Up Close and personal photos

 If you are a sponsor, I imagine you are like me when a new photo arrives in the mail from Compassion of your sponsored child.   What excitement I feel when an envelope comes that contains an updated photo! I spend quite a bit of time carefully studying every detail.  Does she look healthy? Do her clothes fit and are they clean?  Even the background of the new photo is searched for clues to know more about my child's life.  Of course, her facial expression is studied the most.  Usually, I am wondering why my child looks so sad in the photo.... and hoping that some day she will smile for the camera.

Our first photo of our sponsored child in Rwanda

One of the reasons why the children don't often smile for the camera is simply the strangeness of posing for the photographer, often after waiting awhile in line and then being in front of a lot of other people while the photo is taken.  Another reason is simply that the life they are living doesn't lend itself to putting on a happy face.  The life of a child in poverty is a very stressful life.  In our society we think we are under stress from all the multi-tasking we do and running here and there.  But in Haiti, the children are under stress because their parents don't have work, food, proper shelter... and when parents are stressed, the children are, too.  Compassion sponsorships truly help with that.  By helping the children, the sponsorships help the parents as well and so the whole family benefits.  After some time of sponsoring a particular child, your updated photos may show that.  In the new photo I received of our girl in Rwanda, she was smiling and looked truly happy (and she has shoes on!). 

Same sponsored girl in Rwanda... several years later!

 When we were at Project HA-778,  there were mobs of children!  I have some photos to show you of that, but before I do, I wanted to show you some of the "up close and personal" faces.

This boy had glitter on his face from the cards the kids had made for us.  When I asked to take his photo, this is the first shot I got.  He was so serious for the camera, when a minute before he had been smiling...

 

So I pantomimed that it was okay to smile for the camera and I was rewarded with this beautiful smile!

Not sure what these little girls were thinking, but I love their expressions!

Aren't these two cuties?

Another beautiful girl, who happened to be in a wheelchair.  I'm so thankful for Compassion's help for the special needs kids.  You can search for special needs kids on their website if you feel called to help a handicapped child.

I love the smiles of these two children, who didn't know I was taking their picture.

Even the ones who did know you were taking their picture came up with some interesting expressions!  The girl in the middle definitely had an "attitude"!

Sometimes they needed to think it over and whisper to their friends about the strange lady with the camera.

The older girls loved to have their photos taken....

And then they loved to see their photos on the camera screen!

Most of them probably don't have mirrors in their homes, so it's special to see their own faces in the pictures.