Ecuador - Day 9

Our flight landed in Toronto just before midnight on Friday so I booked a room at the Sheraton and got some rest before the final flight of my trip home Saturday.  To finish, I want to go over some things I learned on this Compassion Ecuador Exposure trip:

1. Compassion is an organization whose main focus is caring for people.  I'm not simply talking about the children in their care, I'm talking about myself and how they planned the trip with me in mind (hotels that are safe, food prepared properly - all concerns in foreign countries).
2.  I posted this earlier, but I think it bears repeating:  Compassion as an organization is about integrity.  If you've been thinking about sponsoring a child and are hesitant, please contact me.  I cannot emphasis it enough - all we saw was transparency and accountability.
3. If you already sponsor a child (through any organization), I commend you.  And then I challenge you, as I was challenged during the trip, to make writing letters to your sponsor child a top priority.  Especially when we heard from past sponsor children, the letters were of utmost importance to them - knowing that someone half a world away really cared about them as an individual.  Compassion delivers sponsor letters to the projects once a month so my goal is to write a letter every month of the year so that my sponsor kids will never be left out when the letters arrive.
4. Maybe you can't afford to sponsor a child, but there are other ways to get involved.  One way is to bring Compassion Sunday to your church (officially happening this year on October 19).  You can find more information at compassionsunday.ca.
5. Or maybe you can afford to sponsor a child (or 2 or 3) - don't hesitate - today's your day!  Perhaps there are moments in your life when you wonder if it's possible to make a difference in this world.  I'm telling you that it is possible - 1 child at a time!  I have seen it for myself, with my own eyes - the little girl I started sponsoring 10 years ago has grown up into a beautiful young woman with hopes and dreams for her future.  Now Evelyn may have had the same hopes and dreams without Compassion in her life but this is the difference - now she believes they are possible.  And it's all because I decided to take a leap of faith and started to sponsor her.  I can remember going to the Compassion website and making the request, and I certainly had no idea that this is where the journey would take me a decade later, but nonetheless, here I am.  Maybe your journey with a Compassion child starts today:  www.compassion.ca/sponsor-a-child