Sponsorship

So before I came to India, I was still a little hesitant (as many people are) on places and companies that speak of sponsoring a child and how impacting in a child’s life it can be. Jeff and I had gone to church in May in Denton and Compassion was represented one night and had pictures of many children needing sponsors, and they explained what they could do with the money. I talked to the representative, with the idea of wanting to sponsor a child, but still being a little hesitant. If I was to supply money for an organization, I wanted to know if the child truly would know that I was supporting them, or if it was pooled and divided where needed. After talking with the woman for a while, Jeff and I left with the mindset that we would consider the idea of sponsorship and decide when we returned to the states how to approach the idea and as well as finding a means to fund the child.


This is where India unfolded its’ passionate embrace of how sponsoring a child reflects in a child’s life. At Rising Star, each child needs to have 3 sponsors to be considered fully funded. Which means, at $90 (Sponsors pay $30 a month), a child receives medical attention, schooling, meals, housing, school supplies, and many other necessities that play into the lives of these children. The children are so adorable also! I had never imagined the impact that a sponsor would play in the life of a child until my experience at Rising Star. On campus, you ask any child who their sponsors are, and they will quote back their names, how many children they have, describe pictures that they sponsor family has sent them, and any other information that the child has been shared with.

One day, I was walking from the volunteers hostel to the boys/girls hostel when I ran into Gogulraj. He was holding a picture in his hand and parading it around. He held it proudly above his head and said “Auntee Katie! I have a photo of sponsor! LOOK!!” He then began to go through the pictures, and showed me a picture that had been taken of him and Shawn Bradley, a picture with him and his sponsor, pictures of the sponsors family, and a letter that accompanied the photo’s. He beamed so brightly and the boys he was with started to try and feel included by describing their sponsors and/or telling stories that they had with their sponsors.

It truly does impact these children’s lives. It truly is something that they are aware of and desire a relationship with those that are funding their lives and education. It is such a sweet sight to see when a sponsor tells their child that they are contributing to that one child’s education.

In talking with Jeff sporadically throughout the summer, I expressed my ideas more about sponsoring a child. Between him and I, I was the one more hesitant in the beginning to go through with the idea of sponsoring a child. So Jeff was extremely supportive and said to just keep him informed of my decision on which child.

Being with so many kids at once, you quickly learn that the children have learned how to interact with the volunteers, and that those that are outgoing are more inclined to connect with the volunteers. It is a hard place to be, because of the language barrier, those that are more outgoing are often that way because they understand more English. Michael X. is a boy in my family, and from the first day that I was at Rising Star, I was intrigued with him. He is not normally involved with volunteers, he is fine keeping to himself and playing games with only his peers. I would often call him out on the playground when I first got to Rising Star, and his reply would always be a smile and then quickly running off to a different area of the playground. He is in 1st standard, and he would draw me pictures of peacocks, and mountains, and towards the end of my stay in India, he and I had a better understanding of one another. He spoke a lot more English that he would let on, and I loved watching his brain work as he would try and find words in English to describe what he was thinking in Tamil.

Carly, Derek, and I would sing the boys songs at night, and it worked really well to get them to stop running around and ready for bed. But towards the end of my stay in India, Michael would pace the floor, waiting for me to sit down and give him the opportunity to lay his head in my lap. He would be the director for which songs he wanted me to sing, and how many times he wanted me to sing them. One night he was telling me to sing “Mountain song 3 times,” as he held his hands up in the dark with 3 fingers reflecting in the moonlight, “and then Mango song, then sleep...ok Auntee...3 times?” The mountain song is “Over the mountain and the Seas,” which the boys had never heard before and always requested it after the first night that I sang it.

When I told Michael that I was going to be his sponsor, all he could do was protrude a huge smile, and then continue to find trinkets and items he wanted to give me as gifts. I kept trying to give them back, but he made me dice out of mud, drew about 3 more pictures, found a marble, and gave me 2 pictures of himself! These children rarely have photos, and this is something that they are not given very often, so what they hold as prized possessions are their pictures, earned toys, and trinkets that they find on the playground.

Talk with me if you are interested in sponsorship, or go to the rising star website. If you find someone you want to sponsor, and you want to know more about them than what the website shows- then just ask. www.risingstaroutreach.com