July 25th, 2007 at 10:09 am
My sister-in-law and her family did something extra special this summer. She and her family raised money for her sponsored child (as part of the Children’s International program) and went to visit her in Mexico (Guadalajara).
For those of you who don’t know what Children’s International is, it is a non-profit organization tailored towards uniting underprivileged kids with those who want to sponsor them.
At Children International, in our efforts to fight poverty, we unite sponsors with children around the world – bringing different nations and cultures together.
The photos she showed us of her sponsored child’s house and their living conditions just reminds us of how lucky we are to have a simple comforts in life like a proper house, clothes, electricity, water, food and transportation … things we all take for granted. It was to an extent that they didn’t have electricity or water and literally just stayed within 4 walls with a wooden door without proper toilets, sewage systems and showers. The village communities had a main area to get water each day and they had to fill their buckets up everyday. There were no proper roads into the housing shelters too and everyone had to walk through stone rubbles and overgrowth. (see picture below — those buildings on both sides of the stone rubble are actually houses!)
My sister-in-law and family certainly made their sponsored child and her brother happy by taking them out to McDonald’s for lunch. With that and the many toys and clothes given by them and friends, they certainly had the summer of their lives. Their smiles that were caught on camera were priceless.
I tip my hat to Children’s International too for building a nice community building for the sponsored kids with a playground, dental facilities, computer/ teaching rooms and a library. Donations collected also went towards buying more books for their community library. And thanks to the many Mexican social workers for volunteering to take care of more than 1000 kids at a time and Microsoft for donating brand new computers for them to use.
I saw the video footage my sister-in-law took and it just breaks my heart to see those adorable kids and their families live in such a state. You just can’t imagine it is for real until you see it. We are so very lucky — the next time I gripe and complain about not having something, I’ll just have to think about the many thousands of kids and their families out there that are worse off than me and have literally nothing.
4 Responses to “How lucky we are …”
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yoshi said: @ 11:59 am
July 25th, 2007
Yeah, I honestly am thankful for what I have. I’ve been sorely broke before, and literally it was bad, but I was no where near as bad of a situation as that.
I never was homeless either, that is for sure.
How lucky we are indeed.
Janet said: @ 9:06 pm
July 25th, 2007
That is a very good thing that they are doing. Makes you think twice about complaining about things.
kristarella said: @ 4:46 am
August 2nd, 2007
I often recognise how pathetic my own materialism is… I’m not quite sure how to change it. I guess prayer and reminding myself of what I do have.
Do you know what your sister’s sponsorship has contributed (e.g. food, water, infrastructure), apart from what sounds like a very special visit?
The Foo said: @ 10:29 am
August 3rd, 2007
Kris: The money she raised went towards a new library for the kids and the children’s international facilities. She does pledge a certain amount especially towards her sponsored child that goes towards her food, education and improving her daily life.