Sara Roe and her husband Chris have been involved with CCF for four years. They generously sponsor two children and a granny, and here give an insight into their motivation.
In 2014, through our own charity Bikes 4 Life, we had the opportunity to visit the Cambodian Children’s Fund. After seeing Scott Neeson’s story on The Project [an Australian news-current affairs television program], we made contact to see if CCF would be interested in receiving a container of our bikes. Luckily for us, they were.
During the visit, where we distributed our bikes to the CCF students and broader community, we were beyond impressed. Our bikes were being gifted to those students who had a 100% attendance rate at school and for adults who had behaved admirably and lead by example in the community. Our bikes were provided as a genuine incentive and the reasoning and objectives of this program demonstrated to us what an amazing NGO we were working with.
Being so inspired, we asked Scott if we were able to sponsor a child … and that one question has been one of the best questions we have ever asked. The next day, our whole family was introduced to our gorgeous 11-year-old sponsor child and it was love at first sight! We will never forget how she took our hands and proudly introduced us to anyone who’d listen saying ‘these are my sponsors.’ It showed how much value the children place in sponsorship and how they understand the importance of it. This was the beginning of a very committed relationship for all of us.
Now, you see, we have a slight ‘problem’ … we can’t stop going back! Since that first meeting in 2014 we have been back every year! Each visit has been different, but every visit has brought such joy – classroom visits, Central Market, swimming at the water park, KFC, Kid City edutainment centre – you name it, we’ve done it.
The various Skype calls and emails between visits have been just as wonderful and rewarding. The kind of relationship we have developed with not only our child but CCF itself, was not even imaginable from our previous perceptions of child sponsorship.
Our gorgeous sponsor child is now 15-years-old and we have had the privilege and pleasure of seeing her grow into a confident, well educated and strong young woman. We feel very proud to have contributed to her success and have seen firsthand how our sponsorship has made such a positive impact.
We have recently sponsored another child and a granny through the Sponsorship Program and can’t wait to continue our very special relationship with them and with CCF. If anyone is interested in CCF sponsorship and would like to speak with us further, we’d be very happy to chat.
