World Vision child sponsor Pam Korreng and her daughter recently travelled to Colombia to meet their sponsored child Wendy. As you sponsor a Colombian child, we thought you might like to hear about the trip.
“We have been sponsoring Wendy for eight years now and have always enjoyed the reports, photos and correspondence from World Vision, regarding her educational and general progress and state of health.
When confirmation arrived that the visit would go ahead we were elated! We immediately started to organise gifts for Wendy and her newborn daughter, Juliana. Wendy is a single mother and lives with her mum, a single mother herself, who is also raising three daughters aged one, seven and thirteen. Fortunately we were able to take gifts for each family member, including clothes, dolls, puppets, jewellery and handbags.
The days preceding our visit with Wendy were filled with anticipation and excitement as meeting her had always been just a dream and now here we were, so close to realising that dream.
When I first met Wendy and she reached out to hug me, I cried, so intense was the joy, anticipation and excitement surrounding our meeting.
She and her mother were warm and friendly and we shared information and family photos and asked many questions of each other through the expert translation skills of Lillia from World Vision Colombia.
Lillia answered our questions about the project and explained how the money sponsors provide is used to enhance the lives of the children and their families. We learnt about the educational, health and social programs that Wendy attends and how our sponsorship has enabled her to attend school equipped with the things she needs.
Wendy told us that she is looking forward to completing her studies and to joining the workforce. We were delighted to hear this and to know that it is our sponsorship that continues to support her to reach this life goal.
The two and a half hour visit flew by and none of us wanted to leave each other. My daughter Grace promised Wendy that she would return in the future, when she too was in the workforce and that she would be back to see Juliana when she had grown up. This may have lessened the pain of leaving each other a little.
We found saying goodbye very hard. Again we cried and hugged and although it was difficult to part, I felt a great deal of comfort in knowing that because of our sponsorship, Wendy can realise her dreams and provide a healthy and happy future for herself and her daughter."