Archive for July 23, 2010
Goodbye through a child’s eyes
By Ruth Hubenthal, CFCA Sponsor Services Representative
Sponsors always have questions about their sponsored friends and about how CFCA is helping make that connection between a good-hearted individual and a person brimming with potential but in need of help. Questions sometimes include inquiries about culture, benefits, why letters take so long, and what to write. It is a joy to see that curiosity and to pass on what information I can from the child’s point of view.
It might come as a surprise to some sponsors that the children and the elderly have the same questions. Why do letters take so long? What is their sponsor’s culture like? What kind of conditions do they live in? Why does my sponsor leave the program? And, the social workers do a great job in explaining the information they have to the children. But the best way to satisfy the curiosity of the child is through a letter.
Unfortunately, there is always a day when that relationship comes to a practical end, though in our hearts and prayers it continues for a lifetime. There are also questions about this, and it is hard to have to explain, but we can see God’s will allowing us to walk hand-in-hand with someone for a time, and then Him seeing fit to have us part ways.
It’s a tough subject to approach, but when, for some reason, a sponsor or a child leaves the program, a final letter makes the transition a little easier. Even if the sponsor has to stop because of loss of a job, loss of a loved one, or simply because they have other responsibilities, it is always so caring to write a letter letting them know.
The children, the elderly, or someone who knows them usually writes a final letter to the sponsor, and though it might not be satisfying, and it is bittersweet, there is closure. And just like the questions that the children have, a letter from their sponsor is also bittersweet, but it gives them closure.
I guess what I mean to say is that in Sponsor Services, we work so hard for you to see your sponsored friend’s point of view, but I want to make you aware that they also want to see yours. They are the reason we sponsor; you are the reason they strive for a better future.
July 23, 2010 at 7:12 am Christian Foundation for Children and Aging (CFCA) 3 comments
