So little, and yet...

I received my third letter from Uwizera, in Rwanda, today.  She is the 13-year-old girl I began sponsoring last spring.  I had sent her a birthday gift, and this is her letter of thanks.

Compassion recommends birthday gifts of only $10 to $25, so that some children don't receive exhorbitant amounts while others receive very little, if anything.  This is a wise policy.  But our "very little" amounts to so much for these children and their families.

Consider:  My $25 translated to 13,775 Rwandan francs.  Uwizera (bless her heart!) tithed on that, giving 1,375 francs to her church.  She bought shoes for 300 francs and a bed for 8,000 francs, and spent the rest (4,100 francs) on food for the family.

This is a marvelous example for me to give when I am asked how others in the family feel about one child's being sponsored:  The whole family benefits!  It may be as simple as there being one less child to be clothed and fed out of the family's limited resources.  It may be--as a friend of mine discovered--that the child will even share all of the gift, if there is a special need; my friend's sponsored child gave his father the full amount of a birthday gift in order for his dad to buy medicine and supplies for his diabetes.  One of my earliest letters from Tausi listed among her birthday gifts sugar and rice; you don't find such things on the wish list of your average American kid.  These children and their families have so little, and the children who are receiving so much through their sponsorship do love to share!

I really am not able to express what was in my own heart, as I read and pondered Uwizera's letter.  I, like most Americans, take so much for granted.  Yes, there was a time, less than 20 years ago, when $25 made a difference for me--but not that great a difference.  Now, as God has blessed us and our business, that amount seems to insignificant.  Still, I can't come up with the words for what I feel.

As a result of sponsoring, and getting some idea of how much more our few "loaves and fishes" are worth to Jesus and His little ones, I've learned the truth, that it really is more blessed to give than to receive!

Comments

[Beverly]

And a happy birthday to you, Vicki. i hope that you'll have a good day wherever it may take you. I enjoy reading about the kids you've sponsored. I give a lot to missions, but I've never sponsored a child. I've been thinking I would do one in honor of my little granddaughter, Ella Marie.