Sponsorship Success Story
When I was 14 years old, I took my extra lawn mowing money and started sponsoring a child. I’m not sure what prompted me to do that (it was over 25 years ago, after all!) but child I was linked up with was 5 years old and he lived in Uganda. Those were the difficult days following the rule of Idi Amin (1971-1979) who was one of the bloodiest dictators of the 20th century. Food was scarce, education almost non-existent, infrastructure destroyed…
That’s where my child, Walugeme Francis, lived. I began to write to him and he wrote back. Amazingly enough, our relationship has lasted 25 years! I sponsored him for 14 years of primary and secondary school, then he received a university scholarship and my sponsorship ended but the relationship continued. He graduated from college; then he got married; then he had a daughter… then last year when I led our first missions trip to Uganda, I met him face to face for the first time. (Yes, I did have some extra incentive to say yes when Pastor Scott asked me to lead a team to Uganda!) This year, I had an opportunity to meet his daughter, Prarthana, and to celebrate her 2nd birthday with her, her family and a bunch of neighbors and friends. I guess that makes Prarthana my adopted grand-daughter. Wow. Last year when I met Francis for the first time he told me that if it wasn’t for my sponsorship of him as a child he would likely not have had many opportunities – he and his family expressed a great appreciation.
Today, Francis and his wife are both university graduates (his wife just finished her PhD). Francis is serving with Compassion International, the ministry that ministered to him as a child, and his wife is working for a university. Francis’ sponsorship gave him the hope and tools necessary to raise above his circumstances and to grow into a young man who is contributing in great ways to the benefit of his community and the God’s Kingdom.
All of that and it only cost me about a dollar a day - or the cost of a movie and popcorn for two…
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