Before heading home for the holidays we had the opportunity
to visit two children we are currently sponsoring in Kenya through Compassion
Canada. Our plan, from the moment we decided to go to Africa, was to visit our
sponsor children during the Christmas break and then to do some traveling
around East Africa afterwards. We have been sponsoring our children, Faith and
Silas, for a little under 3 years and were so stoked to meet them. As you can
imagine, our relationship with our children before meeting them was quite
limited and confined to a few letters and picture exchanges each year. Because
of this, we felt a deep longing to meet Faith and Silas in person, to show them
how much we cared for them and to see, firsthand, how our sponsorship was affecting
their lives.
Both of our children live in the surrounding area of
Mombasa, Kenya. We intentionally chose children living in the same country, but
we didn’t expect for them to live as close to each other as they did (approximately
2 hours apart). This was a huge relief for us while planning our visit because
it meant one less flight or bus ride to worry about! We stayed in Mombasa for 5
days in total – 3 for sightseeing and 2 to visit our kids. (Highlights from our
sightseeing days in Mombasa will be posted in a separate post!)
Day 1
On the first day, we visited Faith, our sponsor daughter who
is 9 years old. For both visits, we had a Compassion Kenya guide with us the
entire time, which allowed us to enjoy the day and not worry about anything
other than connecting with our children.
Faith, our sponsor daughter
We first met Faith at her community
project, where we were introduced to the project committee and inundated with A
LOT of information about Compassion as an organization, how it operates in
Kenya, and how it cares for the children in its program. It was interesting
for us to be on the other side of things – to be the ones receiving, not
giving, information about an organization! We don’t want to bore you with all
the details but do think it’s important to briefly explain how the
organization runs:
Compassion sets up projects in some of the poorest rural communities
within each of the countries they operate in.
Each project is managed by a committee of volunteer
representatives from the community and parents, together with paid Compassion
employees (teachers, a treasurer, a project director, etc.).
Hundreds of children are selected from the community to be
a part of the project. Each child is selected based on set criteria. Some of
these include: being between the age of 3 and 8, the child’s family and home
situation, proximity to the project, etc.
Only one child is selected per family, unless there are
extenuating circumstances. The reason for this is because, in Compassion’s
view, benefits that the child receives through the sponsorship program flow
through to the rest of his/her family.
Sponsorship funds are used to assist the child in
purchasing school uniforms, paying the salaries of the project committee
members, assisting with clinic and medical fees, paying for the food at the
project, assisting with living conditions, etc.
Children typically attend government schools from Monday to Friday and then
attend programs as the project every Saturday. At the project, children receive
one meal, attend remedial classes to assist them with their schoolwork and are
educated on Compassion’s four areas of child development – spiritual, physical,
economic and social.
Ideally, the sponsorship program continues with the child
until the age of 22. At this point, the hope is that the child will have
completed post-secondary education and will be in a position to give back to
his/her community.
As expected, Faith was very shy at first but, thankfully,
our time in community with Hands has really prepared us to deal with shy
children and awkward silences, and not to take it personally if children don’t
open up to us right away! After the introductions, the information session and
a tour of the project and classroom, we finally got the chance to interact with
Faith and her friends at the project and to have some fun. We visited the
children in their classrooms and played games and sang songs with them, which
we’ve learnt is the most effective way to break the ice! At the end, we handed
out candy to all of the children (which they loved!) and then prayed with them.
Us and the Compassion kids outside the project
Dance-off! Team Canada versus Team Kenya
Planting our very own tree at the project
After playing with the kids, we went to Faith’s home and
visited her family. She lives with her mom, dad and little sister in an
extremely small, one-room house. Faith’s parents share a bed while Faith and
her sister sleep on a small mattress on the floor. The house is divided by a
flimsy piece of fabric, separating the bedroom from the living area. The
kitchen and bathroom are located outside of the house. The entire house was
probably just a little larger than the kitchen in our condo back home! It
actually reminded us a lot of the homes we’ve visited in the community with
Hands.
In preparation for our child visits, we purchased gifts for
our children (clothes, toys, school supplies, etc.) and their families
(groceries and household items). After presenting Faith’s family with their
gifts, we were so touched when Faith’s mom brought out gifts that she had
purchased just for us. It was a really special moment to be able to connect
with not only Faith but her entire family. After a delicious, traditional
Kenyan lunch back at the project, we said goodbye to Faith, so thankful and
honored that we got to spend an entire day getting to know her and connecting
with her and her family!
Faith's family gave us matching shitenges (African wrap skirts)
The whole family together with the Compassion workers outside Faith's home
Day 2
We visited Silas the next day. Silas, an 8-year old boy
living with his single mom and 5 brothers and sisters, lives in a mud hut in a
rural area along the coast. After arriving at the project, we were again presented
with a ton of information about Compassion (most of which was the same as what
we heard the day before!). After about 15 minutes, Silas finally arrived with
his mother following a few minutes behind him. Although Silas is only 8 years
old, he was just about as tall as his mom. We later found out that Silas’ mom
had Polio when she was a child. Her illness went untreated and has left her
with a crippled foot and leg. Needless to say, because of her disability,
earning income to support her and her 6 children is a huge struggle for her.
This is one of the factors that contributed to Silas being selected as part of
the project.
The moment we first met Silas. Look at how shy he is!
Best friends
Silas appeared even shyer than Faith. He was so timid that
he could barely even make eye contact with us! After introductions, Silas took
a seat between us as the project director continued his remarks about the
project. As the director was speaking, I (Diane) could hear poor Silas’ stomach
growling. I thought maybe he just had cramps or gas (which would be fitting,
given who his sponsor dad is!). The growling continued and I soon realized that
they were hunger pains. This nearly broke my heart. I reached into my purse and
pulled out two apples, one for Silas and one for his mom. Silas was so shy that
he was hesitant to even eat the fruit we had given him. I had to interrupt the
director and ask him to say to Silas in Swahili, “It’s okay to eat the apple
now.”
Going through Silas' Compassion file
Somebody's back got very sweaty ...
Our day with Silas was structured similarly to our day with
Faith, except that there were no other children at the project to sing songs
and play games with. The one thing that we did mention to our guide was that we
wanted more one-on-one time with Silas, which was incorporated into the
schedule after we exchanged gifts with Silas’ family. This time was extremely
valuable to us. While we appreciated the fact that Compassion went out of their
way to provide us with a plethora of information about the organization, the
main purpose of our visits was to connect with our children. Even though
communication with Silas (and Faith) was limited, due to their lack of English,
we enjoyed being able to spend time and sit with him, away from our guide and
the project committee members. One of the gifts we gave Silas was a brand new
soccer ball, which he LOVED! The majority of our one-on-one time with Silas was
spent kicking around the ball with his brother as his mom and younger sisters
looked on. It was one of the only times during the day we saw Silas out of his
shell and laughing. It was a truly memorable moment!
New soccer ball!
Family photo time
We can now add another matching skirt set to our collection
One part of the visit that made us quite sad was to see the
living conditions of Silas and his family. Apparently, their house had recently
collapsed and, as a result, Silas, along with his mother and two younger
siblings, moved into one of his older brothers’ house. Silas slept on one bed
with his younger sister while his mother shared a bed with the youngest
sibling. Half of the house’s straw roof was exposed, leaving the family
vulnerable to rain. In the meantime, Silas’ older brothers are working on building
a new house for the family but it is still in its early stages. A huge obstacle
for the family is that they do not have the resources to buy the necessary
housing materials. This is where our sponsorship can make a big difference,
having been told that some of our donated funds have already greatly assisted
the family with their housing needs.
Silas' bed, made out of wooden sticks and a very thin foam mattress
The beginnings of Silas' new home
Meeting and spending time with our two sponsor children has
definitely been one of the most special times for us since being in Africa.
Our hope is that our visit was an encouragement and a blessing to not only our
children but also the staff at the projects and the other children. For us, to
be able to meet Faith and Silas deepened our commitment to support them and
encourage them through letters and pictures. We hope to have the opportunity to
visit them again in the future!
