The power to choose in a child’s hands

Some kids wait years to be chosen by sponsors. Now it’s their turn to take action.  

Kids now have the chance to choose you as their sponsor. This puts the power in the hands of our brothers and sisters in developing countries — honoring their dignity as equals and celebrating our belief in Christ by loving our neighbor no matter who they are, or where they live.  

It’s a simple switch in our thinking that gives value and honor to everyone involved —acknowledging that these kids have the power to change our lives, too.  

Instead of you choosing from hundreds of pictures of children who need sponsors, your picture goes to the kids, and one of them will choose you. And in doing so, people like Shanda are experiencing God’s goodness through the simple act of a child. 

Shanda and her family said yes to sponsoring a child with World Vision while attending Soul City Church in Chicago. “We believe it's a part of our mission as believers in Christ,” says Shanda about helping others. Their photo was taken, then sent to Mwala, Kenya, along with photos of hundreds of other Soul City congregants, to be displayed at a large community event. 

In Mwala, a rural community of 40,000 people two hours east of Nairobi, Kenya, the freedom to choose is an unfamiliar luxury for children like 9-year-old Junior. 

Junior had experienced a childhood of deep poverty. Since he was 6 months old, he and his three older brothers have lived with their widowed grandmother. She scraped together money from odd jobs washing clothes or farming other people’s land but struggled to pay school fees and buy food. 

At the Mwala community event, photos of potential sponsors were displayed for the kids to see. One by one, each child took their turn to examine the faces and choose who they wanted. Junior saw Shanda’s face and chose her. Knowing he has her support makes him want to give back. “When [people] help me, I feel happy. That makes me want to help others so that they feel happy,” he says. 

Shanda knows that the best way to help a person living in poverty is not with handouts, or as she explains it, “taking away their power and their agency.” The best way is to encourage them to take hold of their own futures — starting with choices like Junior’s. 

“For him to look and to then say, ‘I have choices, I have agency,’ … it was just the most amazing thing for me to be on the receiving end of that, to say that he looked, and he looked, and then chose me,” she says. 

Like Shanda, you can step into a life-changing connection, one that empowers the child and their community for a future filled with opportunities. Better yet? Because of World Vision’s community-focused solutions, for every child you help, four more children benefit, too. 

Learn more about being chosen at worldvision.org/Chosen 

World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. We serve all people, regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, or gender.