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| With Mary Awien Bol |
At the time we commenced the Emmanuel Children's Program in Marialbai I asked Paulino to prepare a budget for the ongoing running costs. He started with the cost of nutrition and calculated the monthly cost per child, which I then multiplied by the number of children. As we worked out the cost of education, health care and other basic requirements of the program I continued to use Paulino's method of breaking it down to the cost for each child.
I cant actually remember when I first had the idea of setting up a child sponsorship process to fund the program, but I know it was a very pragmatic decision - a simple strategy to raise the required finance to run the program.
Recently, as I travelled around Australia and met many sponsors for the first time, I came to appreciate a much more important aspect of sponsorship - the genuine bonds that can be formed between people who have never met in person.
I met several sponsors who, with tears or beaming smiles, described their delight at seeing the transformation of their child when they received the second year's photo.
One woman sincerely asked if she could adopt her sponsor child.
Many homes had the sponsorship card displayed alongside their family photos.
A few people told me they pray for their sponsored child every day.
The one encounter I remember most vividly was the friend who gave me a card and small gift to take for the girl her family sponsors. With tears welling up she asked me "Please give her a cuddle... and tell her we love her."
For the children at Marialbai there is an equally tangible experience of love and belonging that comes through having a sponsor.
For more information about sponsoring children at Marialbai please go to the GMP South Sudan website.
