I read a book on slavery in the modern world and afterwards I felt sad and helpless. I tried to think of something I could do... and right there, at like 3 in the morning, I decided to sponsor a child. It's a small thing, but I think it is actually a good thing with a good impact. My monthly contribution is pooled with the contributions of others and it goes towards the local school and health care facilities.
Parents sometimes in poor villages in Haiti sell their children to people from the cities, after they're promised their children will be well cared for and educated. Of course, they don't follow through and often mistreat the poor kids. They are known as "restavecs".
The sponsors are encouraged to send letters to the child, with perhaps a photo. You can send a gift, too, but it should be small and inexpensive. I couldn't decide what to send her... I got hair ties, which I thought might be a nice little surprise for a cute little girl, but was wondering if anyone else could think of something that would seem appropriate? She's five and lives in rural Haiti.
I'm Stacey. I'm a 31(!)-year-old Wisconsin girl living in sunny South Florida. The highlights in my life are my lovely boyfriend, my aloof cats, my adorable/adoring stepdogs, my two lumbering tortoises, select family members, being outside, being underwater, taking pictures, yadda yadda. Stay tuned for lots of babbling!
A small boy lived by the ocean. He loved the creatures of the sea, especially the starfish, and he spent much of his time exploring the seashore.
One day the boy learned there would be a minus tide that would leave the starfish stranded on the sand.
When the tide went out, he went down to the beach, began picking up the stranded starfish, and tossing them back into the ocean.
An elderly man who lived next door came down to the beach to see what the boy was doing. Seeing the man's quizzical expression, the boy paused as he approached. "I'm saving the starfish!" the boy proudly declared.
When the neighbor saw all of the stranded starfish he shook his head and said: "I'm sorry to disappoint you, young man, but if you look down the beach, there are stranded starfish as far as the eye can see. And if you look up the beach the other way, it's the same. One little boy like you isn't going to make much of a difference."
The boy thought about this for a moment. Then he reached his small hand down to the sand, picked up another starfish, tossed it out into the ocean, and said: "Well, I sure made a difference for that one!"
