Christine Baker, her partner Didier and their three children visited two sponsored children in Kenya on a day when travelling conditions were very difficult.
'Plan staff collected us from our Mombasa hotel straight after breakfast and drove us north. On the way, we collected basic items from a local supermarket – food, soap, matches and so on - to take to the families of our sponsored children. Light rain became torrential as we headed towards the interior and didn’t let up for almost the entire day. This made driving conditions difficult and added a lot of time to our journey - but did nothing to dampen our excitement at the prospect of meeting our sponsored children.
'Our first visit was slightly formal because it was the village’s first introduction to a Plan sponsor. We met our sponsored child’s family, leaders of the local community and children of all ages from the local school - who were clearly curious to meet us but somewhat shy! We felt bad about the fact that people were standing out in the cold and wet to greet us but nobody seemed to mind.
Laughter
'Our new sponsored child, Vidzo, was too young, at just three, to understand what was happening and clung to her mother throughout. Her father seemed happy that we were there and explained that she was the youngest of his 18 children. We were also introduced to his second wife. My partner joked that three children and one wife were enough for him and the ensuing laughter eased the formality.
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The rain subsided but delayed our arrival for the second scheduled visit – to see Kenga, a boy we’ve been sponsoring for over 10 years - by a few hours. Despite this, standing on a corner a few hundred yards outside of the village, a small group of children wearing bright and beautiful clothes and enormous smiles began waving frantically as soon as they saw us and chased after our vehicle all the way to the village.
'We had to descend a steep and muddy slope to reach the small community but the journey was made much less arduous by the family, friends and neighbours who escorted us down singing a song of greeting. We exchanged hugs with Kenga and his parents and were offered seats on a wooden veranda decked with fresh flowers and bright tablecloths.
'Little glass drinking cups, clearly new, were torn from their wrappings and a jug of water poured out for us. The water had come from a pipeline installed by Plan. It was clean, clear and delicious and the way it was served with such ceremony spoke volumes about how important it is to the community.
A moving experience
'The children entertained us with songs whilst we were served chicken – something done only rarely, for special guests. Kenga’s father works as a cook in the nearest town but normally lives away from home during the week. He hadn’t wanted to miss our visit and so had travelled home specially. We felt very honoured by the whole experience.
'We could communicate directly with Kenga, who has been learning English for a number of years. His mother produced his school report and we were impressed and proud to see how well he is doing. He told us he wants to become a pilot. It was very moving when we said we hoped that he would visit us when he is qualified and he brought out an inflatable globe to check the route.
'We had to leave too soon and staggered and danced our way back up the slippery slope to the accompaniment of more traditional songs before exchanging fond farewells. It was an experience none of us will ever forget and one we want to repeat one day.
'It is one thing to receive the odd letter or drawing and send occasional polite greetings or even a gift, but another thing entirely to see first-hand the harsh realities of children’s daily lives and the real difference sponsorship money can make. We left determined to continue our support of Plan and to encourage others to do the same.'