I received my first letter from my new sponsored child in Kenya. Well, okay, she's only six, so someone wrote it for her. I just have to share some of it with you.

"She was very happy to hear that she's got a sponsor. She jumped up and down singing a chorus. Her parents were also very happy for your schooling her as your beloved child... Mwende has planted a pawpaw tree as a symbol of the friendship with you. She says that she'll keep watering it until when it will start bearing fruits so she'll never leave it to dry. She thanks you a lot and she says that she'll send you a photo with her family and the pawpaw tree."

That brought tears to my eyes, but it became an even greater symbol when I found a second letter (apparently someone forgot to mail it in January) and read this:

"The climate now is hot and dry. Last rain season, we did not harvest anything from our gardens because the rain was very low in such a way that the crops only germinated and no more rain fell on them, so they dried up leaving us in a very tough famine. But we believe that God is able and is the provider."

There was als an official letter from the Wamunyu Children Development Fund -- Wamunyu is probably a tribe, but I haven't had time to do research on it yet. Anyway, it begins:

"It is with great joy and ululations that we are sending many greetings from Wamunyu chidren Development fund the family of Mwende Nzioki and from Mwende herself to you. Do also receive much greetings from the entire Wamunyu fraternity as a whole. It is our hope against wish that you are just fine inhaling and exhaling that good air and you are at the best of health with your family members, friends, relatives and fellow countrymen up there. The saeme case applies to us down here. God has blessed us richly with the gift of life."

I cannot add anything to that. I hope against wish that all of you are inhaling and exhaling that good air.