In March, 2004, we decided to sponsor a child through Compassion International. We had heard good things about Compassion so we went to their website and were able to select a child online. You could search for a child by all kinds of criteria such as location, male/female, age, and birthday. We decided to put Evan’s birthday in and see if there was a match. We thought it would be neat to sponsor a child that was born on the exact same day as Evan and that Evan could possibly learn a lot about a child the same age as him.

The only one that came up was a boy from Ethiopia named Berkeit. He was meant to be our sponsored child. We signed up and printed off the picture of him from the internet and began paying our monthly sponsorship fee. We got another picture of him and some information about him. It stated that he lives with his mother. He is responsible for running errands and cleaning. His mother is sometimes employed. There are 4 children in the family. Soccer and playing group games are Berkeit’s favorite activities. In primary school his performance is average and he also regularly attends church activities. As we wrote to him and received letters from him we began to know him a bit better.

It is really hard to write to him though. There are so many things he cannot even comprehend because he has never seen or heard of some of the things we deal with on a daily basis. Here we are in a nice house with lots of comforts, food, clothing, and many extras we don’t really need. I think of him living in a shack with dirt floors with little food and the guilt just overwhelms me sometimes. If he could see how we live in comparison to him he would be overwhelmed too

I have learned one very important thing from corresponding with Berkeit. He is extremely happy. He doesn’t really know what he doesn’t have and he is happy with the little he does have. Are many of us Americans happy with what we have? We have so much but are always wanting more. I know I take things for granted all the time. When I think of Berkeit, however, it reminds me that God has blessed us far beyond our gratitude.

Every year for Berkeit’s birthday and at Christmas we send some extra money so that he can have something special. He always sends us a picture of himself with his birthday cake (hand made braided bread) each year. He tells us everything he got with the money and how much each item cost. I’ll never forget that the first thing he ever got after we sponsored him was a blanket. He told us he would not be cold at night now. He was so very happy about that and it meant the world to him. All of the items he buys are practical things such as bed sheets, shoes, etc. He also has to pay for the picture he sends us. It is important to him to share that with us.

I just finished writing Berkeit this afternoon. I have to admit that I have not given him the time he deserves lately. There is no excuse. Yes, I have been “busy” but I can certainly make time for him instead of reading or watching TV or even blogging. God has placed him in our lives and we need to do what we can to encourage him and show him that he is loved.

This summer I think Evan and I will spend some time learning more about Ethiopia and what life is like for Berkeit and his family. Wouldn’t it be cool to go visit him someday?