On April 19th, I was teacher for a day. For the entire school day I was placed in charge of 15 second graders with two goals!
1. Teach them how to write a letter to their sponsors
2. Discuss honesty and it’s importance.
As soon as I entered the classroom the students stood and greeted me, the teacher. I wrote my name on the board and told the kids a little about myself. My name is Chessie, I’m 19 and my favorite color is green. I have two siblings, one mom and one dad! The children here speak English because they don’t always share the same language at home. Some speak Hindi as their first language, others speak Hmar and still others speak different languages. So I taught in slowed down English, trying to gauge where the kids were with their ability. They were very impressive! I wrote out a basic template on the board for my students to use and the letter writing began. Letters to send to sponsors they’ve never met. About half of the students have sponsors. Some are Indians, others are Americans! These are the kids you see on the tables during Christian concerts. You know the tables I’m talking about? At Winter Jam they always have that moment when the music stops and they give a presentation on why you should sponsor a kid for “less than a cup of coffee a day”. If I’m being honest, I always wrote those moments off as overly hyped and ultimately not that important. After all, these are kids that you’ll never meet. The crazy thing about today is that I did meet those kids! I met seven Indian children in a remote village with foreign sponsors putting them through a private Christian education. For $10 a month, someone out there is sponsoring my little friend Grace. She’s very good at playing Hangman and knows the Fruits of the Spirit song. She raised her hand to answer a ton of questions and she wants to be a doctor when she grows up! For $10 a month, someone is paying for her school books and her uniforms. There are still plenty of kids in this school without sponsors. Half of my class didn’t have that sponsor out there writing them letters and encouraging them to work hard in school. Now I had an awesome day at school! I had an awesome day being the teacher because of how wonderful these kids are. Kids that truly want to seek Jesus. They were attentive when we talked about honesty and they know more bible verses by heart than I do. All because they’re able to go to this amazing school! I taught a lot today. How to make the soft “th” sound. How to pronounce “church”. The difference between “three” and “tree”! Most of all, I learned today. I learned that these sponsored kids are so real. It’ll come off like an ASPCA commercial with a sappy song in the background, but I encourage you to pick up one of those packets next time! Find a way to sponsor a kid. Either here through Bibles for the World or through Savage Ministries in Peru. Find a way to make a real difference in a real child’s life. I promise you’ll walk away having altered a young person’s future.
Here’s a link to the page you can choose a child to sponsor on! Ive worked in Sielmat, Parbung and Lungthulien. So I’ll be sponsoring a child from a school I’ve actually worked in!
As I write this I’m sitting on a wooden bed in a remote village in the hills of northern India. We have no running water and I’m not sure what date I’ll be able to post this due to no WiFi up here.
