How To Sponsor A Child

Children International Communications Coordinator, Javier Cárcamo, brings us yet another fantastic story from his Youth Reporters in Guatemala.

Hello, my name is Gabriela Pérez, and I’m a Youth Reporter.

Yes, I’m sponsored. I’ve had that blessing since I was little. I don’t really remember when that was, but for as long as I can remember, my mom has told me that it’s a blessing. Now I’m 18 years old, supposedly an adult. Sometimes I think about how I was forced to grow up fast, because my dad abandoned us. Maybe that’s why being sponsored was such a big help to my mom - and to me, of course.

Thanks to sponsorship, I’ve always had a feeling of security - that no matter how bad things got at home, I was always going to be okay. The truth is that sometimes we didn’t have anything to eat. I’m not exaggerating. There really was nothing. We didn’t have a refrigerator. We couldn’t store food other than vegetables and a few jars of salsa.

My older brothers worked hard along with my mom so that we had money, but even so, they shut off our power a lot, and we spent up to three months just using candlelight. The hardest part was when I had to do my homework and the sun went down. It was really difficult not to just give up, because aside from the fact that my eyes burned, I was scared. Don’t laugh, but at night my neighborhood is creepy. Electric lights are scarce, and fear is abundant.

But every day I feel fortunate to be alive. The best part about becoming a teenager is that I could enjoy sponsorship in a whole new way. Thanks to the Youth Program, this year I was chosen to be a Youth Reporter. That made me so happy.

“Professor Javier” taught me lots of things. He gave me the opportunity, the medium to reach all of you. I hope you read what I write and that you realize that without Children International, I might be washing the dishes in some rich family’s house. But no. Here I am, sitting at my little kitchen table, writing in the hopes that my sponsor can read it and feel proud of me. And that lots of sponsors read it and realize that I have a voice now, that I dream of a better future.

The benefits that Children International gives us stay with us throughout our sponsored years and for many years to follow. I have these dreams, these hopes that everyone who works at Children International have sowed in my heart. They believe in me, and so does my sponsor who has made an investment in me. And I won’t let any of you down. I promise you that.

Thank you, and until the next time...
Gabriela