Sponsorship - Part 1

Traveling to me is all about meeting the people. If I don’t have that one on one time with a local or two, I feel I didn’t fully experience the trip or the culture. I feel as though I may have jipped myself from really learning something. Otherwise what is the point of travel if you don’t learn anything? You end up becoming a wondering tourist looking at things that may never develop into any great lasting memory.To me, the people are what make a trip and make it memorable.

This time around in Guatemala my sister Andrea and I came to visit three beautiful kids that we sponsor through CFCA (a great organization that sponsors kids all around the world). We had my parent’s girl Reina, my sister’s boy Melvin, and my boy Edwin. We had three kids and their families to meet and juggle for almost a full day and we were nervous as heck about the whole situation. The morning of, the butterfly's were a fluttering. To us it was like meeting someone famous that you only know through photos you see in magazines. Or in our case letters. We had each of the kids gifts sorted and ready to go. There was a knock on the door and a message for my sister, “Your kid is here!” We both ran down......ready, set, go.

The greetings were filled with hugs and kisses. Soon after Andrea left me to fend for myself with Reina. I was hoping I’d have her for a buffer in a time of any awkward silences. Nope. She had gone to play soccer with Melvin and had the game, crowd, and adrenaline to fill in any weird moments. So for most of the day I learned all I could about Reina. She was a happy, giggly, 16 year old girl that enjoyed being a home body and had an excellent family for support. Like me, she would much rather spend any free time at home with her sister. We eventually got to the subject of boys and I was asked if I had a boyfriend and that my brother was cute. I topped that conversation off by saying “yeah well, my brother drives a doughnut truck for a job.” Ha! Why is that so fun for me to say?

My sisters boy Melvin was an interesting character. He was always hiding some kind of food in his pocket and checking if we noticed. His dad was a teacher and came up with a whole performance for Andrea. It included props, dancing, and some good old lip syncing. Lucky her. She was also showered with many many gifts. The family was so very thankful for her sponsorship.

Andrea and Melvin were also mentioned in the CFCA blog here!

Sponsorship - Part 2: I meet Edwin.