Sponsorship stories - Special needs children and youth stories

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Stories about sponsored children and youth with special needs
Heriberto's story	Paco's story	Moises' story	Arnobis' story

Children with disabilities flourish in CFCA communities of compassion

With sponsorship, many children and adults with disabilities receive the love and care they need to enjoy a good quality of life. The sense of belonging is extremely important to persons with special needs, who are often isolated or ignored because families lack the financial resources to provide necessary therapy and treatment. What better place to belong than the local CFCA community of compassion, where every person is important and life is worth living to its fullest? The following stories represent how children with special needs can succeed with the support of sponsorship.

Heriberto, Colombia

Heriberto is loved by everyone

CFCA/Antioquia project Heriberto, 11, has flourished since arriving at Hogar del Desvalidos when he was a baby.

Heriberto, 11, arrived at Hogar del Desvalidos (Home of the Destitute) in Antioquia, Colombia, at the age of 11 months, malnourished after the only person he could count on, his mother, died. Heriberto has Down syndrome and arrived soon after a problematic heart surgery.

With much love and support from staff and residents at the home, Heriberto flourished and overcame his heart problem. Today, he is well nourished and able to communicate more easily. Brother Hugo Cifuentes, the CFCA coordinator at the home, uses a Bible verse to best express the improvement in Heriberto’s spirit and physical health.

“He who has a cheerful heart has a continual feast.” Proverbs 15:15.

Every day is a feast for Heriberto.

“Since Heriberto began receiving sponsorship assistance, we see each day how much he has improved and the happiness with which he enjoys each moment,” said Brother Hugo.

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Paco, Mexico

School for children with Down syndrome a haven for overlooked talent

CFCA/Guadalupe project Francisca Morales de De la Fuente (right) started Fundación Down de la Laguna, A.C., so her son, Paco (left), and others with Down syndrome could receive an education.

Francisca Morales de De la Fuente didn’t believe the educators’ discouraging prognosis for her son, Paco, a child with Down syndrome. They told her he could not be educated.

"I knew that Paco was going to be something in life," she said.

So she started Fundación Down de la Laguna, A.C., a school for children with Down syndrome in Torreón, Mexico, 17 years ago. Down syndrome is one of the most frequently occurring chromosomal abnormalities and affects people of all ages, races and economic levels.

Fundación Down has made such great strides in changing the attitudes of parents and the community that it’s hard to believe nearly two decades earlier, many families felt ashamed of these children and kept them hidden inside their homes.

Sponsorship monitors the overall health of the school’s 30 sponsored children and provides nutritional benefits.

“The families also benefit from knowing that through sponsorship, people far away care and understand the journey of development for a child with Down syndrome, who is longing to feel care and support,” said Francisca, now director of the school.  “This encourages us to keep going.”

All the sponsored children send letters to their sponsors, whether they write them or whether someone in their family or at the school helps. And when their sponsor responds, "Their smile says everything," said Francisca.

Francisco, 16, attends a regular high school through Fundación Down. “I want to be a great poet, to write poems of love, to read them in the theatre and move everyone,” said Francisco.

With the care and support he receives through CFCA sponsorship, no doubt Francisco will succeed.

Sponsors Donna and Larry Erpelding of Manhattan, Kan., visited Fundación Down last March on a mission awareness trip to Mexico.

"It was just phenomenal," said Donna. Donna is an elementary school teacher with experience teaching children with special needs. She was impressed with the children and with the quality of care they receive at Fundación Down. The children danced, read speeches they had composed for the sponsors, and served the sponsors cake.

“They could not have done what they did that day without quality care,” she said. "When we left, all of us felt at peace knowing these children were being recognized for their potential.”

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Moises, Venezuela

Moises wants to work for children with special needs

CFCA/File Photo Muscular dystrophy and 14 surgeries have not stopped Moises, 21, from attending law school.

Moises was 7 when his mother brought him to live at Hogar de Niños Impedidos (HONIM), or the Home for Impeded Children in Barquisimeto, Venezuela.

Doctors had already performed several surgeries on the young boy to correct his legs, weakened by muscular dystrophy, a genetic disease characterized by degeneration of the skeletal muscles that control movement.

Now 21, Moises has spent most of his young life at HONIM. After 14 surgeries, his legs are improving but he still needs more work on his hip and ankles.

Sponsorship has helped provide Moises with integral tools for his development. He sees his family during school breaks.

“Moises is a happy, extroverted person with deeply-rooted values and a contagious smile,” said Miguel Martinez Brito, CFCA’s subproject coordinator for HONIM.

Danny and Darryl Krug of Wichita, Kan., have sponsored Moises for 11 years. Danny, who was born in Venezuela, has visited Moises several times.

“I am so very proud of Moises,” she said. “And I am so impressed with what he has accomplished and the spirit that keeps him going. Whatever Moises wants to do, he will do it.”

Moises is two years away from finishing law school. He said he wants to be a lawyer to give value to the rights of children and youth with special needs.

“The project has planted in Moises the seed of helping others,” said Danny. “He has all that in him. He will continue to fight.”

HONIM serves 71 sponsored children with distinct types of disabilities, including Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, spina bifida and autism. Sponsorship improves the children’s nutrition, clothing and hygiene, and helps provide rehabilitation equipment.

Children attend school onsite or off-site, depending on their capacity. They help run a small farm with chickens, rabbits and vegetables, and participate in band and aerobics classes.

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Arnobis, Colombia

CFCA/File Photo Arnobis, 23, lives at Hogar del Desvalido, a CFCA project in Antioquia, Colombia. He has an intellectual disability and hyperactivity.

Angels show the way to heaven

At the Hogar del Desvalido (Home for the Destitute), a subproject of the Antioquia project in Colombia, Brother Hugo Cifuentes helps write letters for more than 80 sponsored adults and children who cannot write for themselves.

Brother Hugo considers this job a blessing.

“It is possible to discover how marvelous life is when people as special as the sponsors are concerned for our beautiful children,” he said.

Brother Hugo takes care to write letters that reflect the sentiments of his charges by observing their behavior, interpreting their gestures, analyzing their likes and
dislikes and seeking creative ways to communicate with them.

Sponsor Margaret Parker of Tuscola, Ill., appreciates Brother Hugo’s efforts, but didn’t sponsor Arnobis to receive letters. A CFCA preacher asked her to take Arnobis at a weekend appeal because nobody else had chosen him. “It just seemed the natural thing to do,” she said. Arnobis, 23, has a severe intellectual disability.

With 20 years experience as a child protection investigator, she understands how loving care can help children to thrive.

“It’s enough to know that Arnobis is well taken care of,” said Margaret.

Sponsorship helps provide residents of the non-profit home with integrated therapy, as well as nutrition, medical and orthopedic care, physical therapy, recreation and spiritual formation. Residents are between the ages of 6 and 90 and have Down syndrome, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, encephalitis and blindness.

“The quality treatment they receive encourages significant improvements in their behavior,” said Brother Hugo. “Their rehabilitation advances are great, their mental capacities progress and they experience an improvement in psychomotor abilities.”

This progress inspires Brother Hugo to share the sponsored members’ stories with their sponsors.

“I think it is the best thing to happen to me, that God, in his immense generosity, has filled me with his grace,” he said. “I find myself day after day with these little angels who are showing me the way to heaven.”

The following is an excerpt from a letter written by Brother Hugo Cifuentes on behalf of Arnobis to his sponsor, Margaret Parker. Arnobis has hyperactivity and an intellectual disability.

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Want to know more about CFCA sponsorship and its benefits?

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Common questions about sponsorship

Contact us toll-free at (800) 875-6564 or in the Kansas City area (913) 384-6500.

Please note: CFCA does not post photos or other personal information about children or aging persons waiting to be sponsored in order to protect their privacy and the privacy of their families. This is in accordance with our child protection policies and also in keeping with our commitment to respecting the dignity of those we serve. At the same time, we know sponsors may wish to sponsor a child or aging person of a particular age, gender or country, and we do everything possible to honor those requests. Sponsors are invited to indicate special requests in the "other criteria" box when you sponsor online. Once your sponsorship has been established, you will receive a photo and family profile of your sponsored friend, the address of the CFCA project where you may write to your friend and other helpful information about your CFCA sponsorship.