writing to Aron

Since college I have sponsored kids in other countries through Compassion International. And, although I have seen three of these kids through to secondary school graduation, I don't feel like I have much to brag about. Yes, the bit of money came out of my bank account every month all these years, but - here's the confession - I was never a good letter writer. I thought of the kids whenever I saw their pictures on the fridge, but as for putting a hello on paper, I definitely fell short.

Recently, a girl I sponsored for many years in Peru graduated from high school and aged out of the sponsorship program. I was faced with the option of putting my monthly donation elsewhere or sponsoring a new child. After thinking for a bit, I decided to see if there was a boy Liam's age that we could help. Compassion quickly located a boy in Tanzania his exact age. Aron Daud Magese is now our guy.

Already we are doing things differently. We pray for Aron every night, are reading about his country and way of life, and are writing him letters.

Yesterday Liam traced and colored his hands to send to Aron along with his school picture. Then he dictated a letter to me. Here is verbatim (seriously) how Liam began his letter:

Dear Aron,
Sometimes my mom and dad talk rough to me. I am buying a dog. Do you have a lot of LEGOs?

Maybe I am naive, but as obvious as it seems in writing, I don't think Liam was trying to send his mother a message - i.e., that she needs to work on her tone, that her son wants a dog, that possibly we still don't have enough LEGOs. I just think that kid writes what's on his mind. Possibly this is why I was not such a good letter writer. Way too much editing.

And, still, we edited the letter to Aron. After all, this was a letter of introduction. Maybe a few years from now, when they are regular pen pals writing their own letters they can discuss the way their parents talk to them. Hopefully they'll have much more interesting things to share than that.