andjoh's email: East Africa emergency: important news on your sponsored child

I've been sponsoring Aregawy for just over two years now. Slack old me has only written once and he's written three times. This week I've received a birthday card from World Vision to fill in and send to him. The first letter I got from him two years ago he was twelve and wanted to be a Doctor.

But because I haven't been keeping in touch, does he still want to be a Doctor? Things change over time. His father runs a farm so he might like to keep that up. But if there are droughts happening, I doubt that he would want to keep the farm going and possibly his father probably doesn't want to neither.

Anyhow, this email is a plea for more assistants, it's asked me to share the story with everyone and try and influence more sponsors. For a good twelve months I was paying $43 a month that even my bank was kind enough to let the transactions happen even if my account was already in the red. So I had no escape from not paying them, the process is through my debit Visa so there's no bank penalty for insufficient funds, it's just a simple credit card denial. But still, StGeorge, who by the way are changing to Bank of Melbourne, woo hoo, let the funds go through. Just meant I was $43 shorter on payday.

Anyhow it was getting a bit much for me to keep paying it and even trying to keep like half the payment in the account for the off pay weeks, I just couldn't do it. I rang World Vision about this with the intention of getting out of the obligation that was not contracted too. The Semi-Old, probably in her 50's, lady asked if I was willing to go down to their lower donations of $35 a Month? An amount I never got offered when I signed up, so I took the offer. I can manage better with that amount, although it's only $8 less, still, it seems more reasonable and still helping out someone worse then me.

I'll fill in this birthday card and get it sent to him. I'll have to put in a letter too and apologize for not writing as much. I remember in my letter I told him I would write as much as I could, I broke a promise to an unfortunate. Sorry, I've had a couple attempts over the time but wonder what I say to him? That the beer is really good in Australia? Bloody Governments put on heaps of taxes on the Tobacco? I could write a story, make an imaginary character I guess is one thing, keep the lad happy.

So now that he's turning fourteen, he's not really a kid if he is to be like a fourteen year old Westerner, they think they're Adults now at fourteen, will he? Or because of his life style, will he still be a kid? I don't know, I should put some blame on World Vision too, for not informing me more on his life style and how well he's growing up. Hey I don't even know how they spend my $35 on him a month. That wouldn't even feed and medicate me for a month, but surely food must be donated by major companies to help too.

I share this email and my story with Aregawy and maybe someone who reads this might see some light and help out too. I know, there are so many charitable organizations that puts people in positions, which one? Well it's up to you, think of the organization if they are well approved like World Visions reputation that maybe choosing the right one is not as hard as you think.

andjoh

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A growing hunger crisis in East Africa

Dear Andrew,
Thank you for your generous support of Aregawy Araya in Ethiopia.
You may have seen recent news reports about the drought and hunger emergency affecting East African countries including Kenya and Ethiopia.
We are starting to receive reports that some of the communities we work with are being affected by this emergency. We are closely monitoring the situation and if we hear anything of concern regarding your sponsored child, we will let you know immediately.
Your help is needed now. As someone who cares about the wellbeing of children in this part of the world, please help us meet the growing and urgent needs of families affected by the hunger emergency.
World Vision has been working in these countries for many years and our long-term development work helps communities prepare for and protect themselves from the impacts of natural disasters such as drought.

Koutich's mother is malnourished and has difficulty producing enough milk for him. He is one of many children at risk from the hunger emergency.

But this current drought, described by scientists as the driest period in the region since the early 1950s, is so severe that communities need additional support. So World Vision and other aid organisations are helping them respond to this emergency.
Meteorologists forecast that the region may not receive normal rains until early 2012.
A donation of $125 today, for example, could help us to meet the immediate food and health needs of the most vulnerable children and families and support essential agriculture and livelihood recovery efforts.
You can also spread the word by forwarding this email to friends and family who may want to help the people of East Africa.
Thank you for your support.
Tim Costello
World Vision Australia Chief Executive
PS. You can find out more about our response to the East Africa emergency on our website.

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