This spring we added a little girl to the family: T and I decided to sponsor a Compassion child. It turns out sponsorship costs about the same as I was spending on lattes. I have had such a burden recently for the girls of India, who suffer from an entire national culture of discrimination and antipathy, and after much searching and prayer the only solution I have found was to reach one girl myself. You can read about the crisis for girls in India here and here. Our goal is to speak into one girl’s life her value and purpose in God’s eyes, and show her with our actions. This AP photo World Magazine published was the first to grip my heart:
ASSOCIATED PRESS/PHOTO BY CHANNI ANAND
Pavithra is about to turn 8, and her photo shows her with long, thick braids and a solemn face. I looked up her name, and it means “pure,” which was really exciting, because my younger daughter K’s name means “pure” also! I look forward to sharing that in a future letter. She lives with her parents and a sibling, so I hope God uses us to bless her whole family. So far we have only introduced ourselves, and even then, only just a bit. It will likely be weeks, if not months, more of waiting to hear back from her for the first time. But I am getting ready to send our next letter installment just the same. Compassion tells us she likes playing with dolls, and I ran across a little paper doll booklet at Michaels. I am going to color in the doll and mount it on heavier cardstock, and then send her an outfit or two for it each letter. I hope her child development center has supplies she can use to decorate it. I can’t send any, and I want her to have the joy of designing her own wardrobe. A need for educational supplies is listed at their website, though, so I will pray that it is met.
The hardest thing about this is only choosing ONE girl. Gosh, it just nags at my heart to find a way to sponsor another. I am praying about it and looking for a way, but I know that if I get T’s school tuition paid for by summer or early fall, I will have enough out of my paycheck to cover some college tuition and still welcome another girl from India! Please make it so, Father God!
Pamela UnPlugged: the Art of Life 