I have been interning at Mission of Hope for 3 weeks.  There already have been countless memories made, but one of my favorite roles I get to do here is taking team members to meet their sponsor child.  Every time I have brought a person or family down to meet their student, it has been a unique experience that almost always brings me to tears of joy.  I think my absolute favorite aspect of child sponsorship is that the child is literally chosen.  So many of these children are not 'wanted', they were not 'planned', and in a lot of ways are seen as just another Haitian child.  However, when a child is sponsored, someone is caring for them personally, desiring to financially and prayerfully support them in receiving a Christ-centered education and to have food daily.

Today, I got to meet my sponsor child Hedson.  Hedson is 15 years old and in 8th grade.  I have been looking at his picture for about a week now, and today decided to officially sponsor and meet him.  When Hedson walked into the room initially, he was very timid.  Without a translator I could only ask basic questions, but you could tell that he enjoyed just being there.  Eventually we got a translator and I asked him about his life more and what he needed.  He responded that he wanted a Game Boy.  I love that response, because he is just a regular kid who has the same wants as kids in America, Canada, and all over the world.  He wants a toy, and still without knowing much about his life, it is encouraging to me that he can ask for a toy.  I know very little about his home life other than that his father is a driver, his mother is a vendor, and he has two sisters and a brother.  But I do know that every day he comes to school he gets a meal, he gets an education, he gets to learn English, he gets to learn about Jesus.

-Kelci Haydocy