World Vision has been a literal lifesaver to so many of these villagers and our Neighbor met a lot of the village kids first hand. His stories and pictures were remarkable and made us feel so grateful for our blessings. I've always been a little skeptical about where money actually goes, but after hearing that 90% of the money goes to the kids (the rest goes to things like fuel to get the boat up the river)- we didn't hesitate to sponsor a child. As he says- it's a hand up..not a handout. Choosing which child to sponsor was the hard part!
In the end, this little girl touched our hearts. Her name is Jakeline Da Silva Samuel and she will be 9 years old on Feb. 13th (just 12 days shy of V's b-day). She lives in a tiny remote village on the muddy banks of the Amazon River in Brazil with her grandmother, 1 brother and 2 sisters. Grandma struggles to provide for the family and they are desperately poor. Her house is made of clay and stone and serves solely as a shelter- even the toilet is simply a hole in the ground. She's not in school at this time, because she's required to work/help out at home to provide for her family (can you believe that at 9?)... Our sponsorship will give her an education and provide her medical care if she gets ill.
As a sponsor we are allowed to send packages (but very small and limited), so I've been having fun picking up small gifts, toys and books to send. When the boat arrives, the crew brings the letters and gifts and translators sit down with the kids to help them read their packages. Then, the crew helps them write back. We just sent the first package a couple weeks ago and can't wait to hear from her!
We love our nephews to death and after years of buying tonka trucks and legos, it's fun to have an adopted niece to spoil with girly stuff!
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