Our other family in Uganda

,I feel that if you are blessed, or lucky enough to be doing well, you should help others.  Laurell K Hamilton. 

I have had a sponsor child  for about 8 years now.  Her name is Mercy.  About twice a year a letter arrives from the Childfund office in Uganda with a condensed blurb about how Mercy is doing and their gratitude for our contribution to her and her family throughout the year.  Every time I receive such a letter I go through a series of emotions - excitement that we have information about her wellbeing and the initiatives our contribution is being put towards, gratitude for being able to help Mercy, her family and the wider village, thankfulness that we are not living in a third world country struggling on a daily basis to feed, clothe and house our family, and also guilt - as we have not actually written to Mercy once during the time she has been our sponsor child!  The good intentions are definitely there, and we ensure that Mercy receives a birthday and Christmas gift each year, however putting thought into action and actually communicating with her on a more personal level is another story. 

So, for my second positive action this year I asked my boys to do drawings and write a letter to send to Mercy to tell her about her 'other' family.  This week we have also put together a board of information which will be displayed proudly in our office with Mercy's most recent photo, information about her home country Uganda, the village Mercy lives in and other personal information, including letters from her family.  I want to ensure that going forward we keep Mercy and her family front of mind, and for my boys to count their blessings daily.  This has been a very personal geography lesson for my boys - we have googled Uganda and learnt about the country home to 32.4 million people, where the median age is just 15 years old.  I intend to impart more information about the country over a period of time as there is a lot to take in!

There have been times over the past eight years when we have had to seriously review our outgoings and re-organise our finances.  I have been adamant every time we have done so to keep going the contributions we make to our sponsor child and other children's charities in our own country, as I believe that no matter how hard times get for us, we as a family are so blessed.  My hope is that by Mercy having more of a presence in our home we will all appreciate our lifestyle and the beautiful country we live in much more.  My prayer is that all children in need throughout the world are put in touch with those able and willing to make positive contributions (in whatever form needed, not necessarily monetary) so they too can live healthy, happy and fulfilling lives.

The letter, card and photos we are sending Mercy.

The cork board with information regarding Mercy and her family, the village they live in and Uganda.