About 7-8 years ago, Jack and I began sponsoring a child in the Philippines thru Plan USA -- a non profit that helps children around the world grow and prosper thru monthly donations made by a sponsor family. Our little sponsor child, Jean-Mae, was 3 at the time and we just ended our sponsorship last month -- she is now 10 or 11 and the community is doing so well that they no longer need Plan USA's aid. As their website states...."Today, Plan works in 49 developing countries and is one of the world's largest development organizations. Child sponsorship is the foundation of our organization. We have about one million sponsors in 17 donor countries helping over one million children all over the world, together with their families and communities." For a small amount each month, you can sponsor a boy or girl in virtually any developing country of your choice worldwide. For those of you who do not know me, my mom is spanish-filipina and naturally, this country has significant importance to me. I have been there twice, once when I was 9, the other time when I was 13 and I was struck to the soul, even at that age, on how impoverished so many communities are...the impossibly poor people and the conditions they live in were shocking to me.
Last week, we were informed our new sponsor child is another girl, this time 11 years old, named Jay-ann. Her parents are my age and are very, very poor. Their family lives in a house made of cardboard with a thatched roof! For water, they obtain it from a public stand pipe 1 KM from their home. And believe it or not, their latrine is an open field or public area. The live in an area called Masbate South which is a very remote island somewhere in the middle of the Philippines 7000 islands.
I feel so so fortunate that my kids are growing up in a developed country where their lifestyle does not revolve around finding water or food.
A link to Plan's website is on the left side of my blog.
Here is Jay-ann and her mom! Thanks for reading!
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