Ana - Compassion child's Story

Ana's Story "Poverty to prosperity"

Ana is an orphan living in a tiny coastal rural village in a developing country. She comes from a loving family whose lives were blown apart when she was only 2.

Ana's parents were happily married and expecting their third child. Ana had an older brother and another sister was due to be born. Things didn't go as planned there was no hospital nearby to source help and her Mum died giving birth to her little sister. The new little baby was weak and had sustained damage during the traumatic birth. She struggles and survived.

Her father broken and lost from loosing his wife and now responsible for three small children couldn't cope so took his son and left the 2 little girls in the care of their elderly grandparents. He never returned to the family or visited his daughters. They never saw him or their brother again. As a little girl both her grandparents worked as laborers on a plantation and in the plantations factory. As time passed by her grandfather now reaching his 80's and was not well enough to work so their grandmother was the sole income worker earning a tiny income to raise the 2 little girls with.

Ana joined the Compassion project when she was 3 and her sister due to the families tiny income and her additional needs also joined the program. Through the sponsorship program they were helped with food, meals every day at the center and when the time came for their education to start all their supplies, uniforms and levies were covered by Compassion.

Ana loved school although she found some subjects very difficult. Maths and Languages were always a challenge to her. She worked hard with her tutor at Compassion to overcome these barriers and always did her best. She had to sit exams in grade 6 to enter high school and spent many extra hours with her tutor studying as she wanted to finish her education and become a teacher.

With much joy she passed the entry exams and entered high school many miles away. To attend classes she had to rise early and travel by bus for almost an hour to attend the nearest high school. Again she gave her study everything she had, worked with her tutors and did well. Although in high school she now found she was no longer in the top of her class but still passing her subjects.

Each year she had to pass exams to enter into the next grade and each year she was a little close to becoming a teacher. Finally year 12 was underway, new subjects and new teachers. Ana was still with Compassion and not only doing her school work but also the Compassion project program that prepares children to be able to make good decisions and function well in the world they live with all its challenges and vices. At the project there are course that students can undertake to give them additional skills like computer skills, dress making, pottery, screen printing etc. Ana had taken many of these courses and made the best of every opportunity that came her way.

By the time Ana entered year 12 her grandparents health was failing, both dependent on medication to stay alive and both unable to work any more. Compassion again came to the families aid with food and medical help for the grandparents who wouldn't of been able to afford the medication they needed.

Ana still struggled with language and she had to have a high pass in this subject to enter training to be a teacher. Sadly her results didn't meet the requirements for her to become a teacher. Her childhood dream was not going to become a reality. Her faith in God was strong and she knew He had another plan that was better than hers she just had to discover His plan. For many teenagers this breaking of a life long dream would have destroyed them and they might have given up. Ana remained strong and focused knowing she needed a good income to support her grandparents and sister.

She had completed a computer course at the Compassion project and had done well so she applied to do a computer and technology course which would take a years study and give her a qualification to work with computers and IT. She completed the course with flying colors and was offered a junior job in a computer company near where she lived. She could now support her grandparents and sister and they would no longer be dependent on Compassion for their food and needs.

Ana's life went from good to better. Due some changes in the letter writing process I didn't hear from Ana for many months.Compassion let me know that Ana had graduated from the project and she and her family were self sufficient. Her sister with the help of Compassion had become a dressmaker and was working for a business in the town too.  Then a new letter arrived the first page was about the usual things and how she was going but on the last page was the most exciting news. She told me that she had got married to a wonderful young man who had a job in a trade and they were both very happy. The sad new was her grandfather had died and her grandmother was dying.

I was overjoyed to hear her life had a happy ending and pray that they she and her new husband can enjoy a long and happy life together. Without Compassion her story would have been very different she may have been a statistic and died before the age of 5 like many in her country do.I was blessed to be her correspondent for 10 years and somewhere out there is her sponsor who made this fairy tale come true. It is knowing the difference a sponsorship, a compassion project with the children at the heart of their ministry, lots of love and your words in a letter can do that makes this journey a remarkable one.

Ana is not her name and I have deliberately not mentioned her country to protect her confidentiality but her story is totally true and I feel so blessed to have been part of it. Sorry no photos either for the same reason.

The Power of Love - Romania

The Power of love - a lesson from Romania

Never under estimate the power of love.

 Never under estimate the power of a few simple words!

Sponsoring a child or being a correspondent is far more than a financial or time investment in the life of a child. For some of these children it is a lifeline in a very difficult lonely world. It may be the only time someone cares about them enough to want to help them through their daily grind where being hungry is normal, roaming the street and begging are survival skills and to go to school is a far off dram they never imagine they will have a chance to do.

My job involves training educators who work in the child care industry and this lesson of the huge influence we have on a child's life, well-being and future we brought home to me very strongly as I read some research out of Romania some years ago. I share this with my fellow workers regularly as it made me realize how important the tiny details are to let a child know they are loved and valued. I believe this lesson is also true for our Compassion children and any other children in a sponsorship program.

Many years ago now, those of my generation will remember the horror pictures that came out of Romania as the world became aware of a country on its knees with too many children, too little food or work and a government that couldn't cope. These images were of scores of children locked in cots or rooms with little clothing or food and nothing to do but sit all day in their cots while the few staff employed would try to attend to their basic needs with the few resources they had. There were many horror stories of what happened to these children, what they were fed and what happened to them in the institutions. I won't go into that but you can research it on the net if you want the details.

The world was saddened by the plight of all these children and thousands of them were adopted all over the world. Most of the children adopted were under 5 years old from memory. A researcher at a US University decided to write his thesis on what happened to these children adopted in the USA and to find out how they got on as they reached adulthood.

His results were devastating finding that a very large number of the children adopted had not fared well. A large number had sever mental health issues, some had taken their lives, others hadn't been able to adjust to normal life and were living as homeless or on the edges of society. There was also another smaller group that were well adjusted, had been educated, gone on to have steady jobs, marriage and families and had completely assimilated into the American life style.

This puzzled him and he decided to investigate further. He then discovered that all these children who were doing well had come from the same orphanage. So he researched the orphanage and could fine no difference from that one and all the other government orphanages. So he decided to go to Romania and fine the orphanage and see if he could find the answers there.

When he got to Romania he also found that all these children had come from one particular wing of that orphanage on the same floor. He went to the orphanage and talked to the staff but they were all younger and had not been there when the children had been. One of the staff remembered there was an old lady who had worked at the orphanage then still alive and in the city. So he went to visit her and she had the answer:-

Another member of staff who had since died did the late shift. Every night at the end of her shift she would take off her apron, hang it up and then go to each crib one by one. She would pick up the child give them a cuddle and tell them she loved them and they were important. She would then tuck them into bed and go to the next child. She would do this for every child on that floor of the wing every night before she went home.

That was the only difference between the children that thrived and all the others from all the other orphanages. A little bit of love goes a long way!

All children need to know they are loved and cared for, in the world of poverty where survival takes first place love is often missing or not shown due to stress and strife. A short letter to let a child know you care and are thinking of them may be the same as that old lady telling each child they were loved and worthy.

As I started with never under estimate the power of love, your words could be the difference between a life lost or a full and happy future.

What can you do for a child today????