Feeling forgotten can be devastating.
Their eyes pierced through me as if to reach into my soul. As I walked past these poor children, I was shocked that some of them only wore underwear and had no clothes or shoes to speak of. They watched our group of white Americans walk straight up to their neighbor, Vivian’s, front door.
Vivian is a 7 year old girl who is a part of Compassion International in Ghana, Africa. As soon as I saw Vivian’s face, I grinned ear to ear.
We had met earlier in the day at her Compassion project and we had danced and played together with all the other children. Vivian had stuck out to me because she carried such a contagious smile and a vivacious personality! We met her mother, Rebecca, and started to learn about her family and her life. Vivian has been waiting over a year for someone to choose her and sponsor her through Compassion International. Her mother said she prays constantly for someone to sponsor her daughter. There are two other children in Vivian’s family, but she is the only child who has been given the opportunity to be a part of Compassion. The family struggles to make ends meet and to have enough food.
The whole time we were asking questions, I continued exchanging smiles with Vivian. Suddenly, Vivian had something to say. Through a translator, she expressed,
“You are all very interesting to me, because none of you left me behind while we were playing today.”
That pierced my heart. None of us left her behind.
This means that Vivian clearly knows what it’s like to be left behind and for one moment she didn’t feel that way. We’ve all been there before and it’s a feeling that I would love to save Vivian from. However, Vivian has been looking for a sponsor for over a year. She continues to feel forgotten as she sees other children receiving letters and photographs from their sponsors, while no one has chosen her. We cannot save every child from this feeling, but we can save one.
We cannot rescue every child from poverty in Jesus name, but we can start with Vivian. We serve a God who will never forget us. Share that love with Vivian and children just like her through child sponsorship.
Vivian wanted to share one last dance with us before we left. Her smiles and laughter are some of the things I will never forget. You could be the person to invest in her life and make her smile every day!
The cure for loneliness is love. Compassion shares the love of Jesus with children like Vivian; and when you add your love to her life through sponsorship, you can be the answer to her prayers!
To sponsor Vivian or another child through Compassion click here.
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