Child Sponsorship Proven to Work

Samuel’s picture shares space in front of our fireplace with our daughter Joy’s. 

We are proud of him, just as we are of Joy. Joy lives in Tennessee and Samuel lives in Haiti. And we’ve never met Samuel. He was our sponsored child through Compassion International.

We looked forward to the letters we received from Samuel. It was fun and sweet to hear what he did with the money we sent for Christmas. One year it was a pair of shoes. Several other years he was excited about the goat he bought with his Christmas cash.

Samuel graduated from the Compassion program. In his last letter he said he was learning to be a tailor. We wonder how he is. We pray for him.

An article I just read from Christianity today—“Want to Change the World? Sponsor a Child”—makes me feel more confident in the life Samuel now lives. Author Bruce Wydick is a professor of economics and international studies at the University of San Francisco. He and some grad students wanted to study the long-term effects of child sponsorships. Most agencies turned him down. Only Compassion International agreed to participate, but only if they could remain anonymous.

The results were so positive, Compassion requested that the anonymity clause be dropped!

Sponsored children are:

• 27 to 40 percent more likely to complete secondary school
• 50 to 80 percent more likely to complete a university education
• 14 to 18 percent more likely to obtain a salaried job when they grow up
• 35 percent more likely to obtain a white-collar job

What is even more startling is that further studies using drawings verified that sponsored children are much more hopeful than those who are not. “Compassion children’s drawings displayed significantly lower levels of hopelessness, higher levels of optimism and self-efficacy, and higher levels of overall happiness.”

Read the whole article; it’s fascinating and encouraging.

And then, if you’re looking to make a difference, consider sponsoring a child.

We haven’t sponsored a child since Samuel graduated. But I think it’s time for a new picture in front of the fireplace.