Samir Padilla HONDURAS

I was having so much fun as a sponsor, I talked Peter into signing on and he chose a boy, who actually happens to be from Olga's area. Samir is a mechanically-minded child. He says he would love to be an engineer or a mechanic. He likes school, studies hard, with excellent performance in school, and enjoys playing football (that's soccer to us).

Sponsored since: August 1999.

Jackson Onyango KENYA

Jackson writes in English, which is taught in school in Kenya. He is frequently at the top of his class in school, studies hard, and his dream is to become a lawyer. He calls me "Mum" in his letters. If you look closely, you'll see him sporting a Nahant Fish & Lobster tee shirt that I sent him! He turned 18 Oct 2005 and has 'aged out' of the Plan program. We are still in touch - he is finishing secondary school. Sponsored since: February 2000

Marielle PHILLIPPINES

Marielle and her mother Liberty are delightful. They write faithfully -English is one of the official languages in the Phillippines, so they are suprisingly fluent, especially since it is their 3rd language after their local language and Filipino. Marielle's community has graduated from the Plan program, but we stay in touch.

Sponsored since: April, 2000

Sorasak THAILAND

Sorasak write to us in Thai and it is translated by Plan. We get the original letter and it's pretty interesting to see Thai written out longhand. Sorasak actually takes some English in school, but he's not tried his hand at writing any. He has sent some lovely drawings. He often lives with his grandmother because his parents grow rice at home, and are migrant workers at various other times of year - planting or harvesting in other provinces or doing construction work. I am struck by hard they work, yet they still can't get out of poverty.

Sponsored since: April 2000

Ruth Enith ECUADOR

Ruth is in high school. In a country where education is often not highly valued, and girl's education is even less valued, her parents are heros for finding a way to keep this bright young gal in school. Ruth writes lovely letters and has sent us wonderful drawings. She would like to become an architect. Ruth has 'aged out' of the program, and they tell me that it's not possible to remain in touch as her mountain community has no standard mail delivery!

Sponsored since: April 2000

Roger Gomez DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Roger, his mother, and his aunt have all written us thank yous for our sponsorship. He loves baseball and basketball and his favorite subject in school is math.

Sponsored since: August 2002

Heidy Yaneth GUATEMALA

Heidy loves to read, and she really seems to enjoy getting letters from us. I have sent some small gifts including some books (in Spanish - easy to get thru Amazon) - and she particularly loves getting books!

Sponsored since: August 2002

Seetha Madushanti SRI LANKA

Seethta is on the left, shown with her mother and older sister. Seetha writes lovely long letters. Despite the poverty in Sri Lanka, the literacy rate is very high.

Sponsored since: October, 2002

Tabu Ndalama TANZANIA

Tabu, shown here with her mother, lives in a very traditional African family with many children. She sends her own letters now, written in Swahili, which is a really cool language. She is attending primary school.

Sponsored since: October 2002

Olga Marianna HONDURAS

Olga was our first sponsored child. Her family moved out of the Plan area in 2005. She taught me the words "abrazos y besos" "hugs and kisses", which is how she signed most of her letters.

July 1999-mid-2005