By Patrick Schweiger - Child Gift Sponsor and Web Publisher SOS-USA
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| SOS Children's Villages Sonsonate, El Salvador |
Connecting Children Across the World
December 12, 2011: Last summer, I decided to do a gift sponsorship for my little sister who is 13 years old. I thought that this would be a great way for her to connect with a child her age that was growing up in another country and culture.
Her sponsored child is named Priscila. Priscila is almost 13 years old and lives in the SOS Children’s Village Sonsonate in El Salvador. I recently had the opportunity to visit the Children’s Village in Sonsonate and meet Priscila. It was an amazing experience and one of great joy. Priscila had been told that I was coming to visit and she along with her SOS Family excitedly awaited my visit.
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| Patrick with Sponsored Child |
I could tell that Priscila was excited to see me but she was also very shy. The children are not used to meeting their sponsors, as many sponsors are not able to make the trip out to El Salvador. It is always very exciting for them when a foreign visitor arrives.
I sat down with Priscila and gave her a letter written by my sister along with a picture she drew. Priscila was very happy to receive this and, while talking with the rest of her SOS Family, I saw her intently reading the letter and sharing it with her SOS brothers and sisters.
I had a nice conversation with Priscila and her SOS Family in which she told me a little bit about her life in the Village. She has been living there for 6 years and lives in the same home as her two biological sisters. She enjoys life in the Village and being able to live with her sisters - SOS strongly believes in the importance of keeping biological family together under the same roof. In her free time she enjoys playing soccer and listening to music. Her favorite food is pizza with ham and cheese and her favorite subject in school is Language Arts.
When asked if she had any message she wanted me to deliver to her sponsor, her face lit up and she said, “Yes, that I love her a lot.”
Although Priscila was a little shy and didn’t have a lot to say, this last statement really impacted me. It made me see the true importance of the gift sponsorship - forming a connection. Sponsorship is not just about you helping a child, it is so much more. It is about the personal connection that is made with one child across the world. It has also become something my sister and I can connect with and share. Whenever my sister receives something in the mail about her sponsorship, she calls me up and excitedly explains what it is. I look forward to hearing from my sister how her connection with Priscila grows. Even though they live in different countries and cultures, there is a lot that they have in common and can share with each other.
A Word of Thanks
Overall, it was a great visit all made possible by the wonderful sponsorship coordinator of the El Salvador office, Vanessa Carballo. She did an amazing job in organizing my trip and giving me the opportunity to really understand how an SOS Village runs. Please view the video below in which Vanessa talks more about child sponsorship.