A few weeks ago I was having a rough day. I felt like nothing I was doing was making a difference. I was discouraged. By the time my husband came home from work I was nearly in tears.

He walked in the door holding a green sheet of paper and when he saw me he began reading aloud. Within seconds I knew what he was doing—he was reading a letter from Issouf, one of our sponsor children through Compassion International.

 Issouf wrote to us with excitement—he wanted us to know our prayers had been heard and he passed his primary school exams. Once the summer in Burkina Faso was over, he would be moving on to secondary school. That might not be big news to a child in America, but for Issouf it meant everything. Because school fees are extremely high in most impoverished nations, many children are not able to go to school.

Several years ago Issouf lost his father to AIDS, and he and his younger brother are raised by their mother and grandmother who are only sometimes employed. School is a luxury Issouf is able to take advantage of through Compassion’s child sponsorship program. He regularly writes to us to tell us about his grades and how hard he is working because he knows he is only in school because he has a Compassion sponsor.

I was so proud of him as Michael read me the letter. Then I noticed that something was stapled to the back. It was a photo of Issouf and his mother with some large bags of corn and rice and a few cooking utensils.

In his letter, Issouf went on to thank us for the recent monetary gift we sent. What he wrote next put me in tears:

 “This gift will help us overcome this rainy season hunger.”

Hunger. When I was hungry this afternoon I drove to Subway. But on the other side of the world, when a child goes hungry, he or she goes to bed like that. Yet it doesn’t have to be that way.

Children like Issouf and their families are going to bed full and satisfied because of people just like you. A simple gift of $38 a month is enough to provide food, clothing, medication and education to a child in need. That’s less than $1.25 a day.

For some people that’s one less trip to Starbucks a week. To others, it’s one less meal out. If you’re a teenage girl it might mean taking the money from one babysitting job a month and sending it to the other side of the world. Or it might mean getting three of your friends together so the four of you can contribute $10 each a month to collectively change the life of a little boy or a little girl.

Michael and I began sponsoring Issouf and a college student named Robert (who I will tell you about on Wednesday) in 2006 and the relationships we have built with them through our letters are priceless. The way I see it, I have two African brothers. I hope to meet them in person one day. But even if I don’t, I know that my life is making a difference in theirs each month.

Will you join me in my quest to make a difference in the lives of impoverished children by sponsoring a child through Compassion today?