First Letter from Theresa

There was a great move to adopt all of the kids from Ghana Project #232 last month. Compassion had posted videos of the center and many of the kids. I hadn't intended to take another child, but when I saw Theresa's face, I had to adopt her (check her picture in the right hand column).

We all have been waiting for the first letters to arrive, and mine did today. She is only 4, so she can't really write, but her social worker fills in a form for her and writes a brief letter.

My family: Esi Ariguamah (mother), Kwesi Essuman (Father) and brothers Kwame Essuman and Kojo Essuman.
My Home: Village
My Favorites: color: blue; food: rice and stew; Song: Gospel; Game: Ampe (this is apparently a popular game in Africa, since many of my children from different African countries list this as their favorite game. I have seen a video of it and I can't make heads or tails out of it!); Toy: Car; Pet: Cat (Well, she can't be ALL good! LOL!)

Message for my sponsor: Theresa and her family welcome you warmly into their lives. They say thank you for your presence in their lives.

Question for my sponsor: Do you have brothers and sisters? (I will lie and say no. Four years old is too young to know that my sister was killed in 1971!)

Prayer for My Sponsor: Theresa prays for a healthy living for you and your family.

Prayer Request from child: Pray for her to love school and learn seriously.

A drawing was also included, but it was so light it was almost invisible. Fortunately, thanks to PhotoShop, I was able to darken it so I could see what it looked like. Not bad, actually for 4 years old!

Two Letters from Fred

There were two letters from Fred today, the first a thank you for his birthday gift. It is always amazing to me how much they are able to buy in their own country. I sent him $25.

Dear Auntie Sykes,

Christian greetings!

Thank you so much for loving my son. He was very happy during his birthday. He appreciates the gift very much. H received an amount of 1,055.50 We bought long pants, polo, sandals, underwear, t-shirt, short pants, biscuits and chocolate drinks. Fred is so excited to wear the new clothes for our coming church anniversary. Please pray that Fred would be growing into a grateful child. Until here.

Love,
Fred's Mother


The second letter was written three days later.

Dear Auntie Sykes,

Christian greetings!

May this letter find you in good health. Thank you for loving my child. We are so grateful for your effort, especially for the little book.

Fred is in school now. They had vacation last month of April and May. They started classes on June and they had the Vacation Bible School last May. We are so happy that we know someone like you who knows how to appreciate even small things.

Fred also likes funny jokes and he smiles whenever his classmates are making funny stuffs. He is smiling upon receiving a letter from you. I also smile whenever they are doing good at home.

Please continue to pray that Fred would improve more in his character.

Are you also fond of watching television? That's our pastime here.

Thank you for all support and prayers. God bless you!

Love,
Fred's mother

New Photo of Anjali

When I went onto Our Compassion today, I noticed that Anjali's photo had been updated, so I called Compassion and asked for a .jpg. She looks so pretty!

So much more grown up than the little girl I first agreed to sponsor!


I chose her originally because she had a fat looking face and as a fat kid myself, I knew that they were frequently the last chosen, so she found a spot in my heart. But she certainly is a slim and beautiful girl today!

Letter-Writing Day

I held off answering the four letters which had come in in the last two weeks because I had been having such a great time sending baby pictures to my Compassion children using Compassion's new email stationery. But today was the day I wrote to all of them, except for Wainaina, in Kenya, because I sent him a long letter via e-mail with football pictures included.

I started writing at about 10:30 a.m. and it was nearly 3 before I finished. It doesn't always take that long, but this time I had letters to answer, so a boilerplate letter wouldn't work. I also had gifts to send, each child getting something different, whether a coloring book, stickers, games, flash cards, or whatever, suited to that particular child. I sent one girl a Bingo game. I hope it goes through!

It also takes longer because of the age difference. The three little guys get short, simple letters, but the older kids, especially Shallon in Uganda, are writing long interesting letters asking probing questions and it takes longer to answer her.

By the time I finished I had a fat flat rate package to mail, which I can't mail until tomorrow, since today is Columbus day.


I'm good on snail mail letters now for a month, though I'm sure there will be one or two e-mails between now and then, if I get interesting photos to send.

This is what one of the new e-mail letters looks like.


You choose the particular design you want to use for writing, write your letter, include 1-3 photos and press send. Compassion takes the letters, translates them, prints them and sends off to the field office (or maybe they are printed at the field office; I'm not sure!). Eventually they get to the kids. I haven't had feedback from them yet--probably not for another month, at least--but I'm curious to see how the kids feel at the other end, receiving these pretty new letters!

Briana

Today there was a very nice letter from Briana in Haiti. I think it's a little confusing for her to keep all of our family relationships straight!

Warm greetings to you, Beverly Sykes. How are you doing with Jesus. Briana does not feel too bad, thanks to God. She was happy to get your letters. She was glad to see your children's photographs. One is 3 years old, the other has the same name as she does. She says Happy Birthday to Brianna with good appetite too!

She asks you to tell her what did you see in China? Is it a beautiful country and what do you like there? Did you visit the entire China.

The child got a good average. She advances to grade 6. Please pray that God may always guide everything.

Briana has a favorite song saying: What a friend we have in Jesus... She likes gospel music best.

The child always prays for your family. She thanks you for the letter and photographs. May God in His love bless you more!

Her dad wrote this on her behalf.

Happy Mail Day!

It's always nice to have a mail day like this!

Shallon

I hadn't heard from Shallon in a long time, but there is a drought in Uganda, which may make lots of things difficult. The letter a wonderful, long, chatty letter.

Dear Beverly Sykes,

With mercy of God I am happy for this day because I have got time to write to you. Really it's great thing to me and it is real pleasure to you my dearest mother in Christ for having respected moment to let my mind to think about only and only about you.

My family members are greeting you and they are praying for love and mercy from God upon you.

Sorry for the loss of your mother-in-law. Let me tell you that may she rest in eternal peace.

I am moving in anther step. 2010 I was in primary, but surely now I am in senior secondary school.

Sorry about Kathy's lungs and you about your mother-in-law.

On the photo of your president there is the word Washington, DC. Write in full D.C.?

As you know that I prefer young children's smile.

We get water from river.

Let me thank you very much for sending me some photos and a child's photo. But I want to communicate with you face to face. and I want to send you a song. It is in psalms chapter 27:1 to where you want to stop. And I want to send you some verses to you and those are Ecclesiastes 12:1-14 and in the same book 11:9 and read Ecclesiastes 7:1.

For you mutual love of you with me. I am very glad to hear that you like walking. And how is library now? In Uganda we are in dry season. We are going to start sowing millet. How is Ned? But my mother could tell me more about your president. How is Bella, your dog? Thank for sending me a paper of verses and thank you for my scanned photo back.

My mother in Christ, be blessed by God and have a nice time.

Your loving daughter Katisiime Shallon

Fred

Fred's letters are always written by his mother, which is also nice.

Dear Auntie Sykes,

Christian Greetings!

We hope that our letter makes you smile long this day. By God's grace, Fred is in grade two now. He attended their nutrition month celebration and he got also the Division Achievement test. Fred really likes to draw and talk with friends. He got lot of improvements in his social life.

Please pray that he could find more godly and nice friends.

He has brown much in height and he is growing into a cheerful guy. Fred is active in going to church. Our church anniversary will be on the last Sunday of August. Please pray for our church.

By the way, have you also visited a baptist church in China? We are happy to know it. Until then, God Bless you!

Leniel

Leniel (Dominican Republic) writes (with assistance from Dariana, his tutor)

Dear Beverly Sykes,

The child Leniel is well, and at the same time he is very grateful for the letters, the photos, for the book, and the rest of the things that you have sent him. He says his mother washes the clothes. He is older than his brother. He and his mother wash the baby bottles together. He says he likes to play ball and with toy cars, and he has good friends. He hasn't seen any panda. They sing and dance at school and his best friends are Joelvin and Carlos. They play marbles. What are your best friends' names? He asks you to pray for Gabriel, who is just a few months old. Receive kisses!

Yours,
Leniel


(the picture is of his mother washing clothes)

Theresa from Ghana

I recently completed sponsorship of a woman through Woman to Woman International. I'm rather selfish in that I did not enjoy this experience since it included zero interaction between me and Clarisse. I had hoped I would know something about her and perhaps we could become friends, but the women are not required to communicate with their sponsors, and lord knows they are trying to recover from hellish experiences, so I don't harbor any ill feelings about my own hopes being unfulfilled.

But at the end, knowing how many children there are at Compassion waiting sponsors, I decided to put that money into another sponsored child. I recently saw a video about Center #232 in Ghana and there seems to be a rush by other sponsors to add children from this center, since we all now know it looks like now.

Just on a whim I looked at the children available for sponsorship from Ghana and my eyes immediately locked on this little sweetheart. How can you resist that face? I checked and learned that she is, indeed, from center #232 and so without thinking twice, I added her to my list of sponsored children.

She is Theresa. She is 4 years old (5 in January). She lives with her father and her mother. Her duties at home include running errands. There are 3 children in the family. Her father is sometimes employed as a farmer and her mother is sometimes employed as a farmer.

Theresa is not presently attending school. Playing house and playing group games are her favorite activities. She also attends church activities and Bible class regularly.

I look forward to getting to know her. (And now that my other female sponsored children are getting older, I have another child to send all those little girl things I've been buying over the years!)

A Letter from Fred

A wonderful new letter from Fred today:

Dear Auntie Sykes

Christian Greetings!!!

Thank you for the postcards you sent. We are sure that you enjoyed your trip. The Great Wall of China is beautiful. We have no river here like that green river. We have also many rivers here but most are narrow rivers. Praise God for that boat company. We're sure that they sponsor lovely children like Fred.

In Fred's classrooms they also talk about their dreams in the future. Fred wants to become a policeman in the future. He will help keep the country free from danger and crimes.

Fred likes the panda very much. He hopes to hug one too. By the way, do you also have more pandas in your place? Here we have none.

We have also pictures of dragon here.

The story of Joseph is very beautiful. We had a great lesson that humbleness is very important. Thank you for the book. Fred likes it very much.

Please pray that Fred will love to eat more healthy foods. Please continue to pray for his health. Until here.

God bless you!!!

Love,
[Fred's mother]

Getting Organized

Michelle from Blogging from the Boonies wrote an entry about how she keeps track of her Compassion kids. Like me, her family has 10 children too, a combination of sponsored and correspondence kids.

I keep all the incoming letters in individual binders for each of the kids.


The letters only go in the binders after they have been answered. All incoming letters (Compassion and otherwise) go into a holder until they are answered.

It is easier to track my letters because I type them. Each child has a format that I use. The ones who speak English have a regular looking letter because they don't need translation. The ones that need translation have a 2-column format, with a lined column on the right for the translation. All letters have all the information and account numbers on the top.

Since I am writing on the computer, I have a folder for each of the kids. I keep copies of all letters in that child's folder, along with things like photos and anything else pertinent. When I'm writing a new letters, I pull up the old one to see what I said the last time. After the letter has been answered, I punch holes in it and add to the binder.

I also have a file for each child in their folder called "stuff sent" and I record what I included in each letter, so I can avoid duplication.

It's a pretty simple system, but it works very well for me.

Latest Kiva Loan

Luisa Barbor from the Philippines.


Luisa is 31 years old and married, with 7 children. With 4 children in school, Luisa works very hard to provide for them.

She runs a sari-sari store in the Philippines and requested a PHP 12,000 loan through NWTF to buy additional items to sell, like sardines, groceries, etc. Luisa has been in this business for 6 years and sells a variety of items such as soap, shampoo, milk, curls, etc.

In the future Luisa would like to save enough money so she can afford to send her children to college.

Any woman with 7 children who is trying to earn enough to send them to college definitely earns my respect, and my Kiva loan!

Esther

Got a wonderful new photo of Esther today.

Fred and Emmanuella

Yippee...letters from Fred and from Emmanuella. It was my first letter from Emmanuella, who actually filled out a special form that helps her write. I learned the names of her family kembers and her best friend. I know she lives in a town and that her best game is "amps" and favorite color is blue.

Then she writes, "thank you for sponsoring me. I am the second born of my parents. Are you also a second born? I pray that God will lift you high and bless your work. Pray that God should give me knowledge and understanding in my studies."

As for Fred, his mother's letter reads:

Dear Auntie Sykes:

Have a blessed day, hope and pray that you are doing great in the Lord. We're thankful for the post card that you have sent for Fred. He likes very much. They have many colors.

Right now Fred is enjoying his schooling. He is excited to go to school every day. But it said that first day of his school, Fred's cry because his pencil, crayon get the other student. But in spite he continue to go to school.

By the way, what is your favorite book in the Bible? Fred was so happy to go to the center every day to learn bible stories and characters. He is faithful every sunday. Kindly pray for his schooling this year.

God Bless You!

Love,
Lyra Cardinal

Guess I'm going to have to find a favorite bible book!

Anjali

How delightful to receive a letter from Anjali today!

This was the first letter she's written by herself, though it contains all the same pictures she draws every time. The letter reads.

Dear Beverly Sykes,

Greetings to you in the almighty name of Our Lord Jesus Christ. I am fine. I hope you are also fine there. How's your health? We are in summer season. How is your season?

Her part ends here and the translator's part begins, some of it clarifying what Anjali had written:

Dear Beverly Sykes,

Anjali sends greetings to you in the Almighty name of Our Lord Jesus Christ. She says she is fine. She asks how you are? She asks how is your health? She asks how is your family members? She says she is in summer season. She says she draws some pictures above. She says she completed her academic year, and now she is in new class and new teacher. She says which you sent her finger paint photo that is very nice and beautiful. She says she is very happy for her photo. Her words are very cute to listen. She says thank you for your loving letter and support.

On behalf of M. Anjali

Mail Day!

I wrote letters to each of my 10 compassion kids today, adding a little thing for each of them, whether a book or stickers or soccer cards or whatever seemed appropriate for the child. I decided I want to get a small story book and send a chapter a letter to Shallon in Uganda, since she reads English (and is 18 years old).

Esther

There were two letters from Esther, one a day after the other. The first promised photos which were not included in the envelope. But when the second envelope came, there they were!

With her 10 month old nephew

With her cousin

With her school friends

With her sister and brother
(or it might be her cousin and brother; not sure!)

To Beverly Sykes,

I am writing to tell you how I am doing. Within 2 days after I write this letter I am going to do the 2nd semester exam. I hope I'll do it well and I also pray that God will be with me. It will end next wee. Then we will celebrate the 60th school anniversary.

Before the exams I got a task to be one of the Red Cross member in the flag ceremony on May 2nd. You can see my photo - I enclosed photos with my family, too. It was after Church in Jakarta.

My favourite music is pop. I like a song with title Rainbow of His Love (Pelangi Kasth Hya) What is your plan on this holiday?

My love regards. I am happy to receive your photo, letter, the bible marker, and the colouring paper.

May God always bless you.

And the second letter

To Beverly Sykes.

I'm glad to receive your letters. Today is the fifth day I have been joining the final exam. I have been joining the final exam on this last (2nd) semester. I'll complete it in these next two days. I wait for it.

The school holiday is coming soon. It's my favourite thing. We plan to visit mother's sister, who is ill. Her house is quite far from our town. It is in Bandung. We need 10 hours to get there. It will be exhausting. Please always pray for me that I'll pass to the next grade on good marks.

Regards with love from me to you.

Henrique

I was surprised to hear from little Henrique so soon. He is only 4, so he doesn't write letters, but he did make this nice picture for me.


The letter also included information about him -- he's 4 years old and wants to be a doctor when he grows up. He likes playing with cars, his favorite food is spaghetti, his favorite thing in school is drawing, his favorite animal is a cat, his favorite color is orange and his beat friend is Pedro.

There was also information about his family, which consists of two parents, two sisters and two brothers.

His message to me (which I suspect is not his message to me!) is "Thank you for sponsoring me! God bless you!"

Latest Kiva Loan

Atta is the woman in Ghana to whom I have made my latest KIVA contribution.

In the picture, Atta has some fried donuts which she sells in the community of Dompoase near Elmina in Cape Coast. She is married and has two children. Her husband is a teacher.

She has been selling donuts for nine years. She assists her husband in providing for the basic needs of her family. Her loan will be used to buy flour, sugar, cooking oil, and other ingredients to fry donuts for sale. She wishes to use the new profits from her business to save towards the university education of her children.

Hey...I won't pass up an opportunity to support ANYBODY who sells donuts!