Sponsorship visit and more!

What an amazing experience for Beth and me!  Today we met our student that we are sponsoring, Javier (6 years old), and his family and they were so kind and appreciative of our visit and sponsorship.  Javier's mom, Isabel, is a single mom raising four kids and we respect her so much for working so hard to raise her children and support their education, which in Guatemala is expensive and very difficult for low income families.  Thankfully our organization, Common Hope, provides financial support for education of low income children and empowers families to earn things that they need.

It was a really eye-opening experience for Beth and me to see Javier's home and the family coffee farm. The central courtyard is open-air and is surrounded by four small buildings where four families, four dogs and chickens live.  The family earns money by caring for the coffee farm and harvesting the coffee in December and January.  In the other months, Isabel cleans, does laundry or works in a factory for money.

On our visit, we spent our time talking in the courtyard and Javier was very shy until Isabel had him get his school notebook to share with us.  He was so proud and showed us his schoolwork and drawings.  Plus we found out that he loves the movies "Cars" and "Spiderman" which he has seen on TV.  Although we have no idea where he saw a TV.

Our family that we are sponsoring was so special to meet and we are excited to stay in touch with the whole family forever!