At Hawassa Hope we love to have sponsors visit and meet their sponsored children. It’s a surreal moment when you meet the child and/or family that you have written to, prayed for and supported from across a vast ocean.
This past July trip we had several visits happen! It was a joy to be able to capture them on camera and to see how important they are to our families in Ethiopia and to our sponsor families. Hawassa Hope sponsorship goes beyond financially supporting a family. It’s a relationship. It’s a chance to disciple someone through letters, cards, care packages and hopefully, at some point, a visit! 🙂
Three of our families share about their visits below. If you’d like to join us in being hope to vulnerable children and families in Ethiopia, click on the button below and see who you would like to sponsor!
Community Sponsorship
Lani’s thoughts:
Relationships. That is what sponsoring has taught me. I always thought you need to DO, to TAKE action, to STORM the gates of poverty because we, as Americans, should if we can. My time in Ethiopia taught me to sit down and BE STILL.
Opening up my ears and heart to fully comprehend the magnitude of the situation Enginer faced helped humble me into knowing and realizing, we are all in this together. Legitimately. Not just in some fancy clip art quote I would frame and hang on the wall.
His struggles are my struggles. His joy is my joy. And I think that is the point. Instead of stiff arming the emotions and just monetarily supporting a child, I now know and feel the heart of a son.
Molly’s thoughts:
God hears, and God answers.
I was blessed to be able to visit my sponsor child for the second time, though it was the first time at their home. Sponsorship makes a huge difference, but let me just say that prayer makes the biggest difference.
When I met S.’s mom the year prior, the main reason that she wanted a sponsor for her son was not for the money and basic needs to be met, but for someone to pray for him to have a better life. You see, S. had been abandoned and was not her biological son, but she saw the need and despite her own circumstances, took him home. A mother’s plea for someone to pray for her son and not just give money prompted me to sponsor him.
One year later, though things aren’t perfect, S.’s family is doing well, his mother has such a joy about her and when she whispered to me and said, “your prayers have been working, please keep praying,” it makes it that much more real that God is in the little and the big. He is in me, and He is in them. He always answers. Sometimes it’s quickly, sometimes it’s more slow than I would like, and sometimes the answers come in pieces and stages. But in it all, sponsorship is more than money. Sponsorship is a relationship. It is allowing yourself the privilege of being united with that child and their family through the power of praying towards the same purpose–“plans to prosper you, and not to harm you, plans to give you HOPE and a future,” (Jeremiah 29:11b).
I encourage you to make a difference not just financially, but really invest into loving the child you sponsor. It’s worth it!!
Cortney’s thoughts:
Going back to Ethiopia felt like a pilgrimage of sorts for me. God had called our family to adopt our fourth child from there, but my journey with Ethiopia didn’t stop when she came home. I knew I would go back. I was so thankful to have that opportunity to do that this past summer. To go back and experience this country I had fallen in love with, and be among a people that felt like family, was a journey God had been preparing me for for some time.
It was amazing and hard. All at once. I witnessed horrible poverty and illness. I got to sing and dance in praise. To walk a moment in time with women who once had lived without hope, but were rediscovering who God had created them to be. I got to hold children who, without the support of sponsorship, would probably not have made it. I got to experience the love and dedication of social workers and nannies who pour into the least among us. I got to sit beside a little boy as he, with joy, showed me all the stuff he had in his new backpack stuffed with school supplies. With joy I got to hold hands and kiss faces and give hugs to strangers who quickly felt like friends.
I got to meet and spend time with a precious little boy who my family has prayed for and supported. To see where he lives and meet his amazing mom and his siblings. To hear about who he is and what he likes to do. To hold his hand and pray over him and his family. Such a gift to me to have the privilege to walk in hope with him. To see what our support and our prayers and our relationship across the oceans means to this little guy.
It was a journey. A journey where I was asking God to be there with me. To show me how to be present and love the people He brought into my path. He showed me so much more than I asked for. As He normally does!
I can’t encourage other people enough to step out in faith to experience God and his people in this way. To be hope to people through love and support and prayers. To let them see God inside you, as you bring hope to them.