Meet Ruerhene!

This little beauty is 4 year old Ruerhene, from the Philippines.  She is my first sponsored child through Children International.  I decided to give them a try after dropping one of my Compassion sponsorships.  I've heard many good things about Children International, and they are a bit cheaper per month than Compassion.

Ruerhene will turn 5 years old on June 15.  She lives with her unemployed mother and has no siblings.

They live in a concrete block home with a corrugated metal roof.  She has no bed, but instead sleeps on a mat on the floor.  Electricity is available in their community, but it is not affordable for her family.  Their water source is a neighbor's faucet.

I am thrilled with the level of detail you get from Children International about the specific living conditions of your sponsored child.  It's one thing to know the average income for the community, and what most houses are constructed from, but it's another thing entirely to know all those specifics of your sponsored child and his/her family.

Surprise photo!

A while back, I had to put in an inquiry about a birthday gift I'd sent in September to Vincent, my sponsored boy in Togo through Compassion.  This was just one inquiry in a long line of inquiries that left me quite unhappy with my Compassion experience.

So you can imagine my surprise when I received an email back from Compassion with the listing of what was purchased as well as a photo of Vincent with the items!

Vincent was able to purchase a pair of shoes, clothing, maize, a bowl of beans, rice, vegetable oil, and a 1.5 liter can with just $30!

I also recently received 2 letters from Vincent, so I am hoping that correspondence with him will pick up during the remainder of 2014.

And, I just placed another inquiry

It's hard to believe, but I just placed ANOTHER inquiry with Compassion.  This inquiry is concerning my first correspondence child, Jorge, from Ecuador.  As I was getting my May letters together tonight, I realized I hadn't heard from him since October 2013, so over 6 months ago.
At this point, I've placed inquiries on 4 children, with 1 of them having more than one inquiry.  Two other children had letters arrive DAYS before I was due to place an inquiry.  Other kids haven't been sponsored long enough to have an inquiry placed.

I am so looking forward to hearing from Jorge.  His first letter to me was very warm and open, and he seemed like he had lots to say.  I've heard letters from Ecuador are not that steady, but I placed the inquiry, anyway.  If Compassion doesn't know about it, we can't really complain, can we?  I'd rather let them know every time centers are not complying with their guidelines.

Dropping a Compassion child

After a lot of praying and thinking, I've decided to discontinue my sponsorship of Sabnam, my little one from East India.
I've sponsored her for 9 months, and have not received even one letter that she's had any input into written during these 9 months.  Just the generic first letter written months before I sponsored her, and a listing of what she bought with birthday gift money written by the project director.
I have an inquiry out on her that I fought with Compassion to get placed because of the lack of letters and lack of information, but I'm not going to wait to hear the result.  I suspect she is no longer attending the project, as I'm sure the project has written some form letters during the past 9 months that got sent to sponsors.

I am sad, and frustrated with Compassion overall.  I'm frustrated that they're not keeping their word about sponsors hearing from their kids every 2ish months.  I'm sad that there could be a little girl who is going to lose a sponsor because her project can't get it together and Compassion isn't willing to enforce its rules.  I'm perturbed that the customer service reps at Compassion argue with me every time I request an inquiry on a child.

I know Compassion is doing great things, but so are many other organizations that don't have all of these problems with correspondence and customer service.  And, yes, the fact that Compassion doesn't seem interested in keeping their word does make me question the integrity of their organization.