18th July, 2011

HANNAH WELLHAM

In April 2011, Sheryl and Paul Lanham travelled to Ethiopia to see the work of Compassion’s child sponsorship program firsthand and meet the little girl they had been sponsoring for nearly three years.

Filled with the excitement and expectation of meeting Hayimanot - whom they had had conversed with only through letters - they travelled to her Compassion child development centre in the community of Woreta.

LONG-AWAITED MEETING: Sheryl Lanham meets Hayimanot. "I will never forget the moments after we turned the corner to Hayimanot’s house." - Sheryl Lanham

“I had this overpowering desire to meet her, at least once, and be able to give her a cuddle and tell her how much we love her - but more importantly, how much God loves her,” Sheryl says. 

The Lanhams were told that the average family income in Woreta is around the equivalent of $A20 a month; because of this, many children are forced to drop out of school at an early age and earn a living for their family. AIDS is the biggest cause of death in the area, followed by malaria.

“A letter from Hayimanot in early 2010 brought me to tears.  In the section of the letter where the children give their prayer requests, she asked that ‘I would be able to grow up’. I was so saddened to think that an eight-year-old child would have to pray that prayer,” Sheryl explains.

As they drove to the child development centre, the oppression and heaviness shocked them: rough roads (even by African standards) and deserted streets of homes constructed of dirt floors, earth brick or adobe walls, and corrugated iron roofs. Everything looked lifeless, dark and heavy.

“When we arrived there were some children playing quietly outside on the one set of swings there (the only play apparatus we saw for children)," ,” Sheryl recalls. "As we walked to the office, more children came outside and welcomed us with lovely smiles, but they certainly weren’t loud and boisterous like the other projects that we had been to."

But as in so many poverty-stricken communities around the world, Compassion staff proved to be a ray of light to the children and families of Woreta. For Sheryl and Paul, it was humbling to experience the staff’s generosity and selflessness and to hear about their perseverance in the face of opposition from certain sectors of the community.

Then it was time for Sheryl and Paul to meet Hayimanot.

“I will never forget the moments after we turned the corner to Hayimanot’s house," Sheryl says. "This gorgeous little girl came running out of her house and literally threw herself into my arms in the middle of the street.  There we stayed hugging each other, big smiles on our faces and many tears streaming down my face.  How could my letters ever be the same? It was worth the days of travel to get there, and so much more."

It is easy for those from a country of affluence like Australia to lose sight of the significance of child sponsorship. But Sheryl and Paul identified that child sponsorship doesn’t just provide a child with nutritious food and the chance to go to school; it shows them that they are valuable and that they have a God-ordained purpose in life.

“Sponsoring a child gives us the opportunity to ‘touch the nations’," Sheryl says. "I could not go to Ethiopia and change Hayimanot’s life myself, but through child sponsorship, wonderful people like the Compassion staff have the training to understand the language/culture/needs of the children and community and literally turn their lives upside down."

~ www.compassion.com.au

Hannah Wellham works for Compassion Australia.

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