Board member, Caleb Spence, shares about why Hawassa Hope has graduation from our sponsorship program as a goal for every family.
As sponsors, the connections that are created through sponsorship can be remarkable. In fact, that bond between my family and our sponsored child and his family is no less than amazing, as I am sure it is for your families.
The prayers, the gifts, the letters back and forth, the visits to his home, the blessings of seeing God work in his life and the lives of his family. They are household names.
They ARE family.
We are forever connected.
And I know for those of you that are sponsors, the same is for you and your sponsored child and their family.
The bond that is made in this process is incredible and wonderful; however, it can be easy for all of us to lose sight of the end goal of sponsorship. Meeting physical, emotional and educational needs are paramount but they all lead to a hopeful goal, which is to empower them to become self-sufficient and to graduate from the program. That can be a hard pill to swallow for us because of the connection we have to our sponsored family.
But graduation is a vital part in the sponsorship program. It is not the crowning point for our sponsored families but rather a landmark of their accomplishments and their empowerment in their own journeys. Journeys into adulthood, to new hopes, to hoped for dreams, and to a continuing relationship with an Almighty God that loves them.
In the book, When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor…and Yourself, coauthor Brian Fikkert said,
“Our hope is to restore people to a full expression of humanness, to being what God created us all to be, people who glorify God by living in a right relationship with God, with self, with others, and with the rest of creation.”
What a beautiful description of what our hopes should be for our sponsored families.
God has given us the ability, the grace and the wonderful privilege to step out in faith by giving support to these families in need, and through everything our prayer should ultimately be for them to become what God desires for them to be.
Restored.