My baby started Kindergarten today! For 11 years I have been home everyday with at least one of my children. It doesn't seem possible that they are all going to be in school. I've been asked, "What are you going to do with your 'free' time." My answer is grocery shop alone, clean the house, do laundry, iron clothes, bake, occasionally grab coffee with a friend, blog, attend a weekly Bible study, exercise more AND coordinate a sponsorship program for some precious children in Ethiopia. Of all those things I am the most excited about being a sponsorship coordinator. The timing of this volunteer position was perfect. I was asked a fews ago to consider taking the position and with all my boys starting school it was something I could do.
Friends of Orphans and Vulnerable Children (FOVC) is a Ethiopian based NGO (non-profit). It was started in 2006 by a man named Desalegn Daka. He felt God calling him back to his home village to fulfill James 1:27,
"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."
Desalegn is reaching out to the poorest of the poor. I traveled to FOVC in January and saw the poverty. I have lived in a low-income neighborhood for 14 years and I have never seen that level of poverty before.
So what does Kindergarten and Ethiopia have in common? Excitement! Most Kindergartners are excited to start school, my son was! In Ethiopia I saw children excited to go to school and hundreds more longing to go. I know I am blessed to live in a country where education is mandatory and provided for by our government. Despite people's opinions on public education we ALL benefit from everyone attending school. We live in an extremely developed country. I think about clean water, a sewer system, paved roads and a fully stocked grocery store 6 blocks away. I did not see those things in Ethiopia. According to UNICEF, 1 out of 6 Ethiopian children die before their 5th birthday, approximately 5 million children, who are elementary age today, will never attend school and 60% of the children who do attend, will not make it past 5th grade.
I know how blessed my children are and I am striving to help them understand that truth. Taking this position, talking about Ethiopia, placing pictures around my home are a few ways I am educating my children on global poverty.
Everytime you see a yellow school bus please think of the precious children of Ethiopia. They would give anything to ride on that bus. Child sponsorship is VERY important. Worldwide sponsorship programs provide children with an education. FOVC's program is $35 a month. Much of that money is spent on education. I believe that education is the #1 way to fight poverty. You can see that truth in America and I long to see it in Ethiopia. E-mail me at ingrid@fovc.org to get more information on sponsoring a child.
I am so eager to read your future blogs & hear more about the work you do on behalf of the children in Ethiopia. God's Word is so clear on our responsibility to the poor & yet as Americans we are so comfortable in our lifestyles that we don't think about those that lack even basic needs. I don't want to turn a blind eye anymore.
ReplyDelete