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. 

Interacting with the kids at HA-336

It was inspiring to listen to the Compassion staff at Verettes tell about the work being done  thru the Child Survival Program and the Child Development Sponsorship Program.  But, listening and watching was not all we did while we were there!  We were "on the ground" so to speak, with the kids, in Haiti!  It was a sponsor's dream, so we took advantage of it all we could...

We gave out lots of stickers and stick-on earrings...

Mingled with the kids and took lots of photos.

Held kids who wanted to be cuddled...

Held hands with the ones who were a little shy....

Or tried to entice the shyest ones to come to us!

The kids were excited and happy to have special visitors. 

We were loving it, and the kids were, too!

We had kids following us everywhere we went.

Sandra even helped tie a shoelace.

Kids from the US in our group shared and played with Haitian kids.

Lynn gave fist bumps!

Shelby radiated her love for the kids thru her smile!

The kids at HA-336 live in a community of great poverty as far as their material processions, but from what we saw at the project center, they have a wealth of hope and expressed their joy in the simple thing that matters most - love!

HA-336

The community of Verettes, Haiti, and specifically the Eben-Ezer Baptist Church of Verettes, is the location for the Child Project Center HA-336.  It’s in a rural area, basically a town surrounded by beautiful mountains.  

This is the view directly behind the center.

 Verettes is far enough away from the epi-center of the 2010 earthquake not to have been affected by that.  What it is affected by is the economy of Haiti.  The information I was given by Compassion Haiti says about Verettes, “Eighty-eight percent of the population does not have a job”.  Just think how important the project center is in an area like that.  First of all, they are given hope thru the gospel of Jesus, and along with hearing the Word, they are helped with the needs of daily life... as well as education to help them lift themselves out of poverty.  We saw the results of mothers in the CSP who were learning dress-making skills, baking, and literacy. 

This mother showed us how she had learned to write her name.

This Mom modeled the dress she learned to sew thru the CSP project.

In the future, these skills will help them provide for their families.  The next generation, the children of HA-336, will have a better chance to lift themselves out of poverty.  There are 365 children registered at this project center... only 338 of them had sponsors at the time of our visit.  Would you like to sponsor one of these beautiful children and make a huge difference in their lives? 

Here are some more photos of the facilities and children at HA-336.

 

The playground looked like it should be condemned, but it was being used by the children.

As you can see, they were having a joyful time playing on it!