In October I started sponsoring a five-year-old girl in Bangladesh. It's something I've wanted to do since I was a teenager, and when I got my first paycheck from my current job I finally felt like I could make the financial commitment to support a child's education until she finishes school. The girl I'm sponsoring happened to be the longest-waiting girl on the day that I went to the website to sign up as a sponsor. She is cute as a button, comes from a country where prospects for an uneducated girl from an impoverished family are not good, and likes playing with dolls. Then and there I decided she was going to be my sponsored child.
I kept the first letter short and just gave her the basics about me. I filled out the form that comes in the new sponsor booklet with my name, birthday, and the state and country where I live. Then since there was space I added a few more lines to the form: my family, my pet, my favorite colors, and my language. On the back I wrote a short letter telling her that I think about her a lot and want to hear from her, and I asked her a few questions about her family and her language (most people in Bangladesh speak Bangla but I don't want to assume.) She's five so I didn't want to overwhelm her with too much in the first letter.
Now the fun part: little gifts! That I had to make her a paper doll was obvious. They were my favorite craft and toy all in one from the time I was around five until I was ten or eleven. I made the doll look a little bit like her, and drew 8 outfits for her- four I colored and four I left for her to color. I was a little concerned about the pieces getting lost so I made an envelope out of a scrap of pretty wrapping paper. Then I made three origami animals- pets for the doll. There's also a sheet of animal stickers and a photograph of me.
I sponsor through Compassion International and so far the organization has really impressed me. The amount of work it takes to process and translate the letters that go back and forth from the children to the sponsors is staggering. A few weeks after I became a sponsor, they sent me an email telling me that the little girl (I keep wanting to call her my girl) has been told she has a sponsor. Now it's been two and a half months, and last week I received a new photo of her (She looks so much older! Since she was waiting for a sponsor for so long the first photo I saw of her was already like a year old.) Compassion also keeps up with their blog and Pinterest board too, which has lots of neat ideas for things to say in your letters and gifts to send.
