A Tale of Two Mothers

There’s an old saying that goes... “There are two sides to every story.” 

Mother’s Day is next Sunday and I have a story to tell you about two mothers - living on opposite sides in a true tale about poverty.

The first mother lives a few miles from me and is my close friend.  We were out shopping together last week.  The stores were full of things with signs suggesting you buy them as gifts for Mother’s Day.  My friend said to me, “I hope my kids don’t get me any more knick knacks.  I have way too much stuff already!”  She has been an “empty nest” Mom for quite a few years and she is ready to down-size to a smaller house.  She really doesn’t want gifts of “stuff”!  She’s living with the ‘poverty of excess’.

The second mother is one who lives a few thousand miles from me and I don’t know her well at all, but I will never forget her.  When I was in Haiti on a Compassion International tour, I was with a group of people who visited her home.  When this mother of twin toddler boys was asked what a typical day is like for her, she answered “If it is a good day, we have something to eat.”  Can you imagine not knowing if you will have food for your children?  This mother is one of ‘poorest of the poor’.   

Read more about her story here

Both of these Moms have something in common.  Poverty.  Yes, the first Mom is suffering from the ‘poverty of excess’ and the second one is suffering from the ‘poverty of not enough’.  Of course, the second is a much more of serious problem than the first.  She doesn’t know if she will have food to feed her children and herself.  She lives in an barely habitable shack without running water or any kind of plumbing.  I’m sure she can’t even imagine having “too much stuff” ... just as it’s very hard for us to imagine living like she does, without what we consider the basic necessities of life.

Clean water available at the Compassion Project Center nearby

I have an answer to help to solve the kinds of problems these and other mothers like them are facing.

This Mother’s Day, the children of those who are dealing with the ‘poverty of excess’ could -- instead of buying your mother another unwanted knick-knack --make a gift in her honor to the Child Survival Program, to the Highly Vulnerable Children's Fund, or to the Water of Life Program.  Perhaps you could even sponsor a child in honor of your mother (one of those gifts that “keeps on giving!”).  

Mothers (and one father!) with their children in the Child Survival Program in Haiti

I think a gift like this would be a blessing to any mother who already has "too much stuff"!  (Speaking as a mother myself) I also know it would truly bless a mother living in need.  A few clicks to donate, then write a note in a pretty card to tell your mother about your gift.  Of course... on Mother's Day, also be sure to tell her how much she means to you and how much you love her!

Happiness shows in the Art!

Other than once-in-a-lifetime-type visits, letters are the line of communication between sponsors and our kids.  Letters are the good old-fashioned way -- no Facebook messaging, emails, or texts between us and them (although you can write your child using Compassion's online letter-writing tool - they will still get a paper printout of it).  Each paper letter is precious; and eagerly awaited.  No letter was more anticipated by me than the one I hoped to receive from Kimberlie after my visit to her.  I was anxious to see if she would mention meeting me and what she would say about that.

Finally, on March 21st, I opened my mailbox to see a Compassion envelope with this happy note on the outside, "Message from your Sponsored Child".  I had recently received letters from our other sponsored kids, so I thought it was probably from Kimberlie... but I quickly ripped into it to see.  It was!

This letter was written for Kimberlie by her 16 year-old brother.  Each of her letters have been written for her by different people.  The first one just said "written by family" then there were 3 written by different Compassion staff members.  In this one (the 5th one I've gotten from her) I was happy to see that her brother had taken time to help her write to me. 

It was written near the beginning of January, so Kimberlie started off the letter, "She was really glad to spend Christmas."  Then she said, "She felt like seeing you a lot."  Translations of letters can sometimes be a little awkward sounding.  I don't know if she meant she wished she could see me again at Christmas?  Then she went on to say,  "How did you spend Christmas?  She thinks that she would stay with you.  She didn't feel like coming back."  That sounds like she just wanted to stay with me while I was there.  So sweet.  I wished I could have stayed longer, too!

Then she thanked me for the gifts I brought her, "particularly the doll, clothes, and photos".  My, but she does love photos!  (Makes sense, I love the photos I have of her, too!)  She tells a little more about Christmas... "Her mother always tells her that Santa Claus will come in December."  Then she answers several questions I had asked her in my previous letters.  So it was really a wonderful letter.

One of the things I love about her letters are her drawings.  I'm no child psychologist but it's pretty easy to see a change from the one in her first letter:

 To her next one:

Looks a lot happier, doesn't it?

Here's the most recent drawing - done after my visit.  In this one she used the colored pencils I gave her instead of crayons.

 

I love the two hearts which say "alo" and "elo"!  I think the object in the lower right might be the box of watercolor paints I gave her.  I'm not sure what a few of the other things are -- any guesses?  Here's a close-up:

 Also, a reminder about Katerin from Guatemala, who is on my Change the Story page.  Just click on the link if you'd like to read more about her or become her sponsor.  Then you, too, could start to receive some loving letters and beautiful artwork!

Katerin

The End but Not the End

It seemed like we had just said "Alo" when it was time to say "Orevwa".  

Kimberlie's sign

Even though we only had about an hour and 45 minutes together, every bit of that time was priceless.  

Then, it was time to have a few last words together, face to face.  In the next photo, I was telling her "I love you very much" in Creole.  "Mwen renmen ou anpil." Johnnie had to help me with my pronunciation at bit!

I think Kimberlie was tired, even though she'd had a nap on the long ride to see me.

It was time to pack up her new things.

And take one last photo with the project center staff lady who had traveled with her.

We couldn't drag out our good-byes because it was already 10 pm - the time when they had to leave the hotel grounds.  So with a quick hug, they were off.  I couldn't help but follow a little ways out to the parking lot so I could watch her go.

My heart was full with happiness from finally getting to be with Kimberlie, and sadness from some of the things I had learned about her life.  She has had some personal difficulties that I did not know about before meeting her.  I'm so glad I am able to be her sponsor -- to love her and to encourage her.  I titled this post, "the end but not the end" because even though the story of my trip to Haiti is soon coming to a close,  my sponsorship of Kimberlie is not.  I will continue to write to her each month... and I have recently received a letter from her that I will share excerpts of in my next post.

An Early Christmas with Kimberlie

I've heard that most of the time, people on sponsor tours wait until the last hour or so before their children leave to give them the gifts they have brought.  Since I only had a short time with Kimberlie, Jeannot suggested soon after we met that I start giving her my other gifts.  (I had already given her the stuffed dog and photo album to break the ice).  

Like any little girl, she was happy to see what else I had brought.  After the toys and school supplies, etc., I gave her the clothes.  Picking out clothing for a child you've never met was challenging... but everything seemed to be a good size for her and she liked them.  

Especially the socks, as you can see in the next two photos!

We each picked out our favorite sock design... hers were the ones with the bird on them, mine were the turtles.  She said birds are her favorite animal when I asked.  That's so neat, since I also love birds.  The backpack I took for her was covered with owls.  I wished I had brought her a jacket, because the one she was wearing was so small.  Maybe she can get one with the birthday money I sent her later.  When you sponsor with Compassion, besides the regular monthly support, you can send birthday, Christmas, and family gifts.  You can suggest what you want the money spent for, then Compassion staff helps the family decide what is most needed and oversees the purchases.

After she had seen all her own gifts, I told her about the bag of gifts I had for her family.  Because we didn't have much time, we didn't take them out of the bag.  However, I told her about one special gift.  It was a Christmas ornament.  As I described it to her, I told her about the Christmas story and how Jesus was born, and then died for us on the cross and rose again the third day.  I wanted to make sure she knew about Jesus.  Here's the ornament I gave her family:

 About that time, Jeannot told me that the hotel rules were that no unregistered guests could stay on the grounds after 10 pm.  It was about 20 minutes til 10!  I had thought we could visit longer, even though it was late.  Remember the notebook I took with questions I wanted to be sure to ask?  I never took a minute to get it out of my pack... I didn't want to waste any time!  Later, after Kimberlie had left, I got the notebook out and wrote down the answers to the questions I had asked... to make sure I didn't forget.  Luckily, there were only a few questions I had not asked!  The rest will have to be asked in letters.

Since I only had a very short time left, I knew I wanted to pray for Kimberlie.  I did that next.  Praying with a translator is actually a kind of neat experience, because you have time to pause and think for a few seconds between each sentence.  Here we are when I was praying for Kimberlie:

After I prayed for her, I spent a few minutes showing her how to play the recorder.  I brought mine and one for her, originally thinking we'd have lots of time during the day when I could show her more.  
Here's Kimberlie with her new recorder:

I gave her a little booklet for her to learn on her own, and a laminated fingering chart -- so hopefully she can learn to play.  She seemed to really like to hear me play (one of her favorite things according to her bio is singing so I know she likes music).  After I played "Jesus Loves the Little Children" once, we did it a second time with her singing with me, then she sang it for me by herself.  What a sweet time!

Compassion Sunday "Commercial"

Now that I've reached the climax of my story.... meeting Kimberlie, it seems like perfect timing to take a short pause to post a "commercial".  I hope you won't quickly "change the channel".  

I'd love for you to take a minute (really, that's all the time it will take, just like a real commercial!) to read my Compassion Sunday story.  I wrote it in response to a new Compassion bloggers assignment.  If you've had any thoughts while reading my blog-- maybe you wish you could change a life in this way, too, then perhaps it's time for you to become a sponsor.   

I've searched on the Compassion website and picked a little girl to "advertise".   She looks like a real sweetie (click on the link above to see her picture and read my story). She is from Guatemala, the very first country we sponsored in.  We began sponsoring because we wanted to honor my Mom, who had passed away.  It has been such a blessing over the years since then to have a relationship with our sponsored kids.  Our girl in Guatemala wrote wonderful letters to us for about 5 years, until her circumstances improved enough that she left the program (which was bitter-sweet, of course!).  I hope that someone will decide to sponsor Katerin soon.  If you do, please leave me a comment!

Oh, and the commercial ends like this, "if two children are sponsored thru my story, Compassion will give a $50 family gift to one of my sponsored kids".  But... "that's not all" -- the people who sponsor the kids will receive an even greater blessing by being sponsors.  I know, it happened to me!

Thanks for "watching".    

PS- If you'd like more info about Katerin, here is her bio from the Compassion website:

Katerin
Birthday:	July 08, 2004
Age:	8
Gender:	Female
Region:	Middle America
Country:	Guatemala
Program:	Nueva Vida Student Center

Personal and Family Information:
Katerin lives with her father and her mother. Her duties at home include carrying water, washing clothes and making beds. There are 3 children in the family. Her father is employed as a farmer and her mother is sometimes employed as a laborer.

Playing jacks, swimming and singing are Katerin's favorite activities. In kindergarten her performance is average and she also regularly attends Vacation Bible School.

Please remember Katerin in your prayers. Your love and support will help her to receive the assistance she needs to grow and develop.

Here's Kimberlie!

As soon as I heard the words, "She's on her way" I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off me.   To know that Kimberlie was okay and she was on her way to see me made me very, very happy!  What a difference a few words can make!  

Becca told me they had to go in with a boat to pick her up.  It was about 4:00 when she told me this.  They guessed that she might arrive about 7:00.  All the other sponsors had already said good-bye to their kids.  That was not an easy thing to do.  But, now they were also excited to hear that Kimberlie was on her way.  A bunch of people waited with me in the foyer.  Then Jeannot got a call that she was still about an hour away, so we all went and had dinner.  After we finished dinner, we had a debriefing meeting.  I was so excited I could barely concentrate on what was being discussed.  I kept watching the door.  About 8:15, Jeannot appeared at the door-- looked at me and gave me a nod.  That was all I needed to jump out of my seat and follow him.  Two other ladies had offered to bring cameras and capture our meeting... but to be honest I really didn't notice them coming along. 

There was only one thing on my mind.... and that was meeting this special little girl --

I hope I didn't scare her by hugging her so much!  But the first thing I asked her about was the flooding.  Was she scared when they picked her up in the boat?  She said "no" so I guess she wasn't frightened by my hugs! I told her she was brave to come in the boat and not be afraid.  Talking with the project center worker (in the photo) who came with her, I learned that the project center had been surrounded by water up to the fence but no water came inside.  Thankfully, Kimberlie's house was also not flooded, and her family was okay!

Jeannot translated for us in the beginning, and then Johnnie took over after a bit.  Both of them were fantastic!  It took a little while for me to get used to speaking to Kimberlie thru a translator.  Especially in the beginning, because I was so excited! 

I gave Kimberlie her first gift - a little stuffed dog...

 

I told her its' name was Ruby, just like my daughter's basset hound.  She liked that!

Then I gave her the photo album I brought for her.  She looked thru it while we talked.  She really studied each photograph.  She compared her stuffed Ruby to the real one in some of the photos.

 Then I gave her the doll wearing the dress which matches one Kimberlie has.  She is nine year old and this is her very first doll.  Her face really lit up!  (Too bad you can't see her smile in the next photo).

 By this time, Johnnie was translating for me.  He had translated for our group during the trip, and he always did a super job.  He used just the right touch with Kimberlie and me.  He also grabbed my camera and took photos the whole time, which I am so thankful for!

Here is Kimberlie looking thru the bag of doll clothes I made for her.  She looked at each piece carefully and then neatly put them in a pile. Then, this is what happened next....a big hug and kiss!

I think she liked them! 

Thanks to Johnnie, I'll have more photos to share with you in my next post.

A Long Day

After the kids had arrived, I wandered around for a little while and watched the other sponsors talking to and playing with their kids.   Everyone has their own translator on Child-Sponsor visit day, and usually one family member comes with the younger kids, and also one person from their Project Center, so there were little groups here and there around the pool and snack bar.  

Then I decided to spend some time taking photos for Kimberlie, specifically of the flowers at the hotel.  Awhile back, in a letter, I had asked Kimberlie if she had any flowers where she lives-- because I love flowers.  She had written back and the translation said "there are no flowers in the area where she lives".  Interestingly enough, just before I got that letter, I had bought some pretty paper flowers to send her, so I sent them in my next letter.  Then, her next letter to me included a nice drawing with two flowers, similar to the purple and pink paper ones I had sent her!

Anyway, I had hoped to take a walk with Kimberlie around the hotel grounds and show her the beautiful tropical flowers, and since it didn't seem like that was going to happen, I decided to photograph some of them to mail to her after I came home. 

An orchid on a palm tree, and a close-up shot of it below.

Then I decided to go for a swim, so I swam out as far as you could inside the ropes, and floated around for awhile.  After that I took a walk along the beach.  All the while I was praying for Kimberlie.  Thankfully, it turned out that Jason's boy had been able to get there.  Becca and Jeannot were still telling me they weren't sure about Kimberlie.  They hadn't really been able to get much information because the cell towers in her area were without electricity.  I told Becca I was not going to come to lunch.  It just seemed like it would be too hard to be there by myself, while the other sponsors had their kids.  I said, "I'm okay, I'm just going to skip lunch". 

I went back to my room, in my damp, salty-watery bathing suit and found that the maid had come in and taken my towels!  I saw a maid working nearby, so I tried with my very limited Creole and by pantomiming, that I needed a towel.  It was rather funny but also kind of the "last straw".  Plus, about that time, Becca stopped to see me and she was so kind that I just lost it and started crying.   She didn't have any news but said she would let me know as soon as she did.  She asked if I would be able to stay longer in Haiti if they couldn't get Kimberlie there in time before the group's flight home tomorrow (Becca was staying the following week to escort another Compassion group so I wouldn't be alone).  I said I would be willing to do that if possible.  I also said the main thing I was concerned about was Kimberlie's safety. 

Becca returned in a few minutes with some towels... so I was able to get cleaned up and dried off.  Then I lay on my bed and prayed and shed some more tears.  I had been looking forward to spending this day with Kimberlie for about 7 months; so to say the least it was disappointing.  I was exhausted from the lack of sleep the night before, so I fell asleep at some point while praying.  The next thing I knew I was awakened by knocking at my door.  Slightly groggy from my nap, I opened the door and there was Becca, saying, "She's ON HER WAY!"  

Child - Sponsor Visit Day!

Saturday morning, there was a lot of excitement in the air!  Everyone was eagerly awaiting the arrival of the children!  

On these types of trips, all the children travel from wherever they live in the country, to one location to meet the sponsors.  Sometimes, it's at an amusement park, zoo, or similar type place, where the sponsors and kids can have fun together.  After I had signed up for the trip, I thought about this day, and hoped it wouldn't be to an amusement park, because I'm terrible at rides - I get dizzy on the Merry-Go-Round!  So I was very happy when I got the trip guide and it said we would be staying at our hotel for the Child-Sponsor Day.  (It was one of those "answer to prayers" that you hadn't actually prayed for, because it seemed selfish, but I was thankful!) I love the beach and thought playing in the pool and the ocean with Kimberlie sounded wonderful.

Our group all gathered in the open-air foyer of the hotel after breakfast to await the arrival of the children... who would be coming in one by one.  That is, except for Jason' boy, Loulou, and Kimberlie.  Jeannot had told me that morning that "it didn't look good" for them to be able to come. Becca was a little more upbeat about it, and said "they are still working on it".

The flooding in Cap Haitian was the worst they had in years.  A tropical storm had centered itself over the area and torrential rains were coming down.  I was praying hard... mostly for safety for the people there, including Kimberlie and her family, but also for wisdom for the Compassion staff to know what to do.  I prayed that Kimberlie would be safe and her home not damaged.  And that she would not be too disappointed.  I know I was.  

But I was determined to try to enjoy the day as best I could.  In just a few short days, I had come to feel close to the other people in our group, and I wanted to share in their joy when they met their kids.

Everyone was waiting and super excited as the children began to arrive.  

Hugs and smiles!!!

One by one the children came...and those still waiting took photos.

Letty hugged her Pastor's sponsored child who came to spend the day with her.

Lots of group photos were taken of the sponsors, kids, family member, and Compassion staff who had traveled with them, as well as photos of more candid moments like these:

Even Jason had two boys who came... his newly sponsored child, and his mother's sponsored child, who is in the photo below.

It really was amazing and fun to be there to watch.  But of course, it was also terribly sad not to have Kimberlie be arriving as well.  As each child arrived and went off with their sponsors to spend the day together, the group waiting got smaller and smaller til it was just me.  So, what was I going to do?  I decided I was in a tropical paradise, I should try to enjoy it.  More about that in my next post.