Friday 6/1
So I’ve been here what? 48 hours? And now I am an actual
member of the Trust. Not just a volunteer. I have taken on a coordinating role with
the child sponsorship program run by RIT. It is a big undertaking, but I am
really excited about it. So there is a Nursery School right across from RIT
headquarters run by the trust. As previously touched on, HIV/AIDS is a huge
problem on the island, and I have found out why. This is a fishing community,
and many of the fishermen are migrant workers. Poverty is an epidemic on the
island and many women, unable to feed their children, trade fish for sex with
the fishermen. It is not that the mothers do not know the risks involved; it is
a matter of not having any other options. So the fishermen migrate to different
fishing villages doing the same thing, and this spreads HIV/AIDS all over the
region. The parents die, leaving many children orphans. Because of the fish for
sex trade, a large percentage of children at the nursery school are orphans and
unable to pay tuition for school fees. For this reason RIT has a child
sponsorship program. You can sponsor a child for $250 a year, which pays for
tuition, uniform, 1 meal each school day, free healthcare at the local clinic
(which includes vaccinations and checkups) and deworming every three months.
There are currently 87 children at the nursery school, and the vast majorities
still need sponsors. So I am working on that, which I am happy to do. I sponsor
a child in India through Compassion International, which adds up to nearly $500
a year. Which, don’t get me wrong, is great and I have been so blessed through
it, but financially it is quite a lot for a poor college kid. Another benefit
of sponsoring one of the kids here is they only ask you sponsor the child for 3
years. 3 years as opposed to the 10 year commitment I made to my Compassion
kid@ So I am pretty excited about this sponsorship thing and I’ve been working
on ways to get other people involved too. So I’m not in charge of this or anything,
but people who want to sponsor will talk to me directly if they have any
questions, and I can get answers from the president of the organization.
Needless to say, I am stoked about all the possibilities. And if anyone reading
this is interested in sponsorship, you should let me know and I will send you
in the right direction (e-mail jjahns09@austincollege.edu). It is really
exciting to see God working so early on!
