Genesis

Genesis
Girl, Born December 21, 2006

HELP, I HAVE ALREADY BEEN TRANSFERRED!!

More info coming, child is blind and was recently transferred to the institution.

Genesis breaks my heart – such a beautiful girl. Our last pictures of her she was playing on a rocking toy, and now she's lying in an institution. Please, please, someone rescue this little girl! She would have so much potential, in a family setting.

These children are truly living on borrowed time, and families should be home study approved before an official commitment can be made for this child.

Bethany
December 2006
Osteogenesis Imperfecta

From volunteers who met her: This radiant girl lives in a Russian orphanage. She suffers from OI, Group 3. She was bedridden for the most of her life; until she was almost 4 years old she could not sit and could not turn over. She had multiple bones broken by simply moving around in bed. Only one year ago volunteers found her in a cast from head to toe. They have begun raising money for her rehabilitation in the American Medical Center in Moscow. As a result, she is now sitting vertically first time in her life. The first time she was able to look out the window, she saw the bleak Moscow landscape of late November and there was no limit for her joy! She takes such pleasure in being able to see that the street cleaning guy has a “soft” hat and that birds are “fuzzy .” Despite having such a handicapped childhood, Bethany is unbelievably bright. At three and a half she knew all colors, 1 to 10 numbers, could recite many children rhymes, and she has a perfect music pitch! According to the nurses, Bethany radiates positivism and humor to such degree that children from the hospital gather in her room for a good laugh, a song, or a story. When it was time for her to leave the hospital and to part with the nurses, she broke down crying for the first time, despite all the physical pain of the hospital procedures. She desperately wants to belong, to be part of a family.

More information is available for interested families. Potential families must have good medical coverage and be comfortable financially.

Daphne
Girl, Born April 25, 2006

Daphne was born with CP. She is not able to walk and is significantly cognitively delayed. She is described as an affectionate and responsive child, and she would so benefit from having a loving family of her own.

She is facing transfer very soon, and will remain bedridden if she is not adopted.



Above are just three profiles of kids waiting for families through the Reece's Rainbow program. The first one, Genesis, is one I have been checking back on hoping that she has found a family. She looked so much happier in her previous photo. I am reading The Boy From Baby House 10. A great read. I will write about it later, along with a list of other books about special needs that I have picked up over the past few months.

I had no idea over a year ago that India would change me so much.

In good (amazing, incredible!) news, it looks like 2012 is going to mean a return trip to India for me!! It is too far away to finalize anything yet, but hopefully at this time next year I will be getting to see April again :) I got the most amazing news two weeks ago that using her walker, she is STANDING! This has the potential to be huge for her. I knew she could do it but to hear that it is happening brought tears to my eyes. I have been told that a picture will be on its way for me soon. I am SO happy for her!

More Videos

I made a CUS promotional video! Check it out, and share! We have sooo many kids who still need sponsors!


This was one of my favourite memories from Uganda. The kids were practicing for church choir and I heard them outside while playing with other kids. I went in to watch and ended up staying for about 30 minutes as they sang song after song, rocking those babies on their laps, and then went outside to dance. This was the single moment on the trip (aside from leaving) that cause me to get teary. It was just so beautiful.


This wins the award for cutest video ever. I gave Immaculate a "baby" that my Nana had made, and tried to film a video of her saying thank you. Oh my gosh, she is just so cute.


Some of the kids introducing themselves.

World Vision Update

I posted earlier about making the decision whether or not to cancel my World Vision sponsorship. I got a ton of comments, emails, and facebook messages offering advice, so thank you!! Many of you asked me to keep you updated, so here it is! Also surprisingly, many of you were going through or had been through similar decision; I guess it is inevitable once you get more involved in international development.

I got a nice email from a staff member who found my blog. She didn't pressure me to continue sponsoring, but instead said she respected my decision and told me about Connecting With Communities, a website which allows sponsors to learn more about their child's community. She asked if I could write a blog post/share photos about my experience meeting Tsehay, which I said I would love to do. From the main page, if you click Ethiopia, and then Hidhabu Abote, you can see Tsehay's community (my photos are not up yet, I still have to send them in). While I am glad they have this new site, it wasn't very developed and still wasn't really enough to make me continue my sponsorship, or feel good about where the money is going. I had asked if I could contact Tsehay's new sponsor to give him/her the photos, and they weren't sure, so this seemed like a good option where I could share the photos this way.

Last night I called World Vision to cancel. I wouldn't say the woman guilted me into not cancelling, but she could tell I was on the fence, so she offered other options. Basically, she told me I could put my sponsorship on hold for up to 6 months. During this time I will still be able to send and receive letters/updates on Tsehay (her annual update usually arrives in August or September) but I will not make payments. This will give me more time to think it over. I liked this idea, so payments will be held under November 28th. She also mentioned co-sponsoring. During these 6 months, I can look for someone to co-sponsor Tsehay with me. I am willing to continue sponsoring Tsehay if I pay $10/month. Sponsorship is $35/month, so I am going to look for someone to pay $25/month to sponsor Tsehay with me.

So, if anyone is interested in sponsoring through World Vision, let me know and we can talk about co-sponsoring!

So that is where it has been left. I am still sponsoring Tsehay, and have until the end of November to make a decision.

World Vision

What to do....?

I have been sponsoring a little girl named Tsehay through World Vision for about 5 years. She is 10 years old and lives in rural Ethiopia with her parents and 2 younger brothers, Hailu and Abdisa. I don't know if I should continue my sponsorship...

Why I want to cancel: World Vision is a huge organization. I don't feel much connection to them, especially now that I have worked with so many grassroots organizations that are in such great need. I donate 10% of my income every month. $35 of this goes to World Vision. There are 3 causes that I am desperately trying to fundraise for who could so badly use this money. In all cases of those 3, 100% of the funds go directly to the projects, where with World Vision, 19% goes to administration (salaries, advertising, etc.) Only 81% goes to the projects, and even then I am not really entirely sure what the projects are in Tsehay's community and how she benefits from them. I feel like that $35/month could go so much further if put in one of the three projects I am working on (CUS, SCH, Education Fund). I don't feel like my money really makes a difference one way or another with World Vision, I don't know enough about what is being done with it, and I don't like the high admin rate.

Why I don't want to cancel: I have been sponsoring Tsehay for 5 years. Child sponsorship is something I had wanted to do for so many years, and I can remember fighting with my parents about it and them telling me no. At the time (I was in high school) I was mentoring a little girl through a Big Sister program, and together we made and sold bracelets and funded her sponsorship. We were even interviewed for the paper, and it was a huge source of excitment and pride for me at the time. I remember SO looking forward to getting letters from her, writing letters, picking out gifts to send, etc.

Then, in 2009, I planned a trip to Ethiopia with the main reason being that I wanted to meet Tsehay. I spent the day with World Vision, went to her house, met her family, and took her, her brother Hailu, and her grandfather out for lunch. It was a moment I won't ever forget and it meant SO much to me to be able to meet her. THIS POST is the one I wrote when I went to meet her, if you want to read about it. At the time I raved about World Vision, but I knew very little about interntional development at that time. I didn't ask any questions, think critically about what they were telling me, etc. It is almost embarasing reading that Ethiopia blog now and seeing how much my thoughts have changed on things like gift giving, giving to beggars, sustainability (I doubt I even knew that word then!) Anyways...

I still look forward to getting new pictures of Tsehay and I always gush and show everyone when I get one. I have watched her grow, and have those incredible memories of meeting her, and that makes it difficult for me to even think about cancelling that sponsorship.

So, what to do?

I want to be smart with my money. I want it to go somewhere that will really make a difference. And yet I also don't know... that could be the case with World Vision, and I would feel sad giving up my sponsorship of Tsehay after so many years. I am torn!! Thoughts??