Comparing Two Holiday Gift Catalogs (2024)

I know I don't have to convince any of you how important an education can be for a child. Study after study has shown that education is the key to overcoming poverty. I have had the opportunity to see inside several schools in rural Africa, and this picture shows a very typical school house. Unfortunately, due to the high fees, many children are unable to attend.

There is also a teacher shortage in many countries. I visited a school in Uganda where the child to teacher ratio was 93 to 1. There are so few schools in most rural areas that children come from long distances. Why not help a girl receive an education for $40, rather than buy plastic school supplies for a doll?

You can multiply your gift with matching corporate product donations that will allow your $150 gift to turn into $1200 worth of school supplies, textbooks, sports equipmentand more. It's kind of a sad day in this world when an 18" doll has so many pieces of sports equipment to keep track of that it needs its own sports storage bench, while real children are playing with balls they have made from trash.

While I can't argue the fact that it would be a lot of fun to have a plastic ice cream cart with six treats in three different colors, I can only imagine the impact that it would have for a family to have you provide them with a microloanfor about the same price. A loan likethat could allow a woman to start her own small business and enable and empower her to provide for her family. While you won't get a bottle of pretend sprinklesand chocolate syrup, youwill get an e-mail with the specific details of the entrepreneur you are supporting and updates to track their businesses progress.

What if instead of purchasing plastic doll items and accessories, we instead bought real items for real girls that would provide the help that they need to find their way out of extreme poverty.

Let's compare a few items from the catalog:

You can buy an super cute American Girl stuffed pet bunny for $24. It even comes with pretend carrots! You can also purchase a World Vision rabbit for $20. Not only can a pair of rabbits provide food for a family, they can also be the start of a small family business.

What was once a struggling family, is now a thriving family with a bright future. When we can, we try to gift the families that we sponsor with an extra $100 at Christmas. We receive a full report on what the family purchased and are always amazed at how far the money goes. Moses's family was able to buy the suit that you see him wearing in the picture, metal sheeting for their hut's roof, a mattress, and amosquito net. In addition, they purchased several farm animals, like this chicken{well, maybe not that particular chicken, but that chicken's grandma...or something like that}that he gave to me as a thank you gift when I visited.

To make a life-changing gift and find a child that your family can connect with personally, consider child sponsorship. If you want to talk about fueling connections, then child sponsorship is the way to do it. You can find a child in any of the nearly 100 countries that World Vision works in here.

We selected children that our family already had some type of connection to. Both of the kids that we sponsor are the same age as our two younger children. Perhaps sponsoring a girl in Cambodia that is at risk for being sold into the sex trade tugs at your heart. The children of Africa have mine.
When you sponsor a child, your family is able to write letters, send packages and get updates on the child that you sponsor. There was nothing more special than being invited into the sparse hut that Moses lived in with very few possessions, but when he pulled out a stack of handwritten letters that our family has sent to him over the years tied with twine, I melted. He had kept every single one.

I knew then that while I couldn't change the world, I could change the world for one child.

Remember those two girls I introduced you to at the beginning? Their story isn't unique. There are children just like them all over the world with the same struggles.

Girls that live far from school like Nerott, often drop out. Not only is it a struggle to walk long distances with poor nutrition and lack of clean water, but they face dangers like violence and kidnapping. You could help provide a bike to a girl to help provide safe, speedy transportation for only $125. I am challenging you today to consider making a shift in your thinking.