One
joyful highlight of my trip was meeting and spending time
at a water park with Javier, my 12 year-old sponsored child.
Truthfully, it was not the extreme high I expected as his
16 year-old brother came along. Jose is depressed and heavily
burdened.
Their
father is in the US and never contacts the sick mom or
the boys. Jose is part of the Compassion project but is
heavily burdened with responsibility as head of the family.
He works part time picking crops in the field for food
money. He has had to grow up too soon. I praised Jose
for being responsible and caring to provide for his family.When
I asked him what he liked best about the project he said,
"I like how they treat me."
Contrast
this to Javier who is a bashful loving child, who scored
two of the winning goals in the soccer tournament, and who
could not get enough of the water slides, and has unlimited
energy. Javier is artistic, loves to read and wants to be
a carpenter. Javier knows Jesus, has hope for the future.
His life will break the fatalism poverty chain for his family.
