his feelings that he wasn’t important and that his life didn’t matter?

I don’t think I can articulate what made us  choose Jhon Henry the day we selected his profile from all the others.

But as I saw him sitting before me with his eyes downcast as his mother tearfully asked the question,  I suddenly KNEW why we were his sponsors.

Through the help of an interpreter,  I said,

“Jhon Henry, I’m sorry that you had to wait so long for a sponsor.  I believe God had you wait because He wanted you to feel special.   He wanted you to have a sponsor that would come visit you.  So you had to wait for us, because this is the first time we could visit you.” 

As the smile slowly spread across his face I silently thanked God for allowing us to be Jhon Henry’s sponsors.

A child is waiting for your sponsorship

I wish there weren’t more children like Jhon Henry, but the truth is there are other  children still waiting for sponsorships.

It’s hard to believe that $38 a month could change a life, and yet it does.

But even more than the money, it’s knowing you were important enough to be chosen.

Even if your parents leave you.

Even if you are the poorest of the poor.

When someone in a far away country says:  I choose you. I believe in you.

Suddenly,  you can begin to have  hope.