If you check the the WTL website you can find more information on the 'Support for Children' page; page six.
On the first day of this trip my team met with the sponsored children. I was busy elsewhere however they were in the capable and trustworthy hands of Alyson, Katie, Tilly, Peter and Fiona. All are LHfC sponsors. The positive impact of sponsorship on the lives of the children cannot be calculated.
I want to share Katie's perspective of the celebration but particularly her view of her sponsorship, along with Tim, of Vannak.
She writes:
'Today was great...seeing familiar faces...but the best by far was my precious Vannak. My heart was filled with love and great joy as he entered the room wearing the shirt I bought for him for his birthday. To hear his Mother (Vannak and his twin brother Vanna were adopted a few years ago but are still children of great need) tell me that Vannak asks her constantly about me returning and her advice to him was to pray. He called me 'Mumma' and followed me everywhere. Precious. Today taught me the importance of sponsorship, revealed to me in flesh the impact sponsorship has, expressed through a child and his mother, their gratitude. Wow! How privileged I am to have the opportunity and resources to sponsor. Thank you Lord.'I was preaching at the church at Rokathom in Kandal Province during the LHfC celebration and after the service as I enjoyed lunch three children arrived.They were dressed in the best clothes that they could muster and were rejoicing in the good time they had had playing games and doing craft and hearing of the love, care and compassion that their sponsors far away in Australia.
You who are sponsors cannot underestimate the impact that your sponsorship has on these precious, young lives!
So I spent some time listening to the stories of these three beautiful children and how they are so happy to be able to go to school and are free from the worry of life with nothing. Oh your $35 per month brings hope, and joy, and shares the words of Jesus with these little ones that He cares for them. You know what they hear those words so clearly when they receive your sponsorship. Thank you so much.
I was so happy to see them and to be able to connect with this essential and vital ministry and it also gave me the opportunity to learn of and share one story with about Man Mengly.
Mengly is a sponsored child. He goes to school, he is healthy and happy and full of beans. He has three brothers and lives with his mother and father. They are unbelievably poor. The sponsorship Mengly receives not only supports his schooling and his health and welfare but it does the same for his family.
Mengly wanted, and needed, a bicycle to get to school. He wanted it and he prayed to God that He would provide.
The scheme is administered in Cambodia by our partner, AFCI. The children come under the care and oversight of selected people who are responsible to ensure that the distributed money is used to benefit the child and not for some other purpose. Mengly's carer is a young woman, her name is Savouen, she is a delight. It is important that you all know that we send the sponsorship to AFCI quarterly however it is distributed on a fortnightly basis. Also a small amount is held for each child to pay for any unforseen medical fees. These can be exceedingly expensive. Recently when we were in Battambang Province a child who was attending one of our celebrations was bitten by a dog. The medical fee for his care was $70. Doesn't sound a lot but this is an insurmountable amount for the people of the provinces.
Mengly was allowed by his carer to save a little each fortnight of his sponsorship money and after three months he had saved $60 and went and purchased his bicycle! So rejoice with Mengly in his bright red bicycle complete with gears that propels him at great speed through the dusty roads of Kandal, to and from the school, and as he plays with his brothers and friends.
I know this may seem an insignificant thing but the impact on this little chap cannot be adequately described. Without the sponsorship for Mengly to have a bike would have been an absolute impossibility.
Currently sponsorship is $35 per month...that is $1.15 per day. Personally I have a coffee everyday that costs me $4.00! We have many children waiting to be sponsored. You can contact me on graemeshephard@cambodiawtl.org.au and I will be exceedingly happy to connect you with a life that needs your help.
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