COMMON HOPE BLOG

Jessie Szopinski, sponsorship coordinator in the St. Paul office, is spending six months working from Guatemala. All of us back home are living a bit vicariously through her. She sent the following dispatch today, from her visit to San Miguel.  

I went with Aracely to take photos of kids that had birthdays this month and also made sure they wrote to their sponsors. It was great to be there!

This young boy came with his family because one of his siblings needed a photo taken. While his mom was helping write the letter with the child, Aracely started reading a book to the kids. This boy was sitting on a separate bench just staring at us reading the book. I asked if he wanted to join us and he was so excited—he insisted that he read the book to us. He even pointed out all of the animals in the book and soaked in the story as he read. I think if we let him, he would have read to us the whole afternoon!

Marsha and Jim Benshoof with Gustavo, their sponsored student, and his family.

by Marsha Benshoof, sponsor and Vision Team volunteer

What an amazing experience, meeting a child and his family that you have known only on paper. Jim and I have been sponsors of Gustavo since April 2010, shortly after a Vision Team from our church, Robbinsdale United Church of Christ, returned from Guatemala and shared their stories with us. We decided last spring to join a Vision Team and we have recently returned from our wonderful week in Guatemala with Common Hope.

Gustavo lives in San Rafael with his family—his parents, two younger sisters and one younger brother. When our team traveled to San Rafael, we had the chance to meet Gustavo and his family. Gustavo met us at the entrance of their shared yard with a quick grin and led us to the family’s home. Imagine our surprise when the first thing we saw were framed pictures of Jim and me, which we had sent to the family, hanging on the outside wall of their home!

Gustavo with the new books from his sponsors.

We felt welcomed, and since Jim and I are able to speak some Spanish, we had a discussion with the family about their farming and their life in San Rafael. We distributed the gifts we had brought—food for the family and books for all of the children. We were delighted to see Gustavo clearly eager to look at the books. By this time, Gustavo was a little less shy and we were able to engage him in some conversation. When our time with the family was finished, Gustavo walked with us to the school. Our Vision Team spent a couple of more hours observing and playing games at the school, and it was fun to see that Gustavo was engaged and seemed to be happy and learning a lot.

We are happy to be sponsors and thrilled that Gustavo and his family seem to truly value the fact that he is in school and a good student. We feel connected to this family and we will travel to visit them again in the future. Of course, this experience was only one of many during our week in Guatemala—helping to build a house for a deserving family, being present for the graduation ceremony and celebration of 1,000 high school graduates, visiting a second student (Franki) and family that our church sponsors, and working with an great team of volunteers. Thanks to Common Hope for the opportunity!

To sponsor a child like Gustavo or join a Vision Team like the Benshoofs, click here.

Wendy Vezzosi (third from left) with son Scott (second from left) and their sponsored family.

by Wendy Vezzosi, sponsor and volunteer translator

During the first week of December, my 19-year-old son Scott and I had the privilege of spending the week volunteering at the Antigua facility. It was an amazing experience for both of us on many levels. I wanted to write a few words about some of the things that made the biggest impression on me.

Handing out much-anticipated sponsor gifts
We were there for the distribution of the Christmas gifts to every sponsored child and family in the Antigua area. All of us know that magical moment when a child opens up a cherished gift, and so just imagine 1,000 delighted and smiling faces as the kids stepped forward to receive a much-anticipated gift from their sponsor. For many of these children, this is the only Christmas present that they will receive. The parents were equally appreciative to have some food staples that they could use to make a holiday meal. Scott and I felt honored and touched to be able to witness something so special.

Being invited into family homes
One of the things that stuck me the most was how grateful the families are for all that Common Hope and the sponsors are doing for them. I visited several families with their social worker, and the people were friendly, gracious and thankful. It was amazing to see first hand the true impact that this organization is having on their lives. We visited one family who were grieving the recent loss of a 90-year-old grandmother. They had built a beautiful shrine for her in their home with an alter filled with flowers, candles and religious icons. They welcomed me into this sacred room and shared their grief. They invited me to come to the funeral later that week and to the celebration of her life. I am a total stranger and just because of my affiliation with an organization that has their well-being at heart, they treated me like family.

Observing letter writing in action
One afternoon I was sitting in the beautiful courtyard at one of the tables set up for the kids to write letters to their sponsors.  I was translating letters to bring back to the US, and there was a little boy sitting there with his mother writing a letter to his sponsor. I could just see that he was giving so much thought to this letter, trying to figure out what to say, and taking forever to put it down on paper. I could feel this kid’s anguish, and so I tried to encourage him by saying, “You know, I translate a lot of the letters written by the sponsors to their ahijados, and you have no idea how much the words that you write mean to your padrinos and how thrilled they are to receive your letter.”  The boy instantly brightened up, and his mom said,” No, you have no idea how much it means to us to be supported by a sponsor.”

For those of you who have not visited your sponsor child in Guatemala, I encourage you to go if you are able. The experience will be as rewarding to you as it will be to your sponsored child.

To read Wendy’s son Scott’s reflection on their visit, click here.

Scott with Saulo in Guatemala.

by Scott Vezzosi, Common Hope sponsor

Last week my mom and I took a trip to Guatemala to visit our sponsored child, a fifteen-year-old boy named Saulo. One of our days in Antigua, a social worker accompanied my mom and me to meet Saulo and his family. We have been sponsoring him for about five years and have been writing letters throughout that time. When we met, it was as if we were old friends just catching up, not like strangers meeting for the first time. After greeting with welcoming hugs, Saulo said to me in Spanish, “I have been waiting so long to finally meet my brother.” It was an experience that I will never forget. Awesome, amazing and wonderful can’t even come close to describing how great of an experience I had, and I  strongly persuade all sponsors to visit their child. We only talked for an hour but decided to meet up the over the next few days.

The Common Hope facility is only a short bus ride away from many of the families, which allows them to stay in close contact with the foundation. My mom and I were volunteering at the facility but also ended up having some free time throughout the day. Two of my days there I played soccer on a little field at the facility with Saulo and some other kids. Even though my Spanish is limited, I had a great time and really felt like I connected with Saulo and the rest of his family. They were incredibly welcoming and friendly and were extremely gracious for our contribution and sponsorship. Saulo’s mother told us how he has been asking when his sponsors would come visit him, and I could tell how much it meant to him to finally meet us in person. It was an amazing trip and something that I will never forget.  I too now have a brother.

The staff and volunteers at Common Hope, as well as the natives in Guatemala, are unbelievably nice, polite and soft spoken. I joked with my mom that Guatemala beats Minnesota Nice 100 times over. It was truly a life-changing experience.