By Jann Alhafny, Colombia Child Sponsor
The night before my daughter and I are going to meet our two beautiful sponsored children Luisa and Samuel in Colombia, I am bursting with excitement, anticipation and happiness.
Javier, from World Vision Colombia, is waiting for us in the lobby of our hotel the next day when we go down at 9am. We drive to the World Vision office where we are all meeting. The office is located in a school supported by World Vision so we are given a short tour of the school. Apparently the school is doing extremely well academically. The first thing that I notice is how happy all the children are. They are noisy, playing, laughing and some are playing soccer. We are taken to a classroom to meet some of the children who greet us in English with a lot of enthusiasm. In the school, they have a very strong emphasis on English, obviously, because they really need that these days, to help them get a job, but also a very strong influence on IT.
The teacher of the class is herself a former sponsored child. How heart-warming to witness this type of outcome from the child sponsorship program.
When we walk into the room to meet the families, Luisa and Samuel are busy drawing beautiful pictures for us. They are both shy, well-mannered and so polite. The children finish their drawings and we engage in conversation about the children and about World Vision, their work and the difference that they are making to the children’s lives and to the community. Javier is full of information and is very proud of the work that has been done and the results that have been achieved in a challenging situation.