A Sponsorship Story

When we were in Ethiopia, we elected to stay at the Morning Coffee Guest House for a couple of reasons. First, there we would get more insight into Ethiopian culture, and second, because we read that the owners give away 30% of their guest house income.

The main reason we'll be staying there on our next trip isn't because of the great hospitality of the owners, the satisfying meals, or even the wonderful guests we met on our first trip (and hope to see on our second). The biggest reason we'll be staying there the second time is all about life story and missional focus.


Meet Birtukan. This picture of Birtukan does not do her justice, and I'm missing her husband Nesibu altogether. Here Birtukan is showing Caleb that she really can cornrow his hair. (Did I also mention that she is fun?)

I heard Birtukan's story from Nesibu later in our trip. For a number of years as a child, Birtukan was sponsored through World Vision. (If you aren't familiar with child sponsorship, check out Compassion and World Vision websites). As a child and young adult, Birtukan assumed that her sponsor was wealthy because that would be the only logical explanation why a stranger would provide her with meals, medical care, and Christian education opportunities.

Following Birtukan's graduation out of the program, she accepted a job with World Vision as a letter translator. Sponsors write letters to their children, and the children write letters back. It was Birtukan's job to translate from English to Amharic and from Amharic to English.

One letter changed her life and her outlook.

A sponsor wrote to his child that he was not sponsoring her because he was wealthy. He was far from it and living on a fixed income because he was disabled. He sponsored the girl, he said, because he wanted her to have opportunity and to know the love of God.

Birtukan felt the presence of the Holy Spirit telling her that if this man could sponsor a child with what little he had, then certainly she could do something as well.

Today Birtukan and Nesibu run a sponsorship and education program in Ethiopia. Here they feed, provide medical care, educate, and give Christian counsel to 1,400 children so they can stay with their families who love them.

This not only tells of Birtukan and Nesibu's success, though that is certainly admirable. This speaks volumes about the success of child sponsorship programs and the ways your blessing of a child not only affects that child, but impacts his entire family, his entire city, his entire country.

In my last post I teased you a little about all the excuses that you may have—and that I certainly had —about why you can't adopt. The truth is that I know it isn't feasible for everyone, but that every one of us can do something. Poverty is mentioned over 2,000 times in the Bible. That mandate is pretty clear, then, isn't it? We are to feed and clothe the poor because God's heart breaks for them.

Jerome and I are sponsors through Compassion, but World Vision is also a reputable organization. To sponsor one of Birtukan and Nesibu's kids, go directly through Bethany Christian Services.

And thanks.