Dear Oasis Family,
This is the second in a series of letters to sponsors, donors, volunteers and friends of Oasis. So lets see..... just what is so special about Oasis for Orphans? Oasis is a "high-touch high-relationship" organization. We believe that it is very healthy for the kids we rescue and develop to have a strong relationship with one sponsor family and for that family to have a strong relationship with their sponsored child. This is not a "flash in the pan, here's my check, good luck, see you later!" type of operation. The relationship we have found to be most helpful in giving a child a sense that they are special to someone in this world is one family with one sponsored child. Those of you who are already sponsors know how powerful it is to have your sponsored child call you mom or dad, and I don't need to tell you anything more. We do not put them up to this, it comes spontaneously and having a sponsor family is something incredibly important to our children. When life circumstances or death cause a sponsor to stop their sponsorship their child grieves and is distraught to be without a family (even if they have never met them face to face.) Circumstances out of their control have put these orphaned children at risk in a very scary world. Having a sponsor brings them a feeling of security in what is otherwise a very uncertain life. And, I'm not talking just about the financial support they receive, it is the relationship and the sense of belonging that is so highly valued.
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Nate Kaiser and Moses |
We recently had a little girl who lost her sponsor. We had no problem supporting her with funds in our general account and we foolishly did not have a sense of urgency to find her a new sponsor family. We did not immediately recognize the panic she felt about not having a sponsor because we were meeting her material needs. She was very despondent about not having a family. One day she confided to one of our staff members that she had a dream of a papa and mama in America who already had six children but who wanted to love her too. She was certain that they would find her before our annual Skype calls less than two weeks away. In her dream she saw the papa come up the hill where she was standing outside of our children's home, he scooped her up in his arms and swung her around and around tossed her in the air and hugged her tight. As soon as we heard this we found her a sponsor family in less than a week.
Our little girl received a letter and pictures from her new family just a few days before the Skype sessions started and she intently studied the letter and pictures they sent. Meeting for the first time on Skype her new sponsor father started to introduce the family and she interrupted him saying, "You don't have to tell me their names, I already know them." She proceeded to describe and name all five family members. She was serious about having new siblings and a mom and dad. Her dream is coming true (even if they only have three other kids so far). We are praying that the sponsor family can go to Kenya and fulfill the rest of her dream sometime soon. This is what makes Oasis unique in the orphan care world - long-term, high-influence personal involvement in the life of one child.
There are many other ways in which Oasis is different from most other Orphan and child poverty programs. Here are four of them:
- We focus only on double orphans with no mother and no father, or on single orphans where the surviving mom or dad are totally dysfunctional, deathly sick, or addicted and unable to care for their child.
- Financially we ask one sponsor family to meet all of the basic needs of one child, whereas other organizations we know have five sponsors who each give $30 a month per child. Easier on the sponsors budget but impossible for the child to have a significant relationship with five families. (I will have more on how Oasis finances work in another letter.)
- We don't want to just rescue orphans, we want to fully develop them as well. So our program is intended to give them a sense of family and to allow them to go as far as they can in the education system of Kenya. We envision our "graduates" as future leaders of Kenya one day.
- Our program looks to provide not only physical necessities but social, spiritual, educational and occupational development. We are in the process of building up our capabilities in all of these areas.
Ok, so now you know how different Oasis is; we focus on quality of care not just food in the belly. To be sure, providing food to the hungry is important but we want to see our kids with full bellies and a hopeful future as well. With 2.6 million orphaned children in Kenya we have a lot of work to do!
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| Tom and Ruthmari Andersen |
Thank you for doing your part to make a
difference in the life of an orphaned child.
Tom Andersen
Manager of Oasis US Operations
