CFCA invites you to take the Hope Challenge
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We have many children, youth and elderly friends waiting for sponsors through CFCA. We’ve promised to do our best to help them, but it’s been tough finding new sponsors in the current economic climate.
So how do we answer this challenge? With hope and your help.
We need your help getting the word out to people in your community. Here is what we are asking you to do from Sept. 15 to Dec. 15:
1. Ask us for a sponsorship kit. Contact the outreach volunteer team at 800.875.6564 or cfcaoutreach@cfcausa.org. The kit includes folders (let us know how many you’d like), a CFCA tablecloth, a tabletop sign and a promotional poster. The folders each include a family profile and photo of a child, youth and aging friend waiting for sponsorship, along with information about CFCA.
2. Host a sponsorship table. Where? At your church, civic group meeting or book club gathering — wherever you find people of good will.
3. Host a sponsorship party. Invite friends and family to your home and introduce them to sponsorship. You can tell them about your own experience and share your pictures and letters received from your sponsored friend.
4. Take this challenge using social media. Pass along the word about CFCA through your Facebook page, blog site, Twitter account and any other social media outlets you’re using.
5. Try. That’s all we ask. One, two, five or 10 new sponsors make a huge difference when we all put forth an effort!
Add comment September 8, 2010
New York students meet their Salvadoran counterparts
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Kayleigh Macchirole visits with children from El Salvador during her mission awareness trip. |
Kayleigh Macchirole, a student from McGann-Mercy High School in New York, recently went with other students on a CFCA mission awareness trip to El Salvador. Here is her reflection on the experience.
I recently went on a missionary trip to El Salvador with a few people from my school. I went into this experience thinking that we were just going to go down there and help a few people, but after the first day I realized that we were doing so much more.
During our time in El Salvador we celebrated Mass with sponsored children and their families, visited homes, built a home for a family in need, met with our sponsored children, visited a school, and played a soccer game with some of the scholarship students.
We had the chance to interact with people from all age groups, and learn about all of their lives and the difficulties they face. On our final day in Santa Ana we got to interact with local teenagers while playing soccer. Afterwards we had the chance to have a group discussion with them.
Soon after the conversation started we realized that these teenagers weren’t that different from us. Like American teenagers they are faced with the pressure to do drugs. They have the threat of gang violence, or even joining a gang, and also like us, they have hopes and dreams of being successful.
The big difference between us was money. They were all so thankful to be sponsored because otherwise there is a good chance they would be on the streets working rather than going to school, which will give them so many more opportunities to become successful and give themselves a better life.
Looking back on the whole trip, the thing that stands out to me the most was how grateful everyone was. On the day we got to meet our sponsored children the families were so appreciative. We heard things like “I thank God for you every morning,” “I consider you a sister to me,” “God bless you for the rest of your life,” and “I thank God through the heavens and back.”
It shocked me that doing something as simple as sponsoring a child could change their lives so much. The people there have so little and yet they would help you with anything and always had a big smile on their face.
As Americans, we let something so small ruin our entire day. Meanwhile the people in El Salvador have so many more problems and always seem to have a positive attitude.
My trip to El Salvador was life-changing and I cannot wait to go back.
Add comment September 7, 2010
When should I send a Christmas greeting to my sponsored friend?
Q. When should I send a Christmas greeting to my sponsored friend?
A. If you would like to send your friend a Christmas greeting, we recommend sending your greeting card early because mail can be slow during the holiday season. It usually takes six to eight weeks for a letter to arrive at the project.
Although Christmas is a time for giving in the U.S., sending a gift to your friend overseas is problematic.
Packages can accrue customs fees in your friend’s country, and items can be lost or stolen in the mail. Instead of a package, we encourage you to send a letter or card. Your friend will be thrilled to hear from you.
In addition, please consider donating to the CFCA Christmas Fund. Your donation is used by your friend’s project to plan culturally appropriate celebrations and provide practical and fun gifts for every child and aging member, so no one is left out. Family members often participate.
Sponsored members know that these celebrations and gifts are made possible by the sponsors. Plus, your donation benefits your friend’s community because party supplies and Christmas gifts are purchased from local vendors or CFCA livelihood projects.
Add comment September 3, 2010
Kenyans welcome new constitution
Peter Ndungo, Nairobi project coordinator, sends this report about Kenya’s establishment of a new national constitution. He explains the implications of this for CFCA families in Kenya.
“Kenya reborn … Our day of pride … It’s a fresh start … The dream of a new Kenya” … These are some of the headlines from one of our mainstream newspapers.
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Alice |
Kenya became independent on Dec. 12, 1963, with a constitution negotiated in London with heavy input by the departing colonizers.
After many years in pursuit of a truly representative and democratic constitution, Kenyans finally ushered in the new constitution at a ceremony at Uhuru Park, Nairobi, on Aug. 27, 2010.
Kenyans have high expectations for the new constitution. Some CFCA sponsored members and their families shared their reactions.
Alice, a sponsored aging member, said she voted “yes” for the constitution. She says that it will give rise to a new Kenya free from colonial restrictions.
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Rachel |
Alice also says she is “happy to have lived to see the day that Kenya would have a new constitution.”
Rachel, mother to sponsored child Monica, says that she voted for the constitution because it eliminates tribalism that has often caused people to rise against one another. Rachel says, “If my daughter decides to marry in another country, she will not have to give up her identity as a Kenyan. Dual citizenship is now allowed. As a woman, I feel protected by this constitution; I have a right to property.”
Truphosa, mother to sponsored child Kelvin, says she is “very excited since the new constitution promises free quality primary education. …
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Truphosa |
This will benefit many Kenyans as through the years the cost of education has risen steadily, and very few people can afford to pay fees for their children.”
The constitution creates an enabling environment for all Kenyans to live up to their potential in an atmosphere of freedom, liberty, human dignity and equal rights. CFCA in Kenya welcomes with open hands the new constitution, and we look forward with a lot of expectation to the hard part — the implementation phase.
We want to join other Kenyans in building our nation and giving hope to our sponsored members and their families. We are happy to participate in building a happy and prosperous democratic Kenya.
4 comments September 1, 2010
‘We will meet again’
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Rose Anne |
Recently, we wrote about the importance of farewell letters and the closure it can provide to both the sponsored individual and the sponsor. Margaret and Bernard Reilly sponsored Rose Anne for 11 years. After she left the CFCA program in June 2010, Margaret and Bernard were able to write her one last letter to say good-bye.
June 13, 2010
Dear Rose Anne,
Ma’am and I have just received the letter that you wrote on May 12. We are saddened that you are leaving the program, but we know that this had to happen at some point. After all, you are soon to turn 17 years of age, and you are now a young woman with all of the experiences and responsibilities that come with entry into adulthood. Then too, Ma’am and I are now both of us in our early 80s, and so the regular course of life would have ended our relationship, perhaps before very long, in any event.
For all of that fact, it is still a little sad. The two of us have felt very proud to be able to watch you, in some sense, to grow up from a very little girl to the strong and able adult that you are now. We have been very lucky to have been able to help you in some small ways, and we would wish to have been able to do even more for someone whom we have come to love and regard as a very special granddaughter.
We are enclosing one last picture for you to keep. It was taken just a month ago, and in it are two of our grandchildren who are quite your own age. Eliza and Paul are the children of our second daughter, Maureen, and again, like you are not children of our family by blood. Maureen and her husband, Bill, adopted them when it became impossible for them to have children because of their age. Nevertheless, they are our grandchildren in love, as are you yourself.
We ask you to continue to pray for the two of us as we shall continue to pray for you. We will meet again in that heaven where all human sadness is ended, and we shall then have the chance to know and love you yet even more.
As ever and ever,
Love
Sir and Ma’am
Add comment August 30, 2010
Peace through Costa Rica
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Bob Hentzen and other Walk2gether participants walk through Costa Rica. |
Update: This reflection is from Rafael “Rafa” Villalobos, San Jose project coordinator, written after Walk2gether passed through Costa Rica earlier this year. The walkers have entered Ecuador and expect to be there until Sept. 14.
“Peace is passing through Costa Rica”
A Costa Rican radio station gave this title to Walk2gether. We have been waiting for it with much faith, love and hope.
Day 1
At 6 a.m., 250 families, representing all sponsored families in Costa Rica, were waiting for Walk2gether’s arrival. As we waited, songs were heard: “Come, a new day is here and amidst challenges and happiness, CFCA is growing.” “My heart, your heart, become one when we walk.” School bands, flags from Latin America, big banners with messages, all awaited the moment.
The walkers crossed into Costa Rica three hours later to cheers, applause, songs, prayers and hugs. A sublime moment came when Bob (CFCA president and co-founder Bob Hentzen) and his wife, Cristina, knelt and kissed the land. This was a symbol of deep love for our country and our CFCA families. We are stepping on holy land, the land of the poor who are the face of God. This land is blessed.
Bob gave words of gratitude and reminded us of the meaning of Walk2gether: “I want to be close to the families. We walk for the most in need.” Cristina offered her love to the families and encouraged them to continue despite daily burdens. There were 15 other walkers from Guatemala and the Philippines.
We walked five kilometers from the border, Peñas Blancas, to the Las Vueltas River. In front of us a big banner said, “CFCA, 12,500 kilometers, bringing hope.”
Day 2
We began at 4 a.m. with a prayer asking for blessings upon our route. The heat intensified, and we rested often. This was a great opportunity for teachable moments with Bob, to share our experiences, difficulties and achievements.
Brother Jorge, CFCA Hermano Pedro project coordinator in Guatemala, shared the meaning of the CFCA logo. Later, we heard the testimony of Jafet, a scholarship student. He thanked CFCA for the outreach he received from the Costa Rica team.
Day 3
We walked from the community of Santa Rosa to the community of Liberia. Bob spoke with the youth walking with us. The teens commented on their worry of drugs, violence and lack of job opportunities. Marvis, a CFCA social worker, shared about the importance of strengthening family values.
Families from the community of Liberia came to greet the pilgrims, singing and showing beautiful banners with messages of hope and gratitude for CFCA, Bob and Cristina.
Day 4
The route planned was to walk 40 kilometers from Liberia to the Bagaces community. At kilometer 10, we had breakfast at the community of Pijije. This community has donated a piece of land for a CFCA office. Bob and Cristina inaugurated the construction of a CFCA center for sponsored members and their families. A few trees were planted as signs that we are called to offer life, love and strength.
Later, we arrived at the gym of the community of Bagaces. Some 400 people welcomed the pilgrims.
We also blessed the house built for one of the CFCA families. It was built by a group of North American students from the Saint Anselmo school (St Anselm’s College from New Hampshire) and members of the CFCA team.
March 5
We rested near the Miravalles Volcano, surrounded by spectacular views and thermal waters. Bob and Cristina’s family, Jake and Cesar, their wives and grandchildren, as well as one sponsor, joined us today.
One song has tried to gather the spirit of this pilgrimage.
Walking we make borders disappear, They mix like the soil and our steps
We all become one on earth
One voice where hunger, cold and fear unite
And your burdens become mine
And your loneliness becomes my pain
Dignity, hope become one flag for Latin America
Add comment August 25, 2010
Education sets you free
By Henry Flores, director of the CFCA Communication Center in El Salvador
What is the value of higher education or a university degree if you can’t find a job?
In many parts of the world, students go through extreme situations just to go to school. They struggle with monthly tuition, poor nutrition, lack of access to technology and research tools for assignments, and, in some cases, access to a nearby school.
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Mauricio, a sponsored child and student in El Salvador. |
But if it is this difficult to go to elementary and high school, it becomes much harder to access college education. High tuition in private universities and limited access to public universities make the dreams of many teenagers seem impossible. In spite of all these burdens, many have enough determination to obtain a college degree.
However, having a college degree does not necessarily guarantee that you will have a job. It doesn’t even mean that you will find a job. After studying for years, investing in that education and finally graduating, just to discover that there is no job available is the reality for many students worldwide.
If this is the case, why is a degree important? Because education sets you free. A developed society is based largely on the fact that its citizens are educated or are being educated. Education allows people to make thoughtful decisions, based upon their rights, their benefits and their knowledge. Education has the capacity to open a whole new world. Maybe that knowledge will not be useful at the moment, but it helps the individual to build a better future by making intelligent decisions, passing their knowledge down to future generations and reaching new horizons they never thought possible.
I remember two years ago meeting Antonio, who was 38 years old at the time. He is married to Ana Margarita, and they have three kids: Herber, Bryan and Tania. Antonio suffered from poliomyelitis (polio, the viral disease that can only be prevented by immunization) and had a leg disability. In spite of his reality and problems, he understood the need for an education and, with much effort and support from his family, he graduated as a computer and network specialist.
Even though he had not found a job for more than a year, he is a better man who can offer himself as an example for his own children and whose wife is proud of him. He can lead the family toward a better future. He is ready for that one opportunity to rise. He is now transmitting the importance of education to his children, and he and his children can make better decisions for their country in the future.
Education is the first step toward a better future for people. Education is the center where all possibilities become connected and a door to opportunities opens up. For some, those doors can be smaller, and opportunities can be much less, but still, being educated means being ready to conquer the world we want for ourselves, when that one chance comes by.
2 comments August 23, 2010
Kenyan project coordinator joins Walk2gether in Ecuador
Peter Ndungo is the general coordinator for CFCA projects in Kenya. He spent a week walking through northern Ecuador and reflects on his Walk2gether experience.
I have always aspired to work with the less privileged in society. I get a lot of inspiration from working with the beneficiaries and staff members.
I was very much excited to be coming on the walk. I always look forward to learning something new. In each and every project there are good practices, and I was able to learn so many new things to take back to Nairobi to make our project stronger.
It is so beautiful in Ecuador, and walking with these people and seeing how they live was a great experience for me. I grew up in a small village in Kenya and helped my father with our coffee plants from a very young age. We would wake up early to harvest coffee. I know the challenges that families living in the farming communities in Ecuador face.
There is so much potential in these families. It was a big lesson for me to see their energy and see how important they are in this movement. The sponsored members and their families helped us get through the miles by walking with us. It showed me how interdependent our mission is and that our community is growing even stronger each day with this walk.
On the walk, I started out well, but along the way things got very tough. I was only able to make it 20 kilometers out of the 35 kilometers my first day. It is a lesson, though, to see the families that came out to walk with us cover these distances, and we should not take their strength for granted.
It is an inspiration that these families are able to overcome so much. We just need to help them along their path. It is not easy work helping these families, and the walk is a symbol of this effort.
The walk is very challenging. We have to cover long distances. The pain in our legs and muscles can be translated to the pain these families experience. But like them, we just have to keep going and keep walking with them.
One of my favorite parts of the walk was interacting with the families. Singing and dancing is very integrated into society in Africa. Many of the youth walking with us were shy at first, but they were very eager to learn from me when I started a song or dance. And when you are having fun, the kilometers go by much faster.
Getting to spend time with Bob Hentzen (CFCA president and co-founder) on the walk was also a great experience. Bob is superhuman. Every time you are around Bob you get inspiration. When you see somebody that age (74) walking all that distance, and here I am a young energetic person who couldn’t walk the whole way for just one week. He is a great example of how we can focus our energy.
CFCA’s invitation for us to join the walk to help our brothers and sisters in South America is a good message. It was amazing to learn from one another and spend time with the people who have been on this journey.
People around the world need to know there are many people struggling and in need of help. I am proud to have been a part of this walk and to help spread the message that there is hope for these families.
1 comment August 18, 2010
Walk2gether moves from Colombia to Ecuador
Walk2gether has left Colombia and entered Ecuador, after covering a distance of 5,043 kilometers and walking through seven countries.
Judith Bautista, right, coordinator in CFCA’s Bogota project, and Bertha Duran, left, coordinator in the Cali project, both in Colombia, reflect on their experiences with Walk2gether in their country.
Judith Bautista: Walking with the flag of CFCA
After walking almost two months in the company of the sponsored members and their families, throughout all the CFCA projects and its communities, Walk2gether left Colombia to enter Ecuador. This has been a very special experience; it has represented great benefits for all of us staff members in Colombia, and it has helped to unify the teams and projects of CFCA in Colombia.
The unity that we have developed among staff members and sponsored families is stronger than before. We are called to work harder toward the empowerment of the families and mothers, which directly enhances the creation of communities of compassion in our projects.
We witness how people came out to greet us, to offer us their best wishes, to bless us, and for me, this is walking with the flag of CFCA, which is the flag of Hope for a Family.
Ending Walk2gether in Colombia is a bittersweet moment, full of mixed feelings, because we have been so happy and received so much inspiration in this walk. But we are sad because we are not going to continue physically walking.
Bertha Duran: The beginning of a new vision
This walk has been exciting and rewarding. It has made all of us involved in CFCA proud that we were able to carry such a huge and strong mission. It is a great feeling to know that we were able to comply with the sacrifice made by staff, families and sponsored members while walking in Colombia.
This walk taught us very much about teamwork, solidarity, respect and hard work, but the most important thing that we learned is that in spite of feeling tired, hungry and thirsty, we need to continue with strong steps toward the completion of our hopes of a better world.
We had many teenagers, both sponsored youth and scholarship students, walking. This experience has helped them to restructure their own goals in life, realizing that it is worthwhile to fight for opportunities and their dreams.
This walk has offered our sponsored members and their families a sense of a new beginning, where there has been a before and after in their lives, a breath of hope and the call to live in solidarity, respect and unity as a family.
This is not the end of the walk; this is the beginning of a new vision that reminds the sponsored members and their families that we believe in them, that they are worthy and that we want to see them reaching their hopes and dreams out of poverty.
3 comments August 17, 2010
Xarina: The busy student
Xarina
What has changed since we last heard from you?
I am now in my third year as a nursing student. Classes have just started. I am taking 26 units for this semester, and 16 of those units are solely nursing major subjects and actual field exposure, while the other 10 units are for minor subjects in school. Subjects have gotten more difficult, and the number of required patients to attend to also increases. Each of us will now be handling 15 cases. This sounds both exciting and horrible! I hope that I can make it. Last May, I was elected as president for the nursing official choir called “SYNAPSE” for the school year 2010-2011.
You were working in the community health clinic three times a week. Has this changed?
I am still doing clinical but this time I am exposed to patients with more serious illnesses, as well as helping patients in pre-op, post-op and under recovery. I still have the same routine three times a week but not in the community clinic, now it is in the hospital with seven rotations required.
At one time you mentioned you were worried about succeeding in your career. How do you feel now?
At this time, it is a mixed emotion. I discovered lots of things to love about nursing. As I am getting close to finishing this course, I encountered lots of challenges and greater responsibility in taking care of others is required. I’m still scared if I can cope with the demands of this course but, one thing I’m very sure … I will really become a NURSE.
What are your favorite subjects now? Last fall, you loved bioethics.
I’m done with bioethics and learned a lot from it but now, believe it or not, I love NCM (Nursing Care Management), which I hated before. NCM gives me a wider scope of understanding patients and what they are going through. Let me differentiate the impact of bioethics and NCM to me: Bioethics helped me understand different people that we met, while NCM taught me how to provide proper care to people we met.
Do you still work with pregnant women?
I was able to personally assist with an actual delivery in the community health center. This is really an overwhelming experience, and the school has really provided me all the knowledge to deal with this. Holding the newborn baby for the first time, wow, I can’t really explain.
I was very lucky because after my community exposure, which mostly dealt with pregnant women, my first exposure in the hospital last February was in the OB-GYN ward. Though I already had an idea how to deal with the patients, I was assigned to a serious case. My patient is suffering from DUB (Dyspertinal Uterine Bleeding). This experience gives me an actual case. I was able to apply learning gained in NCM since my patient underwent a hysterectomy.
What about your homework schedule? Do you still stay up late doing homework?
As subjects get more difficult, I have to exert more effort. It is already a normal routine for me to stay up to 2 a.m. to do my homework and report to my hospital duty or classes from 7 a.m to 3 p.m.
What about your dance and music classes? Can you still fit those into your routine? Are there any new developments?
I still sing for weddings and other special occasions if it fits my schedule, especially since I also earn money from this. I am a member of our church choir on Sundays regardless of my hectic schedule. Now that I am the president of the nursing choir, I have to find time for it since we have regular practice, in which I am also really very happy because singing will always be my passion. I was supposed to audition for the dance troupe at the university as a kulintangan* instrumentalist, which I learned in my CFCA workshop. But, my parents did not allow me as they saw my schedules and daily routine and the demand as a nursing student. They again reminded me that education should always be the priority.
Is your service project still writing letters?
I still do the same thing, assist children in their letter- and card-making that is done in our community. Though, our subproject plans to train another group of kulintangan instrumentalists since a number of sponsored children also expressed their desire to learn to play the kulintangan. This sounds exciting, I hope the practice schedule will fit mine, and that this plan will materialize this year.
Do you still plan to graduate in 2012?
I hope to graduate in April 2012 and review for two months as preparation for the nursing board examination in July.
We have enjoyed following your progress through nursing school, Xarina. Is there anything else you would like us to know about your life? How is your family?
My family and I are doing well. My elder brother, Wendell, is in his fourth year as a nursing student, so I am very well guided with what to expect in my own nursing career. I still have my very loving and supportive mother around, which make things light and manageable. I also help my father, who has been sick recently. I monitor his blood pressure and medications.
*The kulintangan is a traditional Filipino instrument.
Add comment August 12, 2010
