(no subject)

[arisha]

Long overdue sponsorship entry! :D

· I failed to mention this when it happened, but the fundraiser that Aura's House hosted for John has been completed! :D If all goes well I should receive the photos and the report in the next couple weeks, and I am pretty excited. If any of you donated to this fundraiser, thank you!!! Aura's House is still hosting the fundraiser for my sponsored child Maria. This fundraiser will allow her family to purchase some basic household items such as a bed, a table, and chairs. If you'd like to donate but for whatever reason don't want to do it through the site, then please let me know and we can figure something out. :)

· First are some photos that I've had since June but haven't shown you yet, whoops! They're of the Special Gift that I sent to Michelle before I left Peru. Michelle is fifteen and lives in Ecuador and is of course who I met when I went to Quito!


Michelle received a bunch of clothing - a blouse, a "sweat outfit" (which I guess is a sweatsuit? haha), a big winter coat and a pair of pants.


The report continues with Michelle received some nice clothes she chose by herself. Those clothes will be useful for the youth to be well-dressed and presentable. Michelle will wear her new clothes to go out with her family and friends.


Michelle herself wrote: I am so happy to have met you; I really had a good time when we met each other. I want to thank you for the sweat outfit. I really needed it and I couldn't afford it. ... Thanks for the pair of pants, the blouse and the jacket. They will protect me from cold because the weather varies a lot.

I really love her big smile in these photos. :D

· Remember when you guys helped me help Joseline's mother start a small business? Well her family record has just been updated, and according to it the family's income has gone from $80 to $240!!! Which is awesome awesome news! :D

· brb sending another kid to school! I started sponsoring three more children this past summer (don't worry I've cut myself off now I swear!!), and one of them is Alex who is six and lives in Zambia. His family record said that he wasn't attending school because his family wasn't able to afford it, so I contacted CI and one Special Gift later I do believe he will be starting school in January. Just like me!! :D


According to the report, the Special Gift paid for school fees, a school uniform, school shoes, a school bag and "school requirements" (school supplies, I think, such as the books he's holding in the above photo). And apparently a package of toilet paper!


I don't know if this is the case in Zambia, but one thing I've heard about low income countries is that, even if school fees are small or non-existant, poorer families often can't afford to send their children to school because they still have to pay for the uniform, the supplies, the transportation, all that sort of stuff. So I'm glad to be able to help at least one family deal with that. Alex's uniform looks a little big on him right now but I'm sure he'll grow into it!

On the back of the thank you letter that Alex's mother wrote, Alex drew and coloured a shape that's somewhere between a square and an oval, but someone has helpfully labelled it "circle." Cuuuute~~! I definitely remember not being able to draw circles at that age, too. xD

· My favourite part of the most recent letter I've received from Mary, another of my new sponsored children who lives in the Philippines (she knows I wear glasses because I sent her a picture):

I have books to read at home. Maybe you also read a lot because you are wearing eyeglasses. My cousin who spends most of his time reading also wears eyeglasses. Both of you look genius.

omg this is the most adorable letter I've ever received in my life. xD

· And for more adorableness, allow me to end this entry with a link to CI's latest YouTube video. How cute are the boy at 1:58 and the boy who talks after him?! "OH MY GOD!" hahahaha xD xD xD

Comments

[frauleinfrog.livejournal.com]

Like always, I'm so impressed with the fact that you can help so many people at our age. Wow! How many kids are you sponsoring, now, anyway?

Also, Alex looks pretty uncertain about this taking pictures thing. "Whyyyy do I have to hold this stuff? *grump*" XD

[arisha.livejournal.com]

I have fifteen sponsored kids now and like I said I have definitely cut myself off haha. In the summer when I decided I was going to send them each a letter, it took two days just to write them!! xD So worth it though. :)

And yeah, Alex's pictures kind of remind me of pictures of my brother when he was little. x) Like "Okay, if you want me to stand here I guess I will, but I don't know why you're asking me to~" haha. x)

[frauleinfrog.livejournal.com]

o.o Wow, that is a ton! You must be CI's favorite person. XD You sound like you're a really good sponsor, too, what with your letters and your visits and your special gifts~ :D

Hehehe. Exactly. "Excuse me, I would like to run around and play, how much longer must we do this~" XD

[arisha.livejournal.com]

lol, believe it or not there are sponsors who are a lot more involved than I am. But I hope I'm not making people think that every sponsor has to be super into it and involved all the time, because there are also plenty of sponsors who only sponsor one child and only write occasionally and they're helping out a lot, too!

[frauleinfrog.livejournal.com]

I think I can believe that, but they're probably people with more disposable income. I definitely feel like you do as much as you possibly can. ^^

[freege.livejournal.com]

SARAH, I WANT YOU TO KNOW, though I don't always comment on them, your CI posts always make me smile. <3

[arisha.livejournal.com]

Aw thank you!! This comment made me smile. :D I'm glad you enjoy them! <3