maybe one of these kids has been waiting for YOU.

Ok. So, I work for an organization called CFCA (if you hadn't figured that out already from my rambling travel-ogs and bleeding heart quotes). To be honest, I have been with CFCA for about 4.5 years and can say with sincerity that I am really excited about the work that we're doing.

CFCA operates through the model of sponsorship. That means that individuals have the opportunity to partner with one child, youth, or aging to help her/his family bring themselves out of poverty. This is a pretty exciting concept.

Usually, I'm a skeptic about this sort of thing, but I have seen and experienced what this program can do for families. These are NOT the stories like "oh, my life was so awful and sad before CFCA, but then my sponsor came along and made my life better and saved me." These are stories of empowerment, of individuals joining together to form community, of children reaching their desired potential, of relationships being formed across caste and religion and culture, of social change.

Seriously.

So, the reason I'm telling you all of this NOW is because I have given myself a personal mission. A few weeks ago I agreed to "take" 5 kids to find sponsors for them. So far, I haven't done a very good job. But I am determined to find sponsors for these 5 BEFORE June 7th.

[edit: while I was writing this, my mom, dad, and sister agreed to sponsor Susana from Columbia. AWESOME!]

So, here are the remaining FOUR!

Emily, 8, lives in Guatemala. She likes to play with dolls and cars, and is described as "smiling and happy." Her dad is a farmer and her mom is a housewife. [edit: Emily has been sponsored! Thanks Ty & Maddy!]

Mamatha, 10, is from India. Her parents are farmers. Her talents are dancing and drawing, and her job at home is to help her mother with the household work.

Isai is 6 and lives in Mexico. He's "happy, a little grumpy but social and playful." (I love it.) His favorite school subjects are to color and cut. (Again, love it.) He lives with his mother, stepfather, and younger sister. [edit: Isai has been sponsored! Thanks Andrea!]

James, age 5 (almost 6!), is from Kenya. He is an above average student and likes to go to school. His favorite subjects are Kiswahili, English, and Math.

So...I know that I know LOTS of people who would love the experience of being a sponsor...they just don't know it yet. I myself have sponsored a girl named Yesenia from El Salvador for the past 4 years. I even traveled to El Salvador and was able to meet her!

To be a sponsor, you commit to sending $30 per month, which will benefit the child and family that you sponsor. More importantly, however, you exchange letters and are able to build a real relationship with a real person...and I'm pretty convinced that relationships are what change the world.

So, if you're interested in sponsoring one of these FOUR, please let me know. I would be happy to answer any questions you have about sponsorship or about CFCA. (You can find more information about CFCA here, and can even look at profiles of other kids and aging who are waiting for sponsors here. I strongly encourage you, however, to choose one of the four listed above.)

Thanks for reading! Hopefully, my social media bombardment will get these 4 sponsored. :)

xoxo

organic gardening and life

...I've learned to nurture [the] circle of life, starting with microorganisms in the soil. Working with nature instead of trying to thwart it produces a confluence of benefits, many of them unforeseen. This philosophy also can be applied outside the garden. Take a positive mental attitude, for instance. It doesn't come from excluding or fighting with people whose ideas differ from yours, but rather from welcoming them--like the myriad bugs in the garden--into the debate, learning from them, and discovering how their ideas--distasteful or indifferent though they may be--can enhance your own.

-Jeff Cox

People living in poverty have the least access to power to shape policies – to shape their future. But they have the right to a voice. They must not be made to sit in silence as ‘development’ happens around them, at their own expense. True development is impossible without the participation of those concerned. - Nelson Mandela

I may be starting a series of work-related posts soon. (or, this post may be the first of the series.) stay tuned.

a quote...

...from a letter from a sponsored child in Nigeria to his sponsor:

"Yes, banger is a kind of firework. It is graded according to the sound it produces. Example: one sound banger will produce only a sound, two sound banger will produce two sounds. Banger can also called knockout. The banger we have are from one sound to nine sounds. I can hold it and let it bang while I'm holding it. Though it is dangerous, you just need to be careful. It is more fun when you hold it."

omg...internet, for the first time in days!!

We got these net-card-modem things when we were in Hyderabad, thinking that we would be able to use them while traveling...but they only worked in Hyderabad (and, now it seems, Delhi). whoops. HOWEVER, we were in such a rural area for so many days, that we probably wouldn't have been able to get much service anyway.

So, now we're in Delhi! We have been to Hyderabad (where I posted last), Dumka for a couple of days, then in "interior villages" throughout Jharkhand and Bihar, Bhagalpur, Allahabad, and now Delhi. The time has passed surprisingly quickly...we have been very busy. Now, we have the rest of today and tomorrow in Delhi, then I fly home tomorrow night! yay!

I got a bit of sickness yesterday, but have been attacking it with antibiotics and electrolyte fluid and as much rest as I can get, so I'm feeling better today. yay! I can make it through these last couple of days!

Overall, it's been a really good trip. In terms of work, it's been really productive, but it's been a really good trip for me personally, too. I had a rough first few days (I usually do), but then I settled into my groove. It was good that we didn't have internet or cell coverage...I think I needed a chance to be totally separated from my "connected" life, which allowed me to experience a sort of spiritual cleansing...a lenten fast, if you will. Plus, we were in the middle of Beautiful Nowhere...Bihar and Jharkhand...very rural villages, beautiful scenery...most of the places we stayed barely had electricity (for only a couple of hours a day, if at all). It was a good time to reflect.

Plus, being placed in a culture that is sooo different from your own allows you to examine your own culture, and habits, and lifestyle, and thought patterns. (You would think that I would be used to this by now, since it's my fifth trip to India!) This process can sometimes be unsettling, but when combined with the rural exile, it allowed me to have a particularly reflective time. ahhhh.

So anyway. Really only a day and a half left...and I'm ready to come home. I miss my little home in Kansas City. :)

hyderabad...

Well, I made it safely to India...barely. My flight out of Kansas City was delayed a couple of hours, so I was literally running through Chicago O'Hare (a la 'home alone') to make my connecting flight. I did make it, but my bag didn't.

The bag was supposed to be delivered to Hyderabad yesterday, but wasn't. Now it is supposed to be sent to Calcutta tomorrow evening so I can pick it up on my brief (very brief) stay in that airport...PRAY FOR MY SUITCASE! I was able to go shopping and have a few extra outfits, but not enough to last for 10,236,273 days or however long it is until I get home.

But, I've been in Hyderabad for the last couple of days, and it's been good. Very busy (though I did have some down time this morning...loooove the down time). And we've been to a few gatherings where we have been the "honored guests": this is nice, but it can be exhausting (literally) to be treated like a celebrity all the time. I'd rather just sit in the back row and watch everyone else.

So, tomorrow we have a few more meetings, then we fly to Calcutta (Kolkata) in the evening where I will RETRIEVE MY BAG and then we will get on a train to...somewhere in Jharkhand.

It's the middle of the night now, and though I'm having a hard time sleeping (hooray jet lag), I should probably try. I really miss everyone, and Kansas City!

(and: phone tweets work! you can view them at http://twitter.com/sarainindia)

bye! pray for my bag!! :)

tweet tweet

I'm contemplating a new way of keeping in touch while I'm in India. I've set up a twitter account that I will try to update while I'm there, either from the internet OR *crossing fingers* from my cell phone. We'll see if it works. My twitter username is "sarainindia" (@sarainindia). If you're a twitter user, you can "follow" me. If not, you can visit http://twitter.com/sarainindia to see my updates! (If it works, of course!)

Oh, and...I'm going to India on Saturday. In case you didn't catch that. ;) It should be a good trip...I'm looking forward to the HOT weather! woohooo!!!