Entry Three: Climbing the Ladder of Sponsorship
About two hours south of Calcutta is an area where we have been sponsoring children for about twenty years. I know that because the date on a plaque at a playground we dedicated there reads November 1990. The staff wanted me to visit this area because, with about 1,000 sponsored children, there is a lot of sponsorship activity going on.
The ride to the area was exciting. And at times a little scary, although I’ve grown accustomed to being a helpless passenger driven at what I would consider an unreasonable rate of speed given the narrowness of the road, the number of people walking along or on it, the variety of vehicles ranging from men pedaling bicycles or van-rickshaws to semi-trucks and huge buses. With a few cows, ducks and very nervous chickens thrown in to keep things interesting. All somehow involved in this uniquely Indian thing of getting where they are going amidst the noise, the crush of people and beasts and vehicles whilst skillfully dodging each other.
Incidentally, a van-rickshaw is more or less a bicycle with a small (three by four feet or so) flatbed right behind the seat. It is used to move people or “cargo.” You can see just about anything on a van-rickshaw. They can be purchased for about $100 and we have purchased a number of them for income generating projects. A father of a sponsored child can earn decent income hauling things with his van-rickshaw. It’s a very nice little project. And quite affordable as a special gift type project. A gift that keeps on giving, as the old line goes.
When we arrived at the village near the Bay of Bengal, I visited a home that Children International is constructing for a family who lost theirs to last year’s worse-than-normal monsoon season. It’s a very solid brick home that has the family of five elated at the prospect of moving in soon. We were able to build it for about $2,800, a real bargain as far as home building goes. Funding came from the Kansas City architectural firm of Gastinger Walker and Harden. We selected this project since home construction is consistent with GWH’s mission.
It is based upon a floor plan we perfected when we built over 1,100 homes after Hurricane Mitch hit Honduras a few years ago.
I saw where the family is living now, after their home collapsed during the heavy rain. It’s horrible. There aren’t enough depressing adjectives in this laptop to describe the place. Suffice it to say, the family is very eager to move…they light up when talking about “moving day.”
Quite a contrast from what happened during the storm. Mom was increasingly nervous about a wall of the home and she told the three children to get under the bed just in case. That likely saved their lives when the wall of the home collapsed inward on where they would have been had they not taken cover.
A mother’s love and instinct. No matter where or what the circumstances. Always listen to your mother, she has your best interests at heart. I always listen to mine.
We then paid a visit to the center where the doctor is and where many sponsorship benefits are delivered to the children. That’s where the playground is that we dedicated in 1990. I was quite impressed, by the way, with the condition of the playground. It is obviously well used but also well maintained. I’m sure the children and the parents appreciate having it.
I met with a group of mothers there. There were about thirty of them and their colorful traditional clothing was a delight to my eye. I always like to meet the moms (and I have to say there were a couple dads there, too) as they will “tell it like it is” and if you want to know how things are going as far as sponsorship is concerned, this is the source.
I opened with “What does this program mean to you?” There was no hesitation. One mom went on and on about the impact of sponsorship…it even exceeded my expectations. She told me sponsorship is providing things that they simply couldn’t. Like a doctor, the same doctor who has been seeing their children for nearly twenty years. And school supplies and fees. She added that sponsorship is like a ladder…providing basic benefits that change over the life of the child, matching the benefits to the children’s needs as they move up the ladder. Nice, eh?
Other mothers joined the discussion…they all wanted me to thank the sponsors for everything. And they really, really want their sponsors to send letters and pictures of their families.
They don’t have to be fancy or great pictures…just snap a few shots the next time the family is together and send them to us at CI and we’ll get them to your sponsored family. I guarantee they’ll be on the wall of a home in India—or wherever your sponsored child lives—in short order!
Another thing the sponsorship program has done for these mothers and parents has been to provide them with a network of people facing similar problems and issues. They really appreciate having each other with whom to share their lives, their hopes and their fears.
It was very nice to be in this village. It’s surrounded by agricultural land and it’s a very pleasant place. For a person who spent much of his youth in a town of 2,500 people, this was a welcome, tranquil respite from the crush of humanity in the city.
At least until I saw the snakes. As we were walking back along the path to the vehicle we passed a number of small ponds. I looked across one…about thirty yards I guess, and saw movement. I looked more closely and could clearly see a snake. No, there were TWO snakes. I don’t much care for snakes. They make me very nervous.
It brought to mind the Harrison Ford aka Indiana Jones’ line from, I think, Raiders of the Lost Ark: “Snakes. Why’d it have to be snakes?” My sentiments exactly.
While we were observing, some of the locals joined us and one girl said that it isn’t uncommon for a snake to come into her home and even get on the bed when she is sleeping. She said the snakes don’t bother them and actually help control the rat population. Rats and snakes. Waking to a snake? I can’t imagine it and don’t want to try. Just another by-product of poverty.
That evening we made the ride back to Calcutta in the dark. It was even more exciting. Much. We made it in about two and a half hours, thus ending a pretty long day. But a good one.
Join us again as Jim recounts more of his amazing trip to Calcutta. You can also read his journal entries from the trip and comment on the Children International blog.
Sponsor a needy child and begin your own special connection.
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