Question Answered

I have to admit that at least Compassion is being open with its policies.  I received a response to my question today...and it didn't surprise, just disappoint.

Compassion recognizes that as Christians we are not expected to be free of temptation, we do believe we are called to resist it. Compassion holds the view that God has reserved sexual intimacy for marriage, which we believe the Bible defines as between a man and a woman in an exclusive commitment of mutual love and fidelity. In every other relational circumstance or stage of life, God's call to Christians is to remain celibate.
(Compassion recognizes that sexual orientation and acting on that orientation are two separate issues. Therefore, Compassion's Biblical Conduct policy focuses only on employee conduct and not on an employee's sexual orientation.)

With all those begattin' people in the Bible I wonder if God really intended for everybody to be celibate unless in "an exclusive commitment of mutual love and fidelity."  Wasn't it Solomon who had 700 wives?  Heck, even the King of Siam didn't have that many (I don't think).  In fact, I checked "multiple marriages in the Biblel" on line and found this:

The first polygamist mentioned in the Bible is Lamech, whose two wives were Adah and Zillah (Genesis 4:19). Many important figures had more than one wife, such as Esau (Genesis 26:34; Genesis 28:6-9), Abraham (Genesis 16:3 Genesis 21:1-13, Genesis 25:1, Genesis 25:6), Moses (Exodus 2:21; Exodus 18:1-6, Numbers 12:1), Jacob (Genesis 29:15-28), Gideon (Judges 8:29-32), Elkanah (1 Samuel 1:1-8), David (1 Samuel 25:39-44; 2 Samuel 3:2-5; 2 Samuel 5:13-16) and Solomon (1 Kings 11:1-3).

Kinda blows the "exclusivity" thing out of the water. Come to think of it, with all the arranged marriages throughout history, I wonder how much "mutual love and fidelity" there was in the Old Testament too.
I'll never convince a Bible-totin' Christian who believes that the Good Book is 100% true because it was written by God, but has a good explanation for all these seeming contradictions.

But, as I said, my commitment is to the children I sponsor, not to the organization through which I sponsor them, and I won't give up my kids because of the policy of the organization.  However, someone asked me today if I had ever taken a trip to visit any of my sponsored children.  I answered honestly, incuding all of my reasons for not joining any of the many trips that Compassion organizes.

There are two reasons why I don’t go (other than that they are more expensive than any of the cruises we have been on). First there is the physical thing. I am extremely overweight, 71 years old, and not physically fit and fear that I won’t be able to walk long distances to go to villages where the children live. I can’t sit on the floor in my own house and can’t imagine sitting with children in a village and I would not want to make them feel uncomfortable because of that. 

But mostly, this is a religious group and I fear that religion (prayer groups, etc.) will be such a big part of the experience that I will feel extremely uncomfortable. It’s one thing to find Bible quotes to send to children who are hungry for them, but it’s another to be face to face with someone who desperately wants to hear about my church and my religious experiences back home. (I am not anti-religion, but it’s just not something central to my daily life. I am a recovering catholic)

I am in disagreement with some of the organization’s philosophy (they refuse to hire gay people, for example) and I would be hyperaware of having to cover up my own feelings on a trip like that.
Finally, it’s a silly pride thing. On our trip to China, we had the opportunity to visit a school which Viking Cruises helps sponsor. I was so excited about that trip. It would be like visiting one of my sponsored children. I was the only person in our group who had checked on what kind of school supplies we could bring for the children. The kids put on a little show for us and then we were divided into groups and each group visited a classroom. In each classroom, the children chose one of the group to sit with. I saw the looks on the faces of the children as they looked at my fat body and one by one chose someone else. I was the only one in our group not chosen, which was so painful, but it did give me the opportunity to take better photos because I had no child to concentrate on. I fear going to visit one of my kids and having them be afraid of me because I’m so fat. I’m also afraid of going to one of their houses and not fitting in the door, or breaking a piece of furniture because I’m too heavy to sit on it.

So I am a sponsor at a distance and write lots and lots and lots of letters instead.

---

The most amazing thing happened this evening.  A reader of this journal contacted me and offered to take on Lovson's sponsorship.  Said she had been a sponsor years ago and stopped because she didn't like writing letters, so if I will continue the correspondence,she is happy to pick up the sponsorship.  

I was brought to tears.  There are wonderful people in the world, and this is one of them.  I have contacted Compassion to see how we can make this happen.

And Samuel Makes 9

 
Now that my mother is living at Covell Gardens, I was able to cancel her LifeLine, which was costing me $50 a month, as Covell has its own system which is included in her monthly fees.  The idea of having an additional $50 made me think that maybe I'd see about sponsoring a 9th child.

I've done this before but nobody ever leaped out at me as needing me. 

It took about 2 seconds for me to choose Samuel from Kenya.   With his oversized head and his bloated stomach, he looked like a little Yoda...

...and also looked like he probably has a lot of health problems that being a sponsored child could begin to address.

Besides, I want to see how his appearance changes as he grows up.

Samuel lives with his father and mother.  He is responsible for gardening.  His father is sometimes employed as a laborer and his mother is sometimes employed as a farmer.  There are 5 children in the family.

Soccer is Samuel's favorite activity.  In kindergarten his performance is average and he also regularly attends church activities.

He lives on the plains of Kasyalani, home to approximately 3,000 residents.  Typical houses are constructed of dirt floors, mud walls and thatched rofs.  The regional diet consists of maize, millet and cow peas.

Common health problems in this area include malaria and typhoid.  Most adults in Kasayalani are unemployed but some work as subsistence farmers and earn the equivalent of $25 per month. 

So Samuel joins the rest of the family.  

I also let Compassion know that now that they are needing correspondence sponsors (people who write to sponsored kids whose sponsors don't want to write to them).  They previously had a limit of 3 children to whom you could write and I don't know how I actually got four, but I did say I was willing to write to more than four and so they sent me Lovson, from Haiti.  I don't have any information about him yet, but was able to get a copy of his photo.  When I have it, information will be avalable on my Compassion Kids blog site.

* * *

I meant to mention in yesterday's entry the two girls who came in in the middle of the afternoon, asking if I had a book called "something like 'a dream in the middle of the night in summer.'"  They told me it was written by "a guy named William Shakespeare."  When I asked if they meant "Midsummer Night's Dream," they brightened and said "That's it!"  I directed them to the Shakespeare section and they were disappointed at not finding what they wanted (after about 15 minutes of looking and whispering).

 

They showed me a book of the complete works of Shakespeare and asked if there wasn't a book like it with just "Midsummer" in it.  I directed them to the new books store (meaning it sells new, not used books) in the next block.  While they were gone, I checked the shelves again and sure enough, there was a paperback copy of "Midsummer" and when they came back, I showed it to them, but apparently they wanted a hardback copy.  I told them I thought they would not find it.

Then they picked up the complete works again and asked me if this was the text as it was originally written.  I said I was sure that it was.  They finally decided to buy that instead.

These girls looked like they were from a different country but they spoke impeccable college-ese Engliah and I was surprised that they seemed to have zero knowledge about Shakespeare!  But I did make the sale, so it wasn't a total loss (and I had something to share here!)