Because of Shamim

I have decided to start a blog focused on Compassion and my sponsorship experiences. My hope for this blog is two-fold. First, I hope it will encourage those of you who are sponsors to continue the good work! And secondly, to envision those who don't currently sponsor to consider the value of child sponsorship.

My desire is to encourage you in letter writing (to offer ideas when you're stuck and to remind you of the value), to share some of the struggles along the way (like when your child doesn't write much or your children keep leaving the program), and to answer any questions that you have about child sponsorship.

I have titled the blog "Because of Shamim" since Shamim was my first real experience with child sponsorship through Compassion International. When I was younger, I was able to correspond with my parents two children, but when I turned 11, my parents let me embark on this journey with my own child. Through the money I earned from chores, I was able to sponsor Shamim.

I'd like to introduce you to Shamim. Shamim is one year younger than me and she graduated Compassion's program December 2011. We were able to grow very close throughout this sponsorship process. Shamim's story is a beautiful one. Shortly after sponsoring her, she lost her hearing. But she persevered and completed Compassion's program. In July 2012, she was given a grant from the Ugandan government to attend the University of Uganda in a finance program! And on the side, she teaches at a school for deaf kids and teaches classes to parents of the deaf (helping the parents know how to communicate with their deaf kids). And Shamim is a huge fan of Compassion...when she graduated, she asked Eric and I to help another kid from Uganda. So we now have a little girl, named Cissy, and Shamim told me recently (via e-mail) that she's going to try to visit Cissy soon. And Shamim wants to be able to look out for Cissy as a sister.

Shamim has opened my eyes to how we're able to help others through the ministry of Compassion...and she's tangible evidence of how Compassion sponsorship works. Hence, the name of this blog.

To finish up this first post, I also want to point out that all of this is possible because of God's faithfulness to me. He's provided the money through the years to support these kids through Compassion. He's the reason why this Compassion program works. I'll write another post on why I like Compassion International in particular, but the main reason is that the program is Christ-centered. Compassion realizes that the primary need in a child's life is spiritual--they need a relationship with Jesus Christ. And that leads to the most beautiful thing in Shamim's life: while in the program, she came to know Jesus Christ as her Savior and she and I know that one day we'll meet in heaven and we'll be able to worship our Lord together.