More Than A Photo

I really don’t get nervous very often.  I have spoken, sung, danced (not really) in front of people on hundreds of occasions so the butterflies don’t come too often.  However, last Tuesday the butterflies were in the pit of my stomach and they brought some friends with them.  Why would a 6 year old girl from the Dominican Republic make me so nervous? 

I walked to the center of the room where the Dominican Republic country staff anounced my name and Reyna’s name and then she entered the room to the thunderous applause of all those around.  She was accompanied by her Project Director, Branya, and a translator.  For the first few minutes Reyna would not look at me in the eyes – partly because my daughter is her sponsor and I am jsut a scary looking bald guy, but partly because this is a young girl with very few positive male role models in her life and she was unsure what type if man I would be.

I suddenly lost my emotions when I knelt down to show her some pictures of my family because it hit me that she was more than a photo, she was a little 6 year old girl dressed in pink from head to toe that was very much like the little 6 year old girl that I left at my house the previous day.  I always knew intellectually that all of our sponsor children are more than photos and words on paper and I even knew it relationally because I have been fortunate enough to meet hundreds of Compassion children over the past few years.  But for some reason the reality of our connection to this life standing in front of me was both overwhelming and humbling.

Over the course of the next few hours Reyna decided I was OK and that my camera was even more fun than I was.  We laughed, colored, played with other children, and jumped over rain puddles together.  She asked questions about Natalie and I asked questions about her family.  She showed off her new pink bows, shirt, jeans, socks, and Strawberry Shotcake shoes that were bought by her Project Director on a shopping trip the day before for this special visit.

I don’t think I have ever felt more connected to what I do with Compassion than I did during those few hours.  Reyna comes from a family where nobody is a Chrisitan.  The Compassion church project is working with Reyna and her younger brother (she is the 4th of 5 children) and is constantly reaching out to her mother, stepfather, and older siblings.  There is alot to pray for in Reyna’s life but I made her a promise that we would pray every night, write her often, and encourage her in everything she is doing.  Reyna’s first week of school is this week and Natalie picked out a pink back pack for the occasion.

I know many people are hesitant about working with organizations where they may never see the work or results firsthand.  I get that.  However, our hesitancy and prudence can also keep us from changing the life of a child that is mired in the cycle of poverty.  I realize that the fact I work for Compassion makes my plea for your involvment somewhat biased but I would not be doing this day in and day out if I did not believe that we can make a difference and believe that we can help release these children from poverty in the name of Jesus.

Here are some pictures from our time together.

Here is Reyna’s self taken photo with the doll we gave her.

Reyna had never seen the ocean so after lunch at the hotel we headed down to the beach and let her run around in the water.  I think the series of pictures below tell what she thought of the experience.

~ by brianseay on October 17, 2007.