After Soledad’s parents traded her to a man twice her age for a bottle of moonshine, she never imagined she’d find a way to escape her misery. Then, years later, in a desperate attempt to help her kids, she discovered Children International…
Taking matters in her own hands, Soledad enrolled three of her children in Children International’s sponsorship program: 6-year-old Maritza,* 4-year-old José,* and 9-year-old Ana.* Through sponsorship, her children receive school supplies and uniforms, material support and health care.
Ana* is perhaps the luckiest. Children International covered the costs to repair a heart defect she’d had since birth. (Staff members at our Quito agency even donated blood to her when they learned there was a shortage at the local hospital.) Help like that, Soledad admits, gives her reason to believe in a better future.
“I haven’t been able to do much in my own life,” she says, “but I’m working hard so my kids can at least achieve reasonable careers – maybe not something extraordinary, but something where they can have a good life.”
She’s helping her two oldest daughters, María,* 14, and Nadia,* 12, study to be seamstresses at a school near the airport, and she hopes she’ll soon be able to make a down payment on a sewing machine so they can perfect their trade and get good jobs.
Now when Soledad looks out into the distance, she no longer sees her life disappearing before her eyes. With the support of sponsorship, she sees opportunities for her children, and that’s enough to fill her heart with hope.
*Names have been changed to protect the indentities of those mentioned.
Damon Guinn is a senior staff writer with Children International.
Taking matters in her own hands, Soledad enrolled three of her children in Children International’s sponsorship program: 6-year-old Maritza,* 4-year-old José,* and 9-year-old Ana.* Through sponsorship, her children receive school supplies and uniforms, material support and health care.
Ana* is perhaps the luckiest. Children International covered the costs to repair a heart defect she’d had since birth. (Staff members at our Quito agency even donated blood to her when they learned there was a shortage at the local hospital.) Help like that, Soledad admits, gives her reason to believe in a better future.
“I haven’t been able to do much in my own life,” she says, “but I’m working hard so my kids can at least achieve reasonable careers – maybe not something extraordinary, but something where they can have a good life.”
She’s helping her two oldest daughters, María,* 14, and Nadia,* 12, study to be seamstresses at a school near the airport, and she hopes she’ll soon be able to make a down payment on a sewing machine so they can perfect their trade and get good jobs.
Now when Soledad looks out into the distance, she no longer sees her life disappearing before her eyes. With the support of sponsorship, she sees opportunities for her children, and that’s enough to fill her heart with hope.
*Names have been changed to protect the indentities of those mentioned.
Damon Guinn is a senior staff writer with Children International.
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