Ever wonder what GlobalFingerprints looks like up close? Joy, translation coordinator for GlobalFingerprints shares her experiences visiting children in Brazil for the first time:
Before seeing GlobalFingerprints in action in person, I simply could not comprehend its power and impact. In April, I got to see how the translations I coordinate are used “on the ground” to bless vulnerable children. It's one thing to translate documents about ensuring education and reporting abuse and malnutrition. It was quite a surprise to see this training in action and to interact with the children our program benefits.
Although Brazil is the newest GlobalFingerprints site, there are already four care workers, eighty-three sponsored kids, one program manager, and one site coordinator. Our goal is to help these kids become godly, healthy adults who impact their communities positively. Right now, at the onset of this program being launched in Brazil, the situation for sponsored children is still grim. Many do not know their fathers, can’t attend any school because of closures, have never played with toys or been taught by a fun teacher who cares about them, and have not had a caring, responsible adult in their lives until now. Our care workers are each assigned to children whom they visit on a monthly basis. Because the local school is closed indefinitely because the roof caved in, tutoring at the GlobalFingerprints site is all the schooling they currently get.
“Timothy,” the program manager, took us on a brief walk not far from the church to see where most sponsored kids live. I was shocked! The kids we met did not look needy, but when we saw the homes many are forced to live in, my heart sank. For instance, I met two delightful sisters with long hair that was washed, brushed, and styled. They dressed in their best, and their smiles lit up the room. Then I saw their house made of tin and concrete – a house that floods every raining season – and I could not believe it. Frequently packed into one-room homes near open sewers, these kids find that floods often ruin what they have. Violence, abuse, neglect, and illiteracy plague this area.
One eight-year-old, “John,” was loving his English lessons. Each day, he would hug his teacher and speak English in his cute little voice. He is very gifted, and if he lived in the US and had a middle- or even lower-class upbringing, he would do well in school and graduate from college. Of course, the answer is not transplanting him, but making his community and his family healthier and providing hope that things can change. As of now, his mother doesn’t read or write – even in Portuguese.
After meeting kids like these, I started imagining how GlobalFingerprints could transform this community. Each day we were there, the kids got a Bible lesson, Bible songs, English lessons, a meal (sometimes the only meal of the day), a craft, a chance to play games for the first time, and unconditional love. Imagine if even 50% of the eighty-three vulnerable kids enrolled came to know Christ’s love and the hope that we have both in this life and in the one to come. Imagine John accepting Christ and relying on God when life gets hard. Imagine him hearing about God’s love and being shown it through visits, meals, fun, presentations about professions, and tutoring. He could break the cycle of poverty, marry a Christian girl, be a responsible and godly father, and serve the Lord with his skills and knowledge.
Thanks to the dedicated GlobalFingerprints staff who speak the language and were raised in this culture, kids now have an opportunity for real hope. Why? Because local care workers are living proof that you can indeed succeed even with humble beginnings. They used to be far from God and caught in a cycle of despair. They know what it is like to not have food, education, or love when you desperately need it. Their examples speak volumes.
Learn more about how GlobalFingerprints collaborates with churches in kids’ hometowns to make an eternity of difference!