Two years ago I led a vision trip to Ethiopia. One of the participants on that trip, Karen Wistrom, decided to take on two CarePoints–Kind Hearts and Trees of Glory–where almost 300 children live and attend school.

At that time, these places were pretty bleak. No hope. And here was Karen from Minnesota saying, “Here am I…give me 300 kids. I can get them sponsors.”

Wow. No one had every done this outside of church. Karen was pioneering something new. Something we now call a “Connect Community” where someone like Karen recruits sponsors from around the country–not just in her local church.

Since that December 2009 trip, Karen–and the hundreds of sponsors she personally recruited–have helped to transform Kind Hearts and Trees of Glory into places of thriving hope. I’ve asked her to guest post today, and share with us a little bit of that journey from despair to hope.

To find out more about sponsoring a child at Kind Hearts or Trees of Glory CarePoints in Ethiopia, please email Karen or visit her blog, A Family From Afar.

Thank you Karen

Does Sponsorship Change Lives?
by Karen Wistrom
Sponsorship Coordinator for Kind Hearts and Trees of Glory CarePoints.

I used to be one who questioned if sponsoring a child could really make a difference.

I wondered if my sponsor money really, truly provided for a child. But that was before I met the kids at Kind Hearts and personally saw the difference it makes.

If you ask any of the kids … ask Genet, or Habtamu, or Tigist, Betelihem, Mekdes, Yehenew, Mulunesh or Beza. They’ll break into a huge, face-cracking grin and tell you all about their sponsor family and pull pictures from their pockets to show you!

“This is my family in America!” they proudly announce and then tell you everything they know about them.

But that’s not where things started…

Two years ago, I stood in front of a classroom at “Kind Hearts” for the first time with a vision team from Children’s HopeChest and 68 pairs of eyes stared back – vacant, tired and hopeless eyes. The children rested their heads on their desks, and watched us with barely a spark of interest – too tired from too little nutrition.

Clothing was tattered and stained and draped over bony frames. Toes poked out of worn-out shoes. The kids had watery eyes, pus-filled sores, wheezing coughs … and expressionless eyes.

Over the years, funding had dwindled, teachers were going unpaid, and the CarePoint was only able to provide food for the kids once each week.

The teachers told me, “The kids can’t concentrate. They can’t learn without food to fuel their bodies or their brains.”

That was before Children’s HopeChest partnered with Kind Hearts to start a sponsorship program for the kids and to develop the CarePoint for future expansion.

That was only two years ago …

The contrast is stark today – the children now number nearly 150 and the classrooms are filled to overflowing with boisterous, energetic and excited kids with bright eyes and beautiful, toothy smiles.

The new merry-go-rounds spin crazily as the children race around them, trying to jump on with their friends. They sprint up and down the slides, and then come into the classrooms panting and ready to learn. The new kitchen has two fires going with cauldrons of savory, meaty stew boiling. The smell permeates the schoolyard as the kids line up for lunch under the giant, gnarly, shade tree. A clean-water well has been drilled, a library has been started, shoes and uniforms and schoolbooks have been purchased, and the kids look forward to their weekly Bible study.

The teachers tell stories now about prodigies – children who are excelling in their studies and advancing quickly through the grades. The kids look so sharp in their matching school uniforms that they proudly wear to signify they belong at Kind Hearts school. They belong to this place that is now filled with hope and the sounds of children laughing and learning, playing and praying.

Every year, I lead a team of volunteers to Ethiopia to work with the kids at Kind Hearts, and the second CarePoint I work with called Trees of Glory. Between just these two CarePoints, we are serving nearly 300 kids, not only providing for their daily needs and education, but demonstrating the love of family and their heavenly Father. During these trips we teach and mentor, bandage wounds, serve meals, wipe tears, visit their homes, encourage their parents or caregivers, pray with the kids, get prayed for by the kids, hug and touch and love.

One of the highlights of each trip is delivering a care-package to each child from their sponsor family. We spend one-on-one time with each child, reading the letter, looking at photos, and going through the package that was selected and purchased just for them.

The one thing that impacts our volunteer team the most is how the kids react to their care-packages. They are wiggling with excitement they can barely contain as they await their turn to sit in the chair with a volunteer and a translator. As the package is unrolled with great anticipation, every single child locks eyes on the photos. First and foremost … the photos. They love the brightly colored pencils and hair-ties and matchbox cars and they immediately put on their new shirt … but it’s the photos and letter they value the most.

So whenever I am asked if sponsoring a child can REALLY make a difference. My answer is a resounding YES – and then I tell the story about the time my two daughters met the little girl we sponsor at Kind Hearts and how her story has been completely changed since we first met her 2 years ago!