My sponsor is a blessing

Story by Claudina Lembe

When the father of sponsored child, Dércia Caetano, 12, was alive in rural Mugeba, northern Mozambique, her future was a bright promise. 

But since he drowned and died while taking a bath in the river where they used to collect [dirty] water, her future became uncertain.

World Vision, through sponsorship, helped to provide clean and safe water, health and education, paving Dércia’s way for a better life and future.

"The hardest time of my life was when I received news that my father had died. He had epilepsy [a condition of the brain that causes a person to become unconscious for short periods] and as yet we did not have water close to home. He went to bathe in the river,” the young girl explains. 

“When he arrived there, he had an epileptic attack and drowned because nobody was there to help. I was very sad and shocked. I wondered how our life would be without him,” she recalls with tears running down her face.

When Dércia’s father was alive, he and her mother used to work in the farm. He was also an employee at the local health centre, and he could provide basic healthcare. The tragic fate changed their lives.

Her mother was left alone to raise nine children and seven grandchildren living in the same house. This was very difficult for a single mother who trusted only in a small farm where she used to grow food to put on the table for her family. She also educated the children.

“For school my mother used to put together some papers to give my brother to use as exercise books at school. We had no shoes, slippers and proper clothing for us. They [the clothes] were torn,” Dercia explains, scratching the ground with her finger.

The gift of sponsorship 

A special person in Dércia´s life is her American sponsor. Despite miles separating them, the sponsor makes sure Dércia has exercise books, clothes and help for food so that Dércia can keep dreaming bigger.

“My sponsor is a blessing and a present person in my life,” Dércia says. “She cares about me, sends me letters for merry Christmas, for my birthday. She knows about my life and I know about hers.”

“When I read her letters I feel like she is standing there talking to me. Those letters means so much for me. I receive them [happily] because I see her there,” Dércia says.

Her most vivid memories are when her sponsor came to visit her at home three years ago. “It was a very special time. I was so happy and she is so kind. We talked a lot,” Dércia recalls.

She remembers her sponsor hugging her and holding her in her lap, telling Dércia that she should study and take care of herself. Dércia adds that, starting from that moment when her sponsor visited, she studied with more enthusiasm because she knew that someone was encouraging her and following her progress at school.

Safe water means health 

Like thousands of underprivileged children in her community, Dércia grew up drinking dirty water collected from the rivers and wells in the riverbed. As a consequence, her family was constantly ill. 

“I remember my mother waking me and my sister up early morning, around 4 am, still dark for us to go to fetch water. At that time I was afraid of the darkness along the way and also felt very cold especially in the cold months,” she says.

It was six kilometres journey to bring water home before she headed to school. Now the situation has improved. World Vision drilled boreholes in her community.

"Today my family and my community no longer suffer from diarrhoeal diseases due to drinking unsafe water. And no one else will die drowned like my father, because World Vision drilled boreholes. Here we can fetch water for drinking, bathing, washing clothes, washing dishes, washing vegetables and other things,” says the young girl. 

Studying has new meaning 

Studying is no longer the same. If the young girl once had to study unprotected from the cold, wind, sitting on the ground, today she enjoys having lesson in a suitable education environment, as World Vision built improved classrooms. 

“Our school was made by stalks and covered by grass. When it rained we could not study because it used to drop by the roof. Also, as we used to sit on the ground and our clothes used to get dirty as well as my exercise books. If the wind blows or the day was cold, it was another challenge,” Dércia describes.

In fact, when it rained the school was in no condition to study. At the end of the year children could not complete all planned lessons. 

“Now, I study sitting comfortably on the school desks. All my friends like to go to school, as I do, because the school is good,” Dércia says. “We don’t have to worry (no longer) when it rains or when it is cold because we have an improved school, which World Vision helped to build.”

Dércia feels much more confident now that she will become a nurse in the future and follow her father’s steps. 

“I want to thank my sponsor for helping me and making me believe that I will finish my schooling and be trained as a nurse,” she says. “With this school my colleagues also will study and help to end poverty.”