Taking the Plunge

I've decided to jump in. I don't know what my hangup has been. I've long been involved with Lahash, but for some reason I've never sponsored a child. Was it the money? The commitment? The sheer distance between me and a child in a remote African town?

Whatever the reasons, they were erased a few days ago.

Sauda is a child in the Lahash sponsorship program. I'm not even sure I'd call her a child, since her maturity and life experience surpass mine in many ways. At age 16 Sauda lives on her own, since her mother died of causes related to HIV and her father lives in another city. Sauda herself is infected with HIV, and has experienced the stigma and isolation that often come with the disease.

I was invited to spend the night in Sauda's home last Friday. She lives in a tiny single room with very little color or comfort. Once the sun goes down, her only light is a small kerosene flame which she uses to study by.

Sauda was such a gracious hostess, and her shy sense of humor brightened the evening. We shared a simple meal of rice and fish before bed, and she awoke long before I did to light a fire and make tea.

The next day I wondered aloud to a friend, "What's the secret ingredient? How can kids like Sauda survive with no one to provide for them?" Then I remembered the big bag of charcoal in Sauda's room, her school supplies, cooking oil and other essentials that had been provided by her sponsor. To see a real child's needs being met in a way that gives her a hopeful future makes me realize it's high time I entered into that kind of relationship.

photo by Nate Grubbs