World Vision UK Blog

What can we say about Sue, Trisha, Jane, Liseanne, Dorothy and Fiona? They are six wonderful, passionate supporters who have taken the next step in their World Vision journey and are now our newest Ambassadors. This incredible group of women traveled to Senegal to meet their sponsored children and see for themselves how World Vision works with communities and how their sponsorship helps some of the world’s poorest children.

Over the next week, we’ll have inspiring stories from our new ambassadors and their trip, including remarkable photos, amazing stories and tales that made them them laugh and cry. Everything they experienced has moved them to go out raising awareness of the work of World Vision on their return to the UK, we hope they’ll hit home for you, too.

You can follow all of the week’s updates from their trip on our Facebook Page, or by popping back to the blog on Wednesday and Friday for parts 2 and 3.

Ambassadors with Sharon (in the middle) in new Senegalese outfits

Time to celebrate – the opening of the new school building

by Sue Tinney

When we arrived at the school for the long awaited opening ceremony, the temperature had soared to at least 38^oC and we were all very hot. The villagers and children were sitting under the large awning as the musicians played and the dignitaries patiently waited. A sense of excitement and anticipation filled the air.  We were about to take part in a big celebration the community had been looking forward to for a long time! We were quickly ushered into a side room, where we were each presented with a set of Senegalese national dress, the community’s gift to us. They were beautiful!

We were overwhelmed by the community’s generosity, and dressed in our new outfits, we took our place alongside the dignitaries, including the Head teacher, Village Chief, Elders, the World Vision community manager, construction manager and representatives of the Rural Council.

The event began with the Village Chief expressing his thanks to World Vision for the new classrooms and added that although the community had made a great start, they still had not finished – there was still more work to be done. Their vision is so admirable!

It turned out that the new classrooms and toilet block had been ready for a month prior to our visit, but the community had waited for our visit before the children could use them.  How frustrating this must have been for them, and how humbling for us.

Before World Vision embarked on this project, the children had lessons in classrooms made of stick-type fencing with grass frond leaves and open to all the elements. The floor was dusty and sandy and the blackboard somehow fixed to the fence.

The condition of the classrooms was far from ideal; snakes and scorpions would find their way in and bite the children, rain would come through the roof during the wet season and the Harmattan wind would blow through the rooms in the hot dry seasons.

The children suffered from sickness, which had a tremendous effect on their ability to attend school and learn. It was heartbreaking to hear, but wonderful to be at the ceremony that was going to change all this.

As the ceremony continued there were many speeches and lively music, and then came the symbolic act of the ‘formal carrying’ of the children’s desks across to their new classrooms. The children were so calm and dignified as they made their way across the compound with their desks although I’m sure they must have been bursting with excitement!

A little time later the children were happily seated in their beautiful new classrooms and it was such a joy for us to have been part of this.  It’s amazing to experience, first-hand, some of the fruits of the work that World Vision undertakes, in partnership with the local communities.  Sponsorship money and the dedicated work of World Vision staff ensure the delivery of this and many other such projects.  The long term benefits will be immeasurable.

In addition to the new classroom, a freshly painted new toilet block has also been built for the children which they were very pleased to start using!

As the event drew to a close, we explained, through an interpreter, how seeing our contribution come to fruition has been a tremendous experience.  We thanked everyone for the wonderful welcome given to us and for our gifts, which will be a lasting memory of our special visit.

Official Opening of Loul Pre-School

by Trisha McGee

As we climbed out of the minibus – our heads and senses already reeling from the heat, scenery, colour and life in all its aspects that is rural Senegal – we were greeted by the welcoming timbre of drums, women singing and dancing, and general joy, enthusiasm and excitement.

Never in my life had I seen such an amazing sight nor heard such extraordinary sounds. My throat constricted and my eyes filled up as we walked towards and through the gate.

A large group of children of varying heights and ages, all sporting cross body sashes in the green, yellow and red of the Senegalese flag lined our route. They gave us huge beaming smiles and shook hands. This was the School council!

We were paraded in and the singing reached an almost deafening crescendo. There was a large marquee full of women with the musicians; we stopped to watch the dancing for a while.

Beautifully dressed ladies dancing around Sharon

Inside the preschool all the small children were sitting perfectly in rows. What a delightful and engaging sight! The youngest children all wore blue smocks over their clothes and older children (I thought about reception age) wore pale green. The Nursery children and their wonderful young teacher sang for us, mainly as a group but also as individuals. They were alert, confident and not at all fazed by all the attention, waving at us while keeping one eye firmly on their teacher.

It was so humbling to realise that a small amount of money we pay each month helped to create this, life changing chances at education for so many small children.

Next we were treated to a clever little scenario performed by the Reception class. This involved two girls and two boys. The two boys sat at desks, ‘writing’ and looking very official! The girls were acting the parts of mother and daughter. The daughter desperately wanted to go to school but mother kept saying, ‘No, girls don’t need to go to school. Go to Dakar, be a maid and earn some money.’

Eventually, however, the mother gives in and takes her daughter to enroll in school. But unfortunately it’s not that simple for the little girl as she wasn’t registered at birth. So mother has to go to the Rural Council to register her daughter before she can go to school. The messages from this performance were very clear!

After these wonderful performances we went to see the new classroom. No benches or tables yet but plenty of space to put them in. The room was high, cool and spacious. The windows glassless but finished with louvered shutters appropriate to the climate.

Thanks to Sue and Trisha for sharing their stories. You can read more ambassador blogs later this week and don’t forget to check out our Facebook page this week for all the latest from World Vision as well as the photo album from the Senegal trip.

Two wonderful stories of great changes implemented thanks to your support. And how remarkable that our Ambassadors got to experience the joy and the excitement of the opening of these new buildings and rooms, too. Let us know what you’d love to see in person over on our Facebook page here.

One of our child sponsors, Cara, stopped off in South Africa on her world travels to see her sponsored child, Dipolelo. What makes this visit truly unique is that Cara would be there just days before Dipolelo was due to give birth. Here’s Cara’s remarkable account of her trip:

I had already made 3 previous trips in South Africa to visit the children that I sponsored. I wondered if I could make another trip to my current sponsored child, but looking at the map of South Africa, it looked more challenging though it came together in the end.

On the morning of my visit, staff from the World Vision office came to get me for my special day. Our first stop was at the Area Development Programme offices where I was briefed about the visit. We then went to the school, arriving at mid-morning break, when all the children get a hot meal thanks to a government initiative. They all looked fit and healthy.

Beautiful mountainous surroundings

Meeting Dipolelo

Eventually we were ushered into the school office and waited for Dipolelo to come and meet us. Now this was going to be a different visit as in January, World Vision had contacted me to tell me the child I am sponsoring, who was aged 16, was expecting. This isn’t that unusual in South Africa as 20% of 15 – 17 year olds get pregnant. Dipolelo looked quite anxious meeting us and possibly didn’t feel comfortable with the attention.

We all set off to her home to meet her family. Her parents, grandparents, siblings and even her great aunt who was in her 90s, were all there to welcome us. Dipolelo’s father was a real character, with a good command of English. He was very grateful for the sponsorship and explained how it helped lots of different communities in the area. He also told me how he had read all my letters and even remembered things I had written. I got the impression he did the translating to his daughter who didn’t appear to speak English!

Meeting Dipolelo

The family lived in two small houses surrounded by maize fields, mango and paw paw trees, with goats, cattle and chickens providing them with plenty of food. Gifts were exchanged and I was given a huge bag of monkey nuts, a gourd drinking vessel, a grass brush and, much to my amusement, a huge pumpkin. I could barely carry it, let alone work out how I would take it anywhere!

Eventually it was time to take Dipolelo back to school, where the principal also expressed his gratitude for the sponsors and the impact the money has had on the local community. Then it was time for us to go and see the projects that have benefitted from the programme.

Seeing the work at first hand

Having left Dipolelo to return to her classroom, we set off to visit the World Vision Projects in the local area. Arriving at the piggery, we were shown around the pig pens with some very happy pigs and piglets. The business has become very successful and pigs are a very valuable commodity. We met the pig that has fathered numerous piglets with his many wives but learnt that once the wife is pregnant, she loses interest in her husband. Sounds familiar!

We then went to a craft and community centre, where older ladies of the local area were gathered. There was also a nursery for younger children, who were happily playing outside and waved at us as we arrived. Inside there were beading and sewing activities with lots of beautiful examples of work.

Examples of beading and sewing activities

Next door was a kitchen which is where a bakery business has been set up and has provided extra income for the local women. There were also chicken sheds outside. The whole place seemed to be an amazing, thriving community space, catering for all ages.

Our next stop was at a Stimulation Centre for disabled children. They were so excited to see us and all of them wanted to shake my hand. As we were taken inside, they all began singing and dancing. The construction of the centre had come about after a visit from some World Vision sponsors from Cholsey in Oxfordshire.

The local community in the UK got together to help finance the building with the aim being to help disabled children become integrated into mainstream society by teaching them life skills….like shaking hands with visitors!

Children greeting the visitors

Our last stop was a drop-in centre for little school children where they come after school to get a hot meal. They all queue up to get their hands washed before receiving their meals, then go inside and sit at their little tables and chairs to eat.

We too, were given a lovely hot meal. This is also where some of the older children get to write their letters to their sponsors. They were still receiving Christmas presents from the UK so were then sitting down to write their thank you letters.

Children writing thank you letters for their sponsors

Reflections

Sadly our day was coming to an end. We returned to the ADP office to say goodbye to Maite and all the World Vision staff before returning to my accommodation.

I came away thinking how we are wrong in how we measure poverty and wealth. Everyone I had seen that day had been happy and healthy, despite their lack of material possessions. In fact, this may have been why they seemed content.

There were strong family bonds and a great sense of community and belonging to an area…all qualities which are often lacking in the UK.

I envied their lifestyles in many respects, their striving for self sufficiency and the way they could produce so much of their own food. They may not be wealthy by our standards, but their lives seemed to be very rich.

Epilogue

After my return to the UK, I received an email from World Vision saying Dipolelo had given birth just four days after I saw her, which explained why she had other things on her mind! I had no idea her pregnancy was so advanced, especially considering she was still attending school.

Amazingly, she has named the baby Cara, after me, which is a real honour. I hope I can go back again in the future to see my namesake…

Baby Cara with her mum

Thanks to Cara for sharing her story with us. You can see more photos and leave your comments and questions on our Facebook page here. We love hearing your thoughts on our sponsors’ stories.

Brenda, a wonderful and loyal 80-year-old supporter of World Vision, contacted us to say she’d like to see her sponsored child, Sachin, and brave a trip to one of the hottest parts of the world, accompanied by her son, Vaughan.

Here is Brenda’s account of a truly remarkable visit:

Taj Mahal

My son and I recently flew to India, both of us making our first visit to the subcontinent.  Our destination, via Delhi, was the city of Patna. 

Patna, the capital of the Bihar state in North East India, was the most important city in India in ancient times, but now has a less conspicuous profile.  Bihar is now among the least developed states of India with an estimated 42% of the population living below the poverty line.

We arrived at Patna airport to a huge crowd and fanfare.  Alas the massed crowd was there to welcome home a local politician, so clearly the Indians think more of their elected representatives than we do!

Huge crowds at Patna airport

We managed to find the World Vision staff amongst the melée and they drove us out of the airport and into 38 degrees.  We knew to expect this heat but at 36 degrees hotter than the country we left the day before, it took some getting used to. 

During the entire trip, the driving in India never ceased to amaze us both.  We took dozens of pictures in an attempt to capture the utter mayhem on the roads but none could do it justice.  The Indian people drive predominantly on the left but that is about the only rule of the road we could ascertain.  In fairness to them, they make it work by expecting other road users (lorries, cars, tuk tuks, rickshaws, motorbikes, cycles, pedestrians and cows – all in equal numbers) to appear from any direction at any time.  A note of caution – if you are a patient driver, do not go to India, you won’t move for a week.

Crazy driving in India

Into the Slum

After a night in a Patna hotel we were collected the next morning and taken to the slum.  We knew we were going to meet Sachin, our sponsored child and his family but were unaware of the extra special welcome we would receive from his community.

On arrival, we were shown to their “community hall”.  A single room about 20′ x  40′ containing a couple of tables and a few chairs.  At the door, we were greeted by a young girl who placed garlands of flowers around our necks, touched our feet as a blessing and applied the tilak – the red spot to our foreheads.  We truly were honoured guests.

As we sat in the hall, the children came in and sat down on the floor.  When they had all assembled, they rose and sang beautifully a song they had learned in English to welcome us.

Children welcoming the visitors

After the song, more and more people came to meet us until the room was quite packed.  Sitting at the front were the fabulously dressed Ladies Self Help Group that World Vision had coordinated and given guidance in how they can literally help themselves.

For instance, their normal way of life involved simply spending what they earned. World Vision acted as a go-between with the local banks (who would not normally entertain these groups) so that the ladies could put a little in savings and then any member of the group could borrow from that pool for their particular enterprise scheme.

Ladies’ Self Help Group

Our turn to talk

My son was then asked to tell our audience a little about where we were from.  Being unprepared for this, his talk majored on geography, climate, population and cricket! 

My son then asked if anyone had any questions for us and the lady in the green floral dress at the front stood up and asked, “Why have you chosen to help us?”  My son explained that his father’s family had lived in India for nine years in the 1920′s and that allied to our historical, cultural and sporting ties had made India an easy choice to support.

Afterwards, a local group leader spoke for a few minutes to our audience.  He then explained to us that he had been describing how much the British had done for their particular area when India gained independence and that explains why his address had ended in an unexpected round of applause for us.

At this point, we were asked if we would pose for some photographs and I asked if Sachin was there because we had still not been introduced.  I thought I had recognised him (from the pictures I had received) sitting at the back of the room and I was right.  We were formally introduced to Sachin, his parents, older brother and sister before smiling for the first of many, many photographs.

Brenda and Vaughan with the welcomed into the community

In the picture above Sachin stands to my right and his mother and sister to my left.  Sachin’s father is the moustachioed man back right and his older brother (in the white and black chequered shirt) is trying to hide at the back of the room over my left shoulder.

Time with Sachin

After leaving the community hall, we walked a few hundred yards through the slum to visit Sachin’s family home. On the way there,  I was walking a few steps behind Vaughan and Priya. I heard some whispering and then people bursting out laughing. I found out the locals thought I look like Queen Elizabeth. Vaughan joked that his sister and him sometimes pretend I was the Queen on an undercover visit to get VIP treatment.

Inside Sachin’s two room house we were given a local desert to eat which was nice but extremely sweet.  We then gave Sachin and his family a few simple gifts we had brought with us and exchanged family photographs. 

Trying a local desert in Sachin’s home

Back to school

From there, we walked back to see the school which was next to the community hall.  The two-classroom school was used for all ages and the children who had serenaded us earlier were already hard at work. 

Visiting a school

Outside the school, we were shown some cycle carts that World Vision have sponsored to enable people to generate some income of their own.

Cycle carts for income generation

We then said an emotional farewell to Sachin and his family before we headed off.

Sachin’s family

The Ganges and other sights

The World Vision staff then took us to see the river Ganges as we had said it was something we wanted to do and after a couple of hours rest back at the hotel we met again at the World Vision head office.

Over some little refreshment we discussed all aspects of what World Vision do in the area with the Programme Officer, Priya Ranjan Das. 

We learned so much about how they help the inhabitants of the slum from basic feeding programmes for the malnourished and the sponsored carts, right up to the financial guidance of the co-operative groups I described earlier.  It was fantastic to hear first hand exactly how our small contribution was ultimately being used to make such improvements in the lives of those living in the slums of Patna.

Our brief trip to India concluded with a tour of Delhi and a visit to the truly magnificent Taj Mahal in Agra.

Although our time with World Vision and Sachin had only been a few hours, it was an unforgettable experience.  The organisation of the visit by the local World Vision staff was excellent and their enthusiasm for helping the people they do shone through.

Sachin does not speak much English and being the centre of attention was perhaps a little overwhelmed by the occasion but overall we were made to feel very welcome indeed.  We were allowed into and got a brief glimpse of Sachin’s world and my son and I both agreed it was an eye-opening experience.  We would strongly recommend visiting your sponsored child if you have a chance!

Huge thanks to Brenda for sharing her sponsor visit story with us. If you have any questions for Brenda she is happy to respond. Head over to our Facebook page here to join the discussion.