Friday, April 21, 2006
Sarah, our sponsored child
Today after many months of waiting, Laila and I finally met Sarah, our blogshares sponsored child, through Save the Children.
We have been keeping in touch with Riel Andaluz
since I returned from my Christmas visit to Manila where we had applied
too late to visit with Sarah. Riel sent me all their forms and I
applied for a visit which was accepted. We received our itenerary
yesterday, and after getting up early this morning, eating breakfast
and then starting to get ready, Pearl told us that someone from Save
the Children was at the door. They were an hour early, and we
were not quite ready. Also Denise was asleep on the couch and we
didn't really want to have them come in and see that so, somehow Laila
excused us and asked if they could come back at 9 AM, as scheduled.
We went ahead and got ready and went downstairs at about 8:30 in case
they were waiting for us. They were not and then at 9 Laila
decided she wanted to wait upstairs. I told her to be patient and
wait but then we went ahead and started going upstairs. Just as
we got to the fourth floor they drove up and we went down again and got
into the van. We then headed off to their headquarters for a
brief presentation and to meet some of the folks that work there.
Traffic was really terrible and it took us quite a while to get there,
but when we did finally pull up we had a very warm reception. We
toured their office and met some of the staff. We then went to
the conference room for a power point slide presentation that had Laila
quite amazed.
Laila was always skeptical about Save the
Children. But then she suspects anything being run in the
Philippines if the government is involved. The slide show showed
all the different things they do and where our sponsorship money goes.
Not all of it goes to Sarah and I think that shocked Laila a bit.
I think Laila was under the impression that they just gave Sarah a
monthly allowance and she spent the money on her own, which is not the
case.
They use the money to buy some school supplies in the
beginning of school year, but then they also run programs for the
younger kids to prepare them for school, assist with school, and teach
them how to eat right, and sanitation. Sarah, in fact, serves an
ambassador to all children who are in the same school where she
studies. They received the same program benefits what Sarah
receives. They help children from 4 years old up to 18 years old only.
They also address birth control, and bad habits to older ones.
Anyway after seeing the presentation it was off to McDonalds to meet up
with Sarah and her family. We again got caught in traffic and it
took us quite a while to get there but we finally did.
Sarah. Her Mother, and Sister Sheila
Sarah is 12 years old and I was quite surprised by how small she
was. We met Sarah, her youngest sister, Shiela, and her
mother. Sarah is one of seven children in the household and her
father abandoned the family six months after her youngest child was
born.
ME, Laila, Sarah
Her mother works as a fish vendor but, it is a really low paying job
which is equivalent of 4 -5 dollars a day. Anyway Laila
learned a lot about the program from talking to some of the workers and
the family. Sarah didn't speak English so we just kind of smiled
and used sign language or let Laila translate for me.
We then
went to a community center where they were teaching job skills with
materials they have available. I felt really bad as this was an
extremely poor area, but the folks at the center were working hard, and
there were many volunteers there helping them out.
Tomorrow, we will be taking Sarah out on a shopping trip to a
mall. We were thinking of school supplies but after Laila talked
to Sarah, I guess we will be going grocery shopping instead, as Sarah
prefers grocery items and rice for her family. As a rule, we are not
allowed to give any cash donations to Sarah or her family.
Anyway, after that it was time for the long ride home. Laila's
knee gave her so much pain. Somehow, it is really nice to finally
put a real child in place of the picture and letters. We're
excited to take her and family out for shopping tomorrow...
Posted at 04:08 am by RWO
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