When I started working for Children International, I didn’t know much about poverty in Colombia. But here are a couple of sobering statistics that I now know.
In Barranquilla, we work to provide over 21,000 children with benefits. The average income for a sponsored child’s family is only $111 USD a month. And while that is horrible, for almost 20,000 sponsored children in Cartagena, their family income averages about $66 USD a month. Sadly, a little more than a third of our sponsored children in Cartagena and their hardworking families sustain themselves on less than $2 a day.
Humbling statistics indeed, but there is hope.
For the next 10 days, a few of my colleagues and I will be visiting the slums of Barranquilla and Cartagena. We’re looking forward to meeting many of the sponsored children and their families whose lives have been changed through sponsorship. These trips are very intense and personal experiences for us and we want to share our journey with you.
Visit the blog over the next couple of weeks as we share the stories and photos of these incredible children and their families in Colombia.
3 comments:
Hello, Wow this is truily Awesome that your doing this. Is this girls name marina Jimenez My daughter sponsers her I sponser Laura Martinez We are a church going Family of6 kids and one grandson me and My wife are involved with Children Ministry and have done childrens International for for 4 or 5 year thanks for this blog and giving us a chance to see columbia and the children in person through you, God Bless, Ken Hettinger
Colombia - a place that is of interest to me for many reasons. My sister has lived in Colombia and I still relish her letters. I chose to sponsor a child in Colombia - specifically a male child who was a teenager - because I believe so many young men in Colombia are exposed to problems and trials that are so far beyond the difficulties of the teenaged men where I live. Poverty in Colombia for a teenaged male is so very different from the "poverty" experienced among teenaged males in the United States. I knew that giving love and economics to a family of a teenaged male in Colombia would be one of the best things I could do to help solve many possible problems. Oh .... I am a Federal Law Enforcement Officer of the United States of America. The teenaged males I normally meet, the ones that have not received "help" from outside their families and communities, are the ones whose haunted eyes will never leave me when I put the handcuffs upon their wrists.
"Anonymous"...
Thanks for your sobering comment. What a great summary of the real impact of sponsorship...besides meeting immediate, critical needs like food, clothing and education, sponsorship is all about changing futures.
All of us at Children International want to thank you for what you do -- both here at home, and also for your sponsored child in Colombia.
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