Sponsored child looks to pay it forward

sponsored child looks to pay it forward. how sponsorship helped one young woman reach her full potential. by pâmella cordeiro –. my name is pâmella cordeiro. i am 23 years old. i am a first-year cadet at the salvation army training college in brazil. once, i was a sponsored child, through the salvation army’s overseas child sponsorship program. i was born in a community called “fishermen’s village,” in cubatão, são paulo, where drug trafficking caused poverty for many families. when i was 6 years old, i started to attend the salvation army project, which provided an after-school program with education and music activities. for many children, the only meal they had each day was the one they received at the project. i was fortunate. i had sponsors who were christian people from a prayer group. i have never met them, but i am sure their prayers contributed to my development. i received a scholarship for an english course for six years. recently, i graduated from the university with a degree in education. this was a victory for me since the majority of the young people in my community do not even finish high school. i have experienced the power of prayer and now i commit myself to pray for other children who are in a similar situation to what i was in. as an employee at the project, i was able to have another view of sponsorship. many children who attend the project have broken families, leaving them without a mother or father figure, or both in some cases. when they receive letters and gifts from sponsors, they feel loved and somehow valued. this motivates them to dream of a future different from that of their parents, and to believe in their potential. today, i can sow dreams, as seeds were planted in my life some time ago. with my testimony, i can encourage others to contribute to the development of children.