Power of $22

Do you know that for $22 USD a month, you can send a child in a poor country to school? Two and a half years ago, while walking home one day in Manhattan, I was approached by a volunteer from an organization called Children International. It is a non-profit organization dedicated to children sponsorship programs. Basically, donors donate $22 each month and the money goes towards paying for an impoverished child from a poor country to go to school. This volunteer enthusiastically explained to me the background of the organization and which countries were in need the most. One piece of detail that caught my attention was the fact that they encouraged donors to visit the sponsored child. I happened to be shopping for a child sponsorship program at the time, and so I merrily signed up on the spot.

We picked a child from India and were assigned to Noor, a then 8-year-old girl. Little did we know at the time that in 2 ½ years we would get to meet her in person.

Since we included India in our travels, we decided that we had to stop in Kolkata, where Noor lives. We pre-arranged the logistics with the local field staff and were promptly picked up at the hotel at the designated time. We first toured one of their two Area Service Centers in Kolkata and we spoke to the staff there about their work and the intricacies of the program. They told us that one of the major challenges they face is children dropping out of school. In most cases, these children are the first generation to go to school. Their families therefore do not always realize the importance of education and may sometimes marry off their daughters young or encourage their sons to find work instead of stay in school. The field staff said that, as a result, their work involves a great deal of family education as well.

The service center of Children International occupies a slim 5-story building which also houses their clinic on the ground floor and various activity rooms upstairs. There were many children and parents waiting outside the clinic when we were there. As we found out, each sponsored child gets a full medical check up once a year. If the child is found to be malnourished, the office will arrange for feeding sessions, and a staff will physically be watching to ensure the child is eating his/her vegetables and fruits.

After visiting the service center, two field staff brought us to Noor’s home to meet her and her family. Noor has two older sisters and an older brother, who is also sponsored by another US family. The home is basically just one room about 100 sq feet, with the bed occupying most of the space. There is no table so the bed is likely where they eat dinner and where the four children do their homework and sleep. The rest of the space houses a cupboard, a small TV, and a small washing area with a faucet.

When we arrived at the door, a little girl among four children was wearing a particularly handsome purple dress and smiling at us. That has to be Noor, we thought. She looked cute as a button, though I have to say she is small for a 11-year-old. She is about the size of my niece Haley, but Haley is only 7. It was nice to find out later that her dress was a birthday gift included in the sponsorship program. We also saw her school bag sporting the Children International logo, another courtesy of the program. Noor’s father is a driver and the sole income earner who takes home only about $36 USD a month, so we were able to see that every little bit of help goes a long way for them.

After our brief visit at her home, we took Noor and her father out to lunch. At the restaurant, Noor and I took turns drawing objects on a piece of paper with the crayons Angela and I bought from Hong Kong. That was my attempt to bond with her. After lunch, we took her to the market for some shopping. We bought her and her two sisters a dress each, her mother a non-stick frying pan, and her brother a sports outfit, all for less than $50 USD. And then, it was time to part ways.

We were told that she does well in school. We hope she continues to study hard and escapes from poverty when she grows up. We also hope to be visiting her again.

I was surprised and humbled to see what $22 a month can do. You can do that too. So get online now and sponsor a child. There are many organizations out there, but if you are interested in finding out more about Children International, the web site is www.childreninternational.org.

If you act within the next 30 minutes, I may even throw in the steak knives…