Mi Ahijada

SAN GASPAR, Guatemala--The younger, shorter woman in the photo is Aura, my ahijada -- that is, my godchild or sponsored child.

The sponsor system is a common way for nonprofits here and elsewhere to attract contributors. You establish a direct link between the sponsor and the child, who exchange letters, photos and the like. That emotional link helps insure that the sponsor won't stop giving. I'm not a great madrina, or godmother. That is, I don't write a lot of personal letters. But I do keep writing the checks.

Now, no matter what the ads from some charities say, my $2 a day doesn't actually feed Aura or anything like that. It doesn't go directly to her family. Rather, it goes to a fund that pays for things such as her high school scholarship, her school uniform and the salary of the social worker who regularly visits her family. As far as I'm concerned, that's a good thing. It spreads the money out. Also, I don't think a direct cash payment would be the best way to insure that things such as tuition get paid--other priorities would likely come first, like food.

That's because Aura's family has a monthly income of less than $300. And while life is less expensive here than up north, that's not enough for anything that most Americans would consider acceptable.

It's an intact family, with an employed father and a supportive mother. But there are eight kids, which means it is something close to miraculous that all the little ones are actually enrolled in school.

I visited the family for an hour this week. The littlest girls were smiley and shy, speaking in near-whispers, in a way common with Guatemalan girls. The mother was friendly,  gracious and obviously proud of her kids. The house was small, especially with that many little children around. There was a main room that serves as living room, kitchen and dining room. Three bedrooms were curtained off. I know from the social work report that there's electricity and a bathroom with running water. I know from my experience that there's a dirt floor. Oh, and chickens pecking around on that dirt floor, six adults and three chicks, all at various points in the food production process.

It was the first time that I have met Aura, who I have sponsored for four years. She's in high school, an admirable feat here. She's studying for a career in tourism administration--accounting and the like. She's not tiny and cute, like many of the other ahijados affiliated with the project. (OK, maybe she's tiny--compared with me, most Guatemalan women are--and obviously she's cute, but not the way that the six-year-olds are.)

Instead, she is a well-spoken, polite young lady who very soon will be able to help support the rest of her family, and will have a very good chance of breaking the cycle of poverty. I'm proud to have met her.