Tay MacNabb was a seasoned traveller when he embarked on a trip to Indonesia in early 2019. He had been to many developing countries before but he was unprepared for how much the trip to the island of Java would affect him.
He wasn’t going for just a holiday, or for work; he was going to meet eight-year-old Yumna, whom he had been sponsoring through ChildFund for almost four years.
“The whole experience was more rewarding than I had ever imagined,” he says.
Why Tay wanted to visit his sponsored child
After years of exchanging sponsor letters, Tay wanted Yumna and her family to be able to put a face to a name.
“I really wanted for Yumna and her parents to know that even though her sponsor was a great distance away living in another country, that her sponsor actually genuinely cared for them and their community to make the effort and take the time out to visit,” he says.
“I didn’t want to be this faceless person who merely corresponded by letters but rather someone who took an active and sincere interest in the progression and development of Yumna, which I believe can only be appreciated through a sponsor child visit.”
My name is Albertina. I am 18 years old. I live in Zambia with my mother, my grandmother and my siblings.
I have been a sponsored child with ChildFund since I was five years old.
When I grew up, I realised I wanted to be involved in activities for young people and so I became a peer educator with ChildFund in 2013.
As a peer educator I hold meetings where I educate people in my community. I talk with and mentor people in my same age group about things like early marriage, early pregnancy, staying in school, etc.
At school, what I saw was bad. It troubled me. The majority of children who were married at my school dropped out in Grade 6. They did not continue to high school.
It hurt to see that. Although you start school at the same time and you started as many, only two or three of you complete your education.
Of all my friends who I started school with, all of them have dropped out of school. They have all married early and started having children. I saw this practice was harmful.
We all have many problems, but when you look at the girls who dropped out and got married, they have more problems.
Children who are married do not get to do the things they desire and accomplish their goals.
I believe that every person has things to be accomplished in their life.
I want to pursue journalism so that I can continue what I’m doing in the community. By working in the media, I’ll be able to reach more people than I can right now.
