We had the pleasure of meeting with Bray and his family. Bray is a boy that we have been sponsoring through Compassion Canada for 5 years. Over the years we exchanged letters and photos. Our visit was one of the most humbling experiences of our lives. The smile on Bray’s mother’s face immediately showed us how she felt about our visit.
We first visited the project that Compassion has developed for the kids that are sponsored. We later went to Bray’s home where we met the rest of his family. Even though Bray’s family didn’t have much they were very hospitable, bringing out tea with bread.
We had a great visit with them. They played soccer, cards, and marbles. Bray rocked at marbles. Every year we send money for his birthday. Compassion International works with the family on what to get with his birthday money. A few years ago he bought a goat. That goat has grown to three goats of which he is very proud. We also met Bray’s grandmother, who they think is in her mid-90s. She can no longer see and can hardly hear but still wanted to sit and visit with us.
When we received Bray’s letters in Canada, we thought that someone else had to be writing them. His printing was very neat and his comments seem to be more mature than what a 12 year old might write. Our interpreter asked him if he wrote the letters to us himself and he said that he did. Then when we visited his home, he showed us some of his schoolwork. I couldn’t believe the work he had been doing. The math that he was doing for his grade was more advanced that the math our grade 8 students do in Alberta. This is surprising because Bray is a couple of grades below Quinn. Bray wants to be a pilot when he grows up.
We knew that the home he lived in probably wasn’t much but we quite shocked at its size. It is the size of two sheds and there are 6 people in his family. Bray’s mom told us that her dream is to have a real house. They already have the foundation built and they buy a few materials when they get some extra money. It would only cost about 4 to 5 million Tanzanian Shillings, which is about $3,000 Canadian. Our boys are thinking about doing some type of fundraiser when they get back to Canada to help them out. More photos of our visit are here.
