My Girl

This is Brandina.
She is from Uganda and is seventeen years old.

My sister and I started sponsoring her together when I was still in high school. Now my husband and I sponsor her. This is the most recent picture we received of our girl. It has been so great to get pictures of her as she's grown up into a young lady. I've sent her pictures of our family as well. When she writes us she always greets our whole family and sends greetings from her family. I know from living in Senegal that greetings are very important in Africa. She also sends a verse in every letter. In her most recent letter she sent Philippians 4:19, "And my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus."

Brandina lives in the hillside community of Rwaramba Community, home to approximately 200,000 residents. Typical houses are constructed of dirt floors, mud walls and corrugated iron roofs. The primary ethnic group is Bafumbira and the most commonly spoken language is Rufumbira. The regional diet consists of maize, beans, bananas and potatoes. Common health problems in this area include malaria and HIV/AIDS. Most adults in Rwaramba Community work as laborers or market vendors and earn the equivalent of $8 per month. This community needs proper sanitation, vocational schools, qualified teachers and employment opportunities. The staff of Rwaramba Child Development Center provide Brandina with Bible teaching, exercises, medications, first aid, home visits, recreational activities, music lessons, skills training and tuition. The center staff will also provide meetings, home visits and opportunities for project involvement for Brandina's parents.

I've been reading some of the blogs, mainly this one, of those that Compassion sent to Uganda. I've loved seeing things through their eyes and reading how it's changed them.
Even though i've been sponsoring a child through Compassion for years now I guess I never fully realized exactly how much they did for these precious children. They give them hope. They give their families hope.

These are kids who had no choice in where they were born. They were born into some of the most difficult situations imaginable and most have no hope of ever overcoming and rising above those circumstances. Compassion work directly through local churches in getting help for these children. And the families of these kids are helped too.

As a mom myself, i can imagin how painful it must be to know your children are terribly hungry and not be able to give them anything to eat. Or to see them drinking water you know will only make them sick because it's not clean but not having a way of getting clean water for them. Then to have the church/Compassion come along and enroll your child in a program that will not only help feed and clothe them but give then an education and hope and a chance to have a better life! I would be eternally grateful that someone cared enough to sponsor my child even without ever meeting them!

What an amazing way to share God's love! This is a way to be Christ's hands and feet in this world. 1 John 3:17-18 says "But whoever has this world's goods and sees his borther in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth."

Think about it... just pray about it. Would you be willing to give up $32 a month and help change a child's life forever?

Love,