Through the Eyes of a Child

For the final week of Compassion's Blog Month, I have been asked to write from the perspective of a sponsored child.  I decided to go a step further and give a voice to a girl who is still waiting for her sponsor.  Please keep in mind while reading that, while this is a real child, the writing is fictional.

My name is Patricia.  I am 8 years old and live in El Salvador.  I was registered at the Compassion Child Development Center over a year ago but I do not have a sponsor yet.  I do not know why I have not been picked.  Most of my friends already have sponsors.  Some of them even get letters and goodies from their sponsors.  They are always sharing with me but it is not the same.  

Still, I love to go to the Compassion center.  We do lots of fun things and I have made many friends there.  The staff helps me with my homework and teaches me about the love of Christ.  The only day I do not like is letter-writing day.  All of the sponsored children are so excited to write letters to their sponsors.  But me and the other unsponsored children have to do other things.  I often dream of what I will write to my sponsor about.  I will want to know everything about their life.  Will they have children of their own?  Will they keep a pet chicken in the backyard and love fresh mangoes like me?  I know that I will love my sponsor very much.  I will want to tell them all about my life too.

I will tell them that I live with my mother and my older sister.  My father left us when I was a baby and I don't remember him but I mother tells me that he was not a nice man.  My mother tries to get work as a laborer but sometimes she cannot.  During those times, it can be hard to buy food for us, but she is thankful that I will get to eat at my Compassion center.  I like to help my mother at home by cleaning the house.  We live in a two room house made of cement.  I help sweep the floors and wash dishes.  I also run errands around the neighborhood to pick up things that we need.  Sometimes I like to sing while I do my chores because it makes it more fun.  I like my school as well and do fairly well.  My friends and I go to school in the morning then come home for lunch before walking to the Compassion center together in the afternoon.  Sometimes my mother worries that something will happen to us on the twenty minute walk and she will not let me go by myself.  My sister tells me that there are bad people who will hurt children if we are not careful.  My sister is 11 and we are very good friends.  She worries that she will have to quit school in the next few years so that she can go to work and help support our family.  We pray that she will not have to- she really wants to be a nurse when she grows up.  

Thank you for listening about my life and for caring about me.  Before Compassion I did not know that anyone cared about my life but now I know that I was wrong.  Please pray that I will find a sponsor soon!

Please pray for Patricia and all of the other children waiting for sponsors.  To find out more about this lovely girl please click here.