Bursting at the seams!

With a couple kids dropped or graduated from sponsorship programs, and more than a couple kids I've picked up over the last 3 months, it was time to expand my sponsorship binder into 2.
Previously, I had one 3-ring binder for all of my sponsor kids from all organizations, with their pictures, info, and all letters I've received.
However, it just isn't going to work long term, or even now, with the number of children I have to write to.
Since I now have the most children through World Vision, and I get a ton of letters from WV kids, I've given World Vision its own binder.

You'll notice my 2 "new" blurred out faces.  I've sponsored 2 additional children through World Vision in the past month.  A 7 year old boy from Myanmar, and a 4 year old girl from Ethiopia.  Unfortunately, I am unable to show their faces online due to their country's privacy restrictions.

Anyway, I felt like a school kid again as I made that cover sheet for my binder.  I cut out their pictures with scissors, glued them to the card stock, and slid the sheet into my binder.  It was kind of fun, and I love organizing.

For now, the rest of my sponsorships will have to go into my other binder.  This means 8 Compassion kids, 2 Plant-a-book kids, and 1 Children International child will share a binder. We'll see if that ever has to change.  

What is the point?

I'm starting to wonder what the point is of Compassion's correspondence program.  I've had 2 correspondence kids since mid-September 2013, and I've received exactly 1 letter from each of them, despite writing every 3-5 weeks to them.  I've had my other 2 correspondence kids since the beginning of January, and I've only heard from one of them.  In 3 days, I will be putting in another inquiry on Juan, my Colombian correspondence child who I haven't heard from at all in 6 months.
I'm also at the point where I want to sponsor another child with another organization, but I feel as though I already have too many kids to write to.  There is a huge part of me that wants to drop all 4 of my correspondence kids through Compassion.  Let someone who has more time write to them, and that frees up some of my letter writing time to sponsor another child.
But, I also think, why not just decrease the number of letters I write to my correspondence kids?  Do I really need to write to them monthly when it appears as though I'll be hearing from them 1 or 2 times a year?  Could I drop it to every other month, or the program's minimum requirement, which is 3 letters a year?
I do feel badly, because I willingly signed up for the correspondence program, having very fond memories of it from back in 2010.  Some of my correspondence kids were my best writers.  Now, it seems, as with all Compassion kids, letters are few and far between, but I still feel obligated to write regularly to them, and thus cannot take on another sponsorship at this time.

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.

Feeling more motivated to write!

I think my letter drought is officially over (fingers crossed).  I received 2 letters from Vincent in Togo this past week (unfortunately, I still needed to do the inquiry about the gift, because he didn't mention what was purchased with the gift in either letter), another letter from Nayan in East India today, and my 7th letter from Willy in Rwanda as well as more pictures of Alphonsine in Rwanda!

As the letters start rolling in again, it's easier to be more motivated to write to the kids.  I have to admit, I was really feeling less than motivated about writing monthly to all of my sponsor kids.  I wondered if I had too many, and was starting to DREAD letter writing.  Ugh.
I made the decision to send off online letters to my Compassion and World Vision kids for the month of April (I still sent off hard copies to my plant a book kids), and I started formatting some "form" letters of my own.
May's letters will be about where I live, and June's letters will be about what a typical day is like in my house.  I also printed off a list of questions to ask my sponsored children.
All of that has me much more motivated to write to my kids again!

I also put in an inquiry about Sabnam, my girl from East India.  I've been sponsoring her since August 2013, and have not received 1 letter that she had any input in to during my sponsorship of her.  The 1st letter was the pre-written letter, and the 2nd was a list of what she purchased with the birthday gift money I sent her--no info about how she was doing, no drawing, nothing.  And this was after I put in the inquiry about that gift.  After some initial resistance, Compassion agreed to do an inquiry for me, because I am kind of wondering if she is even still attending the project.
I am still thinking about just dropping her without even waiting to see what the results of the inquiry are.  I mean, unless they tell me she is longer at the project, do I want to spend another 6-8 months getting 1 letter from her that gives no information?  Of course, letters from Nayan in East India have been picking up, and that also makes me wonder if letters from Sabnam will start picking up, as well.

Speaking of Nayan, his photo updated recently!

He still looks worried, but so much older!  And more well nourished :-)