Some Sad News, Some Happy News

As some of you know, today I have been struggling to make a decision about the other organization that I sponsor at. Over the summer I started sponsoring one girl in Haiti, Sandia. Things seemed to be going well, so I recently added Midielande. Unfortunately, things have not been working out with the organization to the standards that I hoped, and that they seemed originally. I am not sure what is going on, but I feel like I have just lost some trust and confidence. I have been debating what to do, and decided that I will cancel my sponsorship of the new girl, Midielande. I haven't spoken to her yet, and I started sponsoring her because I wanted her to go to school. I found out that she would not be starting school (until January) and I just felt, well, upset, because my sponsorship fees were supposed to cover that, but apparently are not enough. I'm not sure what is going on, and I know a lot is going on in Haiti right now, but for now I think it is just better to cancel this rather than start a new relationship with a child when I am not 100% of the organization.

For now, I am keeping Sandia, my other child there, who I HAVE developed a relationship with, but I decided not to do the IGP I was planning. I will see what happens.

I'm not sure what is going on with the organization, but I really hope it turns out well, because they have great ideas, but seem to have trouble organizing. I'm not sure. I feel really sad cancelling the sponsorship, but I just don't know if my sponsorship would really be benefiting her right now.

On a happy note, I got two letters today from 2 CI kids, Neha (my newest) and Saba. I posted both of them. And additionally, the other organization where I sponsor one child in India finally posted an update on Ghousia. I know little about Ghousia and the organization is run very differently, but I am very happy to say that her report shows that her grades have improves drastically (from pretty fair/poor to excellent looking grades!) She also got a "double promotion" in school, which I think may mean skipped up two grades? Though I haven't been able to develop a relationship with her, I am so happy to see these improvements!

Here is her report:

Overall Academic Performance
Ghousia s performance in annual exam is excellent. Since she has also performed well in internal assessments and academic support center she has been given double promotion in school.

Extracurricular Activities
She has enthusiastically participated in various sports and academic competitions organized in her school. On “Children’s Day”, a cultural event and a few outdoor games were organized in the school. She was an enthusiastic participant in this program.

Social Skills
She is a well-mannered girl and comes to the school neatly dressed.

General Health
She generally keeps good health. School health programme and midday meal programmes helps her to be healthy.

General Comments
We have started rigorous academic support classes called Balala Vidya Vedika held daily after school hours and during vacations by community youths trained on both pedagogy and joyful learning methods to reinforce the concepts learnt in the class.

Academic Year: 2009-10 Results of : Annual

Subject Marks / Telugu 75 Urdu 85 English 80 Mathematics 86 Science 87 Social Studies 78 Percentage : 82.6

Days Present: 175 Out of 220 days

A New Blog, A New Project

Lately, as I surf the internet, I can find more and more interesting and intriguing organizations that aim to improve the lives of people. As someone who gets great joy out of working with others, I have found sponsorship to be a very rewarding way to help others and also a chance to form meaningful and positive relationships with others. Please read the Medicine of Altruism page to further understand the basis of my actions.

I have been very lucky to have many chances and opportunities to travel and volunteer as well, something I hope to do again soon. But sponsorship is a great way for me to continue to contribute, build relationships, and send good thoughts, wishes, and intentions to others in the world while I must remain in one place for school.

At first searching to sponsor in India in 2004, I chose to sponsor a child through Children International because of their lack of religious affiliation and transparency. A large organization, they were well established and have a great internet presence. I was able to visit my oldest sponsored child. Khayrunn, while on a trip to India to volunteer in rural Bihar. I was impressed and began sponsoring another child, Saba the next year. Due to her academic struggles, I began to discover the various avenues and opportunities I had with Children International.. Many of these I learned by joining a google group of CI sponsors, who shared their many amazing projects and ideas with me. This involvement got me further involved, and I decided to sponsor a third children with CI, and chose Semran. In the meanwhile, I also got involved in a group project with the google group to sponsor an additional child, Magda. We share the sponsorship, so each of us pays a minimal amount, but are satisfied knowing we are helping one more child.

During this time, I began to examine other websites that offered similar sponsorship of poor students. Since I one day hope to start my own non-profit to aid children in India, I was especially curious how many small non-profit organizations executed their sponsorship programs. As part of this project, I decided to sponsor a child from a few different programs to experience the different methods behind sponsorship organizations. I began with Nanhi Kali, an organization that sponsors and supports girl students in India. Another organization also impressed me, called Mayan Families, this small organization works in Guatemala. I have donated to that organization for a couple different causes but have not as of yet sponsored a child through there. Most recently, I can across a small, new but impressive seeming organization called People in Need Partnership. This organization is geared towards helping poor students, slaves (restavek), and mothers in Haiti. I was highly impressed by their use of technology and focus on relationship between partners. They use webcams, laptops, and internet so that the two partners can easily and regularly communicate. This interesting, fresh, technology friendly take, mixed with a connection to a little girl (Sandia) made me decide to sponsor one last child.

This blog will keep you updated on my sponsored children, while also examining and comparing the non-profit organizations that bring people together.

Additionally, I will blog about various non-profit organizations that I have had experience with. Please follow the blog if this sounds interesting to you.