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What
Sponsorship Meant to Me
 When I
was first told that I had a sponsor in a country called Switzerland, I
remember asking, “What a sponsor just for me?”, “Will they write to me?”
“And where is Switzerland?” I was eight years old then. Each week as chapel
mail was given out from sponsors and while other boys in the orphanage
seemed to receive mail from their sponsors on a regular basis, my name was
never called out. I was desperate to receive my own mail and quickly wrote a
letter, introducing myself and asking my sponsor to write very, very soon.
Many months seemed to go by and I stopped anticipating any mail. However,
one day, much to my surprise my name was announced in chapel. My sponsors
were called Mr. and Mrs. Oxburgher and through the help of translation, I
learned that they had been praying for me. A picture of them was included in
the envelope and a postcard showing a series of mountains close to where
they lived, which I later learned were the Alps. This was the first
communication from my sponsor and it made me extremely happy!
As the years passed by, and more correspondences were exchanged, I enjoyed
getting to know them. Our friendship grew and it was encouraging to know
someone ‘out there’ loved me!
You can imagine my surprise when, totally unannounced, a foreign couple
arrived at the orphanage and introduced themselves as Mr. and Mrs. Oxburgher
and explained that they had come to visit Lebanon and to meet me especially.
I was so excited to know that a foreign couple not only loved me and prayed
for me, but had also come to visit me! I soon became quite a celebrity at
the orphanage! They had brought me Swiss chocolate, apple-flavored
toothpaste, a Switch watch and a golden Bible. The chocolate and toothpaste
soon disappeared, but the watch and Bible became treasured items. Their
visit was one of the most important occasions that I can remember and it
will live in my memory for ever.
At such a young age I did not really understand what sponsorship really
meant. It did not occur to me that every month Mr. and Mrs. Oxburgher were
sending $30 to help care for me at the orphanage. All I realized, and to me
all that really mattered, was the fact I had an adopted family who cared
enough to write to me, encourage and pray for me.
 The
Oxburghers visited me on two more occasions during my nine years at the
orphanage. Their second and third visits were anticipated with great
excitement and they were not a disappointment. To see my two friends
arriving after a long journey from Switzerland, to sit and talk and feel
their love is an experience I shall always cherish.
Their visits, their correspondence, and being sponsored made me feel special
as I thrived in the knowledge that someone who did not know me and was not
related to me, truly cared about me. This encouragement enabled me to grow
in confidence, and eventually raised my self-esteem. If there was someone
out there who loved me, then I was worthy of love and if worthy of love then
worthy of God’s love. Although many years passed before I realized just how
much God loved me, looking back I know Mr. and Mrs. Oxburgher played an
amazing role in that revelation.
- Ahmed Ali
Ahmed
Ali is an alumnus of the Kids Alive Home in Lebanon Ahmed went on to earn
his degree in computer science from the University of Greenwich in London
and today serves on staff at our Kids Alive office in the United Kingdom.
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