Village Bible Church || Aurora | Indian Creek | Sugar Grove | IL

When I was 14 years old, I took my extra lawn mowing money and started sponsoring a child.  I’m not sure what prompted me to do that (it was over 25 years ago, after all!) but child I was linked up with was 5 years old and he lived in Uganda.  Those were the difficult days following the rule of Idi Amin (1971-1979) who was one of the bloodiest dictators of the 20th century.  Food was scarce, education almost non-existent, infrastructure destroyed…

That’s where my child, Walugeme Francis, lived.  I began to write to him and he wrote back.  Amazingly enough, our relationship has lasted 25 years! I sponsored him for 14 years of primary and secondary school, then he received a university scholarship and my sponsorship ended but the relationship continued. He graduated from college; then he got married; then he had a daughter… then last year when I led our first missions trip to Uganda, I met him face to face for the first time. (Yes, I did have some extra incentive to say yes when Pastor Scott asked me to lead a team to Uganda!)  This year, I had an opportunity to meet his daughter, Prarthana, and to celebrate her 2^nd birthday with her, her family and a bunch of neighbors and friends.  I guess that makes Prarthana my adopted grand-daughter.  Wow.  Last year when I met Francis for the first time he told me that if it wasn’t for my sponsorship of him as a child he would likely not have had many opportunities – he and his family expressed a great appreciation. 

Today, Francis and his wife are both university graduates (his wife just finished her PhD).  Francis is serving with Compassion International, the ministry that ministered to him as a child, and his wife is working for a university.  Francis’ sponsorship gave him the hope and tools necessary to raise above his circumstances and to grow into a young man who is contributing in great ways to the benefit of his community and the God’s Kingdom.

All of that and it only cost me about a dollar a day - or the cost of a movie and popcorn for two…