Ever wonder when you “sponsor a child” if that child really exists?  Really benefits from your donation?  JJ and I were lucky enough to find out personally.  Our first outing in Rwanda, was to the World Vision office in Nyarutovu.  My friend Lesley and her 2 children Grace and Liam traveled with us and this would be Lesley’s second time meeting the children she sponsors.  Quite impressively her little church sponsors hundreds of children in this one little village.

JJ and our sponsored child Ancille

I wasn’t sure what to expect on our arrival, as I’m sure the children we were meeting weren’t sure either.  The outpost of WorldVision services families as many as 30 miles away from the local office.  In fact most of the families we met this day had walked several miles just to meet us, to say it was humbling would be an understatement.  When we arrived the children were gathered looking both tense and excited in what were most likely their best clothes yet still heartbreakingly tattered.

We shared no common language, there was no way to understand each other still JJ and Ancille managed to quickly bond.  All of the children gathered around us and sang and danced a fabulous song.  I have no idea what it was, we tried to return the favor and sing for them and were seriously embarrassed to realize we couldn’t even remember the second verse of “Jesus Loves Me”, thankfully they didn’t seem to notice.  We  brought bags and bags of clothes, toys and gifts for not only our children but their extended families as well.  What brought us to tears was that some of the parents had brought gifts for us.  Though they live without electricity or running water, they were thoughtful enough to bring gifts.  There aren’t words for how we felt.

The day before we came to visit we spent the day shopping in the local market.  We realized we had brought western style clothes for the mothers of our sponsored children yet all of the women wore traditional african styled fabrics.  We thought it would be a more thoughtful gift to provide each mom with several yards of cloth that they could do with as they wished.  The trip to the market was a lesson in local customs.

Though I asked each person before I took their photo, there were a few people who didn’t appreciate my snapping pictures, am not sure if they felt I was being a voyeur or if they thought I was rude.

Sweet baby

Luckily this sweet woman with her baby on her back (wish I could still carry my babies like that) defended me.  At least I think she did, they left me alone.  I always feel it’s so important to ask before photographing people, especially when it includes their children.  It’s important to me to treat each person with dignity when choosing to take their photo.  Later in our trip it became my “magic trick” that helped me to bond with mothers and children alike.  So few of them have access to photos of themselves (or often even mirrors) they truly relish seeing their image.  I was overwhelmed with requests to take their photo once they trusted me and I was again humbled by the opportunity to connect even in this small way.

Interestingly the hardest part of visiting our children wasn’t trying to communicate with them or the inevitable feelings of guilt at the lifestyle we are able to live and how little we feel we might be doing for others.

Outside looking in

The most difficult part was watching those who weren’t sponsored, or invited, watching our party over the wall with it’s crude security measures.