The Kenya 7

Sometimes surprising things happen!

Take Compassion Int'l, for instance.  I figured there was no way I could sponsor more than 10 children, but after I read "Enrique's Journey" and found out about the conditions in Central American countries for kids while at the same time watching ugly Americans attacking buses carrying children trying to find a better life, I decided that while I couldn't do anything big, I could do something small and convinced Walt that we should sponsor a young man in Honduras.

Brayan was 12 when we chose him and will be 13 in a couple of weeks.  Just the age when I would think that the kinds of problems and temptations are starting to get very serious for young kids.

I don't know that we have saved him, but we have helped and I am looking forward to this young boy turning into a young adult who can perhaps work to bring a change for other children his age around him some day.  Just getting a nourishing meal a day will make a big difference in his life.

I see wonderful things that Compassion does all the time, but never quite on the scale that I saw this week.

Some corporation--I don't know which one--decided to sponsor 1,000 children in Kenya.

Of course they were going to provide the financial aid, but couldn't possibly write to that many children, so Compassion put out the call for Correspondence Sponsors.  We are the ones who make the connection with the kids, write to them, encourage them, and make them realize that somebody who has never met them cares about them and believes in them.

I already have 3 kids I sponsor in Kenya (I think one of them is a correspondence kid -- I can't keep them straight; I think of all of them as my kids!)

Anyway, I requested some of the 1,000 and said I would take as many as they needed me to take.  I figured I'd get 3 or so, given the tide of enthusiasm from others for taking on new correspondence kids.

A couple of days later, I got 2 kids, Emilymueni and Mwongela added to my account.  She is 4, the youngest child I have ever been assigned to write to.  He will be 5 at the end of this month.

So many people were posting on Facebook about their new kids, I figured that these were the only two children I would be assigned and I sent off welcoming letters immediately.

To my surprise, today there appeared five more children in my account.  I am calling these kids "The Kenya 7," adding to the three I already had.  This brings my total number of kids, sponsored and correspondence, to 26.  Whew!  I used to set aside an hour to write to all of them every 2 weeks, using Compassion's e-mail tool, where you can write a letter and include up to 3 photos...and then duplicate your letter for another child (or more).

I may have to set aside 2 hours after this!  But I'm glad to have the new additions to my "family" ... and isn't "Brightone" the best name ever?  I wonder how he got that name ... and if he is indeed a bright one!