A day of celebration, a lifetime of hope
December 17, 2009 | Compassion International
When you’re poor, gifts are great but hope is even greater.
That’s what the children at Compassion’s Kalimpong Child Development Center in eastern India have come to understand, especially at Christmas. They’re giddy when they open their presents, but the hope they bring home every day from their sponsors’ encouragement and support helps lift their families from poverty’s despair.
Each Christmas, the children celebrate Christ’s birth with a program of song and dance. Hundreds in the community attend. Afterward, each child receives gifts made possible through Compassion sponsors and donors. Christmas gifts have special significance at this Himalayan center: Eighty-five percent of the kids come from homes where parents can’t afford even one gift.
“I can’t wait for Christmas,” says Gufran, a sixth-grader. “That is the only time I don’t have to depend on my father for a new pair of clothes or shoes.” As presents are distributed, he receives a jacket, a new pair of shoes and a T-shirt, and a blanket for his family.
Gufran’s father, Mukhatar, works as a tailor to provide for his wife and seven children. But there never seems to be enough. This Muslim family lives in an 8-foot-by-8-foot home made of wood and aluminum with no electricity or water.
Mukhatar is so thankful for his son’s sponsor. He didn’t believe his family could ever overcome poverty, but now he has hope for a brighter future.
Maybe you’ve been waiting to sponsor a child because it’s not financially feasible to take on a long-term commitment, but this is a very cool short-term way to help a child.
Learn more about Compassion’s Christmas Gift Program and Compassion’s work in India.
If you are hoping to sponsor a waiting child from one of 28 countries, check it out. I am a Compassion sponsor, my friends, and it’s life changing. Reading letters from Buli, learning about her family, praying for her, and being a very small part of nurturing her future is a blessing.
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