Aliou

Aliou is a little boy who touched our hearts several years ago.  He lives in Senegal with a house full of brothers and hard working parents.  His father is a peanut farmer and his mother takes care of the family.  We met Aliou through World Vision sponsorship while we were in the early stages of understanding the pressing need for assistance throughout Africa.  The thought of parents not having enough food to feed their children or medication to cure illness was overwhelming to us.  These kids were no different than ours.  We had asked around and several people recommended World Vision as a great organization to sponsor through.  We signed on and expected a picture of this child and a brief history..we expected this experience would teach our children compassion, we thought our children would learn about another part of the world different that their own..we expected to feel good about helping a family......well,  4 years later what I didn't expect was to create a beautiful bond with a little boy who calls me his foster mom.  Aliou has been such a blessing in our family, the letters started coming every few months describing his family life, his excitement to start school, the chores looking after the animals he is expected to do everyday..the cold nights and the long rains, the years of good crops and bad..but mostly his concern for our family and our welfare. Not a letter arrives that Aliou asks about our health and hopes that we all feel well, if I forget to speak of our health in a letter he sends one back requesting the information and reminds me that I didn't mention it.  This really made me realize how much we take for grated our health here in Canada.  It reminded me of the vulnerablity of people when good medical care isn't readily available...this sweet boy is concerned for us..he tells me that his family prays for us regularly.   This is so comforting to me knowing that a family we have never met thinks of us and prays for us.  Often when things are tough I am reminded of this and it gives me strengh.  I am so grateful for this.  Often when our boys are asked to describe our family at school, they never forget to mention their sponsor brother Aliou who is the same age and has the same birthdate as  our nine year old.  It is special for them and I hope we can someday meet Aliou and his family.  When several months go by and we haven't heard from him in awhile, we start getting concerned and worried for him..we really love him and didn't expect this when we first chose sponsorship.

Sponsoring a child really is a wonderful thing for everyone, it has made our life richer and our hearts open.  Ideally, in a perfect world families could stay together and adoption wouldn't be needed. We have gotten back so much more than we have given. My hope is to sponsor a little girl from South Africa when our daughter comes home.  There are many great organizations out there, if you are interested, you can browse the World Vision website here. In addition, I have recently read that Emmanuel's Wish Foundation will also be setting up sponsorship options which is wonderful!

The other day, another snow storm hit..the wait for our little girl felt unbearable..the house was a mess..I opened the mailbox to find two letters from Senegal..I'm a happy mom.  Thanks Aliou.