August 30, 2007 by SUM.

Recently, I received a letter from a World Vision worker, which included the 2007 annual progress report for Fatoumata, a picture of her, and a drawing made by Fatoumata. Due to privacy concerns, I’ll not display a picture of Fatoumata on the web site. But I can show you how the report looks like. As you can see from the report below, the information given is in regards to her health, school activities, her hobbies and contribution to her family life.

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July 22, 2007 by SUM.

World Vision makes it very easy to communicate with your sponsored child. If your child cannot write yet or a language barrier exists, a World Vision worker will write you in the name of the sponsored child. The child I’m sponsoring is fife years old and speaks French.

Though I learned French in school, my French language skills are very modest. But I would like to write in French to this girl. Recently, I received a letter from World Vision that included a neat birthday card for Fatoumata with an age-appropriate drawing puzzle on the back of the card.

I took this opportunity and wrote a brief birthday wish in French on the card and mailed it to World Vision, which will deliver the card to Fatoumata. She will get the card way ahead of her birthday, which is in November.

I hope Fatoumata will enjoy the card as well as her birthday celebration with other kids of her family and community members, and I’ll hear from her through her World Vision worker.

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June 6, 2007 by SUM.

I decided in February of this year to sponsor a child again. I had done this before, but I had to quit this program when my financial resources prevented me from sending those monthly payments. After my financial resources had improved, I opted to support financially other programs for various reasons.

But this year I decided to sponsor a child again because my financial resources had sufficiently improved, and this time I felt that I’m actually able to sponsor a child in the long run.

So, what does the long-run actually mean. Recently, I read the article “Africa’s Storied Colleges, Jammed and Crumbling” in The New York Times. This article raises a very important factor that needs to be addressed, too, when sponsoring a child. The article points out that over decades basic education had been favored over higher learning, and Africa’s best universities are collapsing and becoming more like a warehouse for a generation of young people whose job opportunities in their society are as dim as their uneducated parents.

Therefore I also believe that it is not enough to sponsor a child only through elementary- and high-school education. A long-term approach is necessary to alleviate poverty and increase economic opportunities on the African continent.

I know that I not only want to sponsor a child that will be lucky enough to graduate from basic education, but out of luck attending an acceptable college or finding a job in her struggling economy.

Therefore I decided that I’m in for the long-run.

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