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My husband and I first began sponsoring a child through ChildFund Australia in 1988 when we were just newlyweds. We started sponsoring Sarita when she was just eight years old. We’ve now been sponsoring her for almost 10 years and she is about to turn 17 years old in December.

I am a lecturer and tutor at the University of the Sunshine Coast (USC). I teach a few first-year subjects from the School of Communications and one first-year subject from the School of Business. I first came to USC in 1996 when I enrolled as a mature-age student when the university first opened. There weren’t many of us back then, though there were always a lot of kangaroos around campus! I finished my honours then took a short break before coming back to do my PhD. I began tutoring at USC in 2003 and have been teaching here ever since.

I was at work when I read about the Trip of a Lifetime competition and just decided to enter, not really thinking about the fact that I could actually win. I just really liked the question — what inspired you to sponsor a child? — because it made me think about my sponsored children and how much I’ve enjoyed being a ChildFund sponsor for the past 25 years.

Once I sent in my entry I didn’t really give the competition a second thought so I think I went into shock when ChildFund called to tell me I had won. I was feeling so many emotions all at once: utterly surprised that I had actually won, amazed that I had the opportunity to meet Sarita and completely terrified at the idea of going to India. I just kept thinking: India!

My husband and I have only recently started travelling. We’ve been to the usual “safe”, Western destinations, Europe and the US, so I was really worried about the idea of going to India as it was definitely out of our comfort zone. Everyone who travels to India seems to either love or hate it because it is a country of extreme contrasts and such an assault on your senses. So we just started madly watching as many documentaries and reading as many books as we could find on India to try to prepare ourselves.

From all that I’ve read and watched I’ve come to the conclusion that I do not want to judge India from my Westernised perspective of how things should be.  I want to love the country and its people for what it is, not for what I think it could be. I know that I am going to encounter things that will make me feel uncomfortable, maybe even sick, but I don’t want to come to India with this attitude of how things could be improved. I just want to take it in and appreciate what I see.

After I calmed down from the shock of actually winning I started to feel a sense of guilt. I just knew that there were so many ChildFund sponsors who would have loved to have won the competition and be given this wonderful opportunity. So I just want to keep it in mind that I am representing ChildFund and I am representing all of ChildFund Australia’s sponsors. I want to make it the best experience I can for everyone: us, Sarita and her family, ChildFund Australia and their other sponsors.

My husband and I are really excited now, especially as our work winds down it feels like the countdown is really on for the trip! I just cannot wait to see Sarita for the first time in real life.

I recently went through all of the letters and photos Sarita has sent me over the years. I am going to take them with me on the trip to show her that I’ve I kept them all. It has been truly wonderful to watch her grow up into a healthy and educated young woman.

Photo: Gurubari, who is sponsored through ChildFund, lost her home in Cyclone Phailin

“It was past midnight. I woke up to the alarmed voice of my wife shouting, “The house is cracking!” We ran outside, moments later our house came shattering down right in front of us,” recalls terrified father of six Sangram. “I still get goose bumps when I think back to that night.”

Luckily, Sangram’s children were staying at a community centre when Cyclone Phailin struck the coastal state of Odisha in India. “I am thankful to the project staff who insisted that I allow my children to go to the community centre, but we decided to stay here, as I underestimated the cyclone threat,” he says.

Sangram’s 15-year-old daughter, Gurubari, is sponsored through ChildFund. For her, the biggest loss after her home were her textbooks, which were washed away by floodwaters that gushed through her house after it collapsed. “I don’t have a single book left and I don’t know whether I will be able to get another book set,” she says.

Thanks to the disaster risk reduction plan put in place by ChildFund’s local partner in Kendrapara district, no lives were lost, but many homes were destroyed and it is estimated that villagers lost more than 75 per cent of their farming land because of heavy rains.

11-year-old Loknath from Puri district had only ever heard about stories of big typhoons before Cyclone Phailin hit, but on 12 October he was one of a dozen children seeking shelter at a local school before the storm.

“I was not very sure what was going to happen,” Loknath recalls. “Though there was no electricity, we had some kerosene lamps in the hall. We cooked our food inside the hall and started singing and talking to each other to pass time.

“Gradually, the wind began to blow with a moaning sound. And soon it became louder and louder. I felt as if the wind would blow the building away and we would all be thrown into the River Daya, which was just 50 metres away,” he adds.

Despite losing all of their belongings, Loknath’s mother, Rashmita, is thankful to ChildFund staff for convincing them to leave their house before the cyclone struck. “Initially we thought that nothing would happen to our house,” she says. “But the project people came and forced us to leave the house as soon as possible. Thank God that we adhered to their advice. Otherwise, who knows what would have happened to us.”

Millions of people have been affected by Cyclone Phailin and the subsequent floods – thousands of people are homeless and, once the water recedes, at least 1.5 million acres of crops will have been lost.

ChildFund India is working in partnership with International Medical Corps to determine the needs of children and families in the areas hardest hit by the disaster. The Indian government has begun relief activities and ChildFund is coordinating with the government closely. We are also working with local health officials to protect families and children against waterborne diseases and other health risks that may arise, especially due to the flooding.

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