This is inspired by Matthew's Blog and I aim to add some pictures later.

When Emma started school last September I was thinking about how I could make her aware of what a priviledge it is to have free schooling, as well as all the other trappings of Western Society. For many years I had been putting off the possibility of sponsoring a child, having friends and family already doing that, but always being too busy to investigate it. It seemed like the best way to help Emma understand how lucky she is was to put a face & a name to somebody not born in England - SHOW ME DONT TELL ME is the way we all learn best!

As we are British I went online to the UK site, Compassion, and chose a girl of about Emma's age called Elizabeth, so that she would be able to identify most strongly with her. Elizabeth lives in Tanzania, which is a country that our church is involved with, so it made sense to us investing doubly into this country. The UK cost of sponsoring a child is £18 per month, which works out at 60p a day, which isnt a lot really: I spent 60p on a packet of sweets for Emma yesterday.

In January we received our first letter from Elizabeth. It is written in the local language which is translated below. Elizabeth is only in kindergarten so the teacher writes her words down, but she often draws us a picture. It has been fun getting Emma to compare hand-prints and foot-prints with Elizabeth - they both seem to have big hands and feet, which when you remember Emma is big for her age is a nice parallel - Elizabeth must be big too!

We have also received a few photos, with Elizabeth looking serious - I guess she's not as used to having her photo taken as our two, or perhaps its cultural? Looking closely at the photos, I get some clues from the details - the plants growing in the background, the dress being her "Sunday Best" but having a torn lace collar, the shoes being a man style and many sizes too large. Our kids are so lucky - wardrobes full of clothes and shoes that fit perfectly.

Mostly so far we have talked about food - she ate fish on Christmas Day and Rice & Chicken on Easter Sunday. I am sticking her letters & artwork in a scrapbook. So far we have received 5 letters from her.

I always try to send pictures drawn by Emma so that she is involved with Elizabeth from the beginning, and I send photos. Usually I write the letter but this time I twisted Alan and Emma's arms and made them write half a letter each - I hope it may mean a lot to Elizabeth to see Emma's attempts at handwriting, as she is just learning too. And it is good practice for Emma to learn how to write letters, getting the spelling right (pity the translator otherwise) and sticking to the lines! Poor DH struggled as he rarely writes now - just types on the computer!

We tell her that we pray for her at bedtime every night, and she says she prays for us too. This time we told her we were all poorly recently but are now better. We know that through sponsoring her, she not only gets educated but receives a good meal at school and medical services when she is ill, so hopefully she will be able to grow up fit and strong in body as well as mind.

The letters are limited at the moment, but I know from my MIL who is sponsoring a boy in Africa that now he is in his teens the letters are detailed and serious and a real relationship has grown. It will be fun to watch Emma & Elizabeth maturing together. We intend when Sophie starts school to find a child born in 2006 to sponsor in parallel with her.

By sponsoring a child the whole family is helped as it is an investment into their future - better than putting money in the bank or into a pension scheme. And we hope in the long run we are helping not just Elizabeth's family but her whole village too - who knows what she will grow up to be? A doctor, a lawyer, a nurse, a teacher? Or a mother who can teach her own children to read, write and count, and who can read about how to grow better crops in spite of the global food crisis and rise to the challenge of farming in a globally-warmed Africa?

I hope by sharing with you about the start of our journey with Elizabeth you may feel inspired to consider sponsoring a child too. Compassion International is world wide & I can recommend them. But in Australia I know you also have World Vision, and as this is written for a Minti/World Vision competition, please consider them too!