Konjit -Ethiopia

This is the first picture we have of Konjit. It was 

our photo that came with our sponsorship packet.

We don’t know her age when this picture was taken.

 But it is likely between 7 - 9 years old.

This is our Konjit now as of 2012, at 17.

Konjit lives in Ethiopia. Her birthday is May 25, 1995. God brought Konjit into our lives through Compassion sending us a letter asking us to consider sponsoring a child whose life had been impacted by AIDS. These children had lost either one or both parents to this horrible disease. At the time we were sponsoring one other child and we felt that God was calling us to sponsor another child. It was through sponsoring Konjit that we really felt the authenticity of Compassion. We were blessed with some candid photos of Konjit from her Compassion project center. The first picture we received shortly after sponsoring Konjit, she would have just turned 10 years old. We were blown away by what we saw...Konjit was holding pictures of our family that I had sent her! The letter I sent really reached her! You can see Noah's sweet face in her hands!This organization is really what it says it is! Her and some family members were all dressed up for the picture. We know now, ten years into sponsorship with Compassion, that it was a big day when Konjit got a sponsor. They celebrated! This is how much of an impact sponsorship makes in a child's life. When we received this photo we thought the person to Konjit’s left was a grandparent, we found out a few short years later, it was her father. He also ended up dying of AIDS, which is why he looks so old in the picture, he was sick.

We have been through a lot with this sweet daughter of God. She considers Eric and I to be her parents and relies heavily on correspondence from me. I would love to say I write her faithfully and I am a stellar sponsor...but that would be lying. There have been long months that she went without any word from me, months I wish I could take back. As a sponsor who has actually met some of my children, I know how important communication from a sponsor is to a child. They cherish our letters almost as much as the food we provide their family. If you are thinking to sponsor a child you must know that building a relationship is primary not secondary. It's easy to have the funds debited from your account without you even having to consider it each month, it is much harder to faithfully commit time to building a lasting relationship. I challenge you though to do it! I leave you with a series of pictures we have been sent along our journey with Konjit!

Sent to us by Compassion as an update photo

A birthday celebration candid photo!

More birthday celebration photos!

Update photo from Compassion

Update photo from Compassion