Amilcar, My Salvadorian Godson
By Stephen Barrett, Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, Salinas, CA
It's not a perfect program. Ideally, the scholarship/prayer-child program which was started a little over two years ago is not only a great fund-raising idea, but also an opportunity for initiating relationships between Salvadorian children in our sister community of Guillermo Ungo and individuals and families from our churches who are interested in supporting our mission there and getting to know a child. And it has worked in some cases where motivated families have given us cards, gifts and letters to take down to El Salvador to give to their child and we have had many Salvadorian children shyly approach us with beautiful notes to take back to their padrino or madrina telling them a little about themselves and their family and thanking them and letting them know how much help the scholarships are (The scholarships provide a uniform, shoes, school supplies and contribute towards a healthy meal at school each day). There have even been a few families who have sent letters and gifts by mail through the year.
The scholarship recipients meeting has been a highlight of our last three visits as we get to watch and photograph the children as they come up individually to receive their new uniform and supplies, as well as a card or gift from their sponsor (or a gift that we provide). Our hearts are warmed as many of the mothers come up to us and thank us personally.
Don Fito, the wonderful school principal, gives a speech telling the families that we work hard at our fundraising and that they are really blessed by the relationship with St. Stephen's and Good Shepherd church (Actually, we feel that we are even more blessed!). And he encourages the children to work hard because if they don't keep their grades up to at least 7's they will lose their scholarship
But there are problems too. Not all the children come to the meetings or write letters of thanks. We visit during their vacation time and communication gets out by word of mouth. Communication is not easy between the school and us in the U.S. they do not yet have internet access at the school. We sometimes find that the child we just signed someone up to sponsor has moved, become ineligible or stopped going to school. There were 8 or 9 this year out of our list of 101 students we took home last year. Sometimes our sponsors are less than perfect. Some want to help the project financially but aren't looking for a personal relationship. Some sponsor a child one year and then we don't hear from them again leaving us wondering if they still want to be involved. And some move or leave the church for various reasons.
We have been eating a lot of our meals in the homes of the scholarship students the last two years. It is great for the family, who get a little money for their effort and a chance to show their appreciation by cooking their best meal. It is great for us as we get to know another beautiful family. One evening on this year's trip we ate at Amilcar's house. Amilcar has been a scholarship recipient since the beginning. His first sponsor was an elderly woman, very active in the church, who soon after initiating her sponsorship received bad news about her health and felt like she needed to drop some of her responsibilities. We appreciated her openness and the seriousness she felt about her responsibility to pray for Amilcar. We had taken back a beautiful letter from Amilcar and his mother and soon found a strong family to be his new sponsor. Unfortunately, within the next year, this family had left the church. Meanwhile, I had gotten to know 11 year old Amilcar and really liked him and had briefly met some of his wonderful family last year. After dinner we thanked Amilcar's mother and gave her a nice gift of appreciation for the good food and hospitality we had received and I got up to explain (with help from our interpreter, Brenda) to Amilcar and his family his complicated sponsor history. Before I could finish my explanation, Amilcar stopped me with a question, the only question that really mattered to him, "Are you my Godfather?" As soon as I said, "Yes, I am your padrino," Amilcar rushed into my arms, smiling from ear to ear, and we exchanged a long, warm embrace. All my hesitancy to commit to sponsor and pray for an individual child and his family was immediately replaced by pure joy and love. Soon there were many more hugs exchanged as Amilcar's family was introduced to mine.
Amilcar appreciated the gifts of school supplies, new shirt and soccer ball that we gave him. Although I think he appreciated the hugs and kisses even more.
There were many tears mixed with the smiles and laughter on Amilcar's patio that evening. And while the prayer child program is not perfect, that night it worked perfectly and left me with a memory I will treasure for a long time, a memory that will help me, as I get back to my busy life, to remember to lift up Amilcar, his family and his community to God in prayer each day.
Added by Kent September 6, 2007 (7:10AM)
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