On the road again

My head and heart are still in South America
now my bags are packed for Asia

What have I done to deserve such a hard life?

In fact, what have any of us done to deserve
all the blessings God bestows?

'Every good gift is from above...'  James 1v17

Enabling Heroes

Her name is Belén; she'll turn 7 on Christmas day and lives in a small house with her mother, grandparents and uncles on the outskirts of Cochabamba, Bolivia. Her (now remarried) father drives a bus and she gets to see him, well....every time she spots him on his route around the city. Nevertheless she's a bunch of smiles and a ball of energy.

She is also my sponsor child through Tearfund/Compassion, whom I had the privilege of meeting as I backpacked Bolivia.

Many of us sponsor sponsor children. And at times, many of us are asked (or ask ourselves) 'Does the money really get there?' Now, it could be that Compassion pockets my money and someone else is supporting Belén. But from what I saw in my one (and probably only) day with her didn't suggest that. Rather, running around the playground, picking flowers and eating ice-blocks together only served to strengthen my belief in organisations like Compassion, and child sponsorship programs.

I observed something else that day: So often, the media, the organisations, and even we ourselves make us sponsors out to be 'heroes'. We are the ones who sacrifice 2 cups of coffee a week; we support a child/family/community; we better the world. And yes we do this - but we're not the heroes.

They are. The hero of the story is Belén, who gets up each morning, kisses her mother goodbye and goes to school so she can have a bright future. The hero is her single mother, the same age as me, working in the flower market Mon-Sat, persevering when times are tough and her child is trying. The heroes are the selfless staff at the Compassion centre, where sponsor children come after school to be fed, taught and play. 

We are not the heroes - in our comfortable western lifestyles making direct debits every month. Our role is different: We enable heroes.