Basomingera Turns 10!

My beautiful Basomingera Ada hits the double digits today! Ada is my correspondent child through Compassion International. I call her my “Miracle Girl” because God brought her to me in a very special way.

On January 8, 2013, I emailed Compassion and asked to be placed on the list for a child of any age or gender from Rwanda. I knew that when you ask for specific criteria, it can take a long time for the request to be fulfilled. But when I still hadn’t received a child by March, I was getting discouraged. By that time, I had already been asked to become correspondent to my youth group’s child, Isimbi, but I wanted a child that was all “mine.”

I happened to mention my dilemma on OurCompassion, which is the official Compassion forum for sponsors. Everyone seemed to be getting new correspondent children, and I felt a little left out. Then, to my surprise, another Compassion sponsor replied to me. This is what she said: “Hi Hannah, I just recently got assigned a correspondent from Rwanda. I just wrote an email introduction letter on Saturday so if it hasn't been processed yet, I would be willing to give you this girl to write to. Her name is Basomingera Ada. She is 9 years old and lives with her mother. The father is deceased. Let me know, if you want her.”

I was flabbergasted, that someone would offer to give up their newly assigned child for me. I was so thankful, I cried. I hadn’t even seen a picture of this child yet, but I loved her already. Basomingera Ada. My girl. Did she have brothers or sisters or was she an only child? Was she special needs? Where in Rwanda did she live? I had a hundred questions, but all I could do was wait as it took a few days for Compassion to switch her to my account and get me her information. Finally, I saw her sweet face for the first time. It was only a thumbnail sized picture, but I fell head-over-heels in love.

This is the picture that I first saw of Ada. My first thought was that she had the biggest, most beautiful brown eyes in the world. I immediately emailed Compassion headquarters and asked them to email me any full-sized pictures of my new “sponsor daughter.”

This is the first picture they sent me. Ada was seven years old in this picture. My heart broke to see how thin and sad and hopeless she looked, with her arms held close to her sides and her head lowered, and those enormous brown eyes looking like they were searching for someone to love her.

This is the second and most recent picture they sent me. She’s nine in this picture. Notice how her head is up, the shoulders squared, and best of all, an almost-smile on her face and a sparkle in those beautiful eyes. If anyone wonders if child sponsorship makes a difference, I challenge them to look at my Ada.

So, for Ada’s birthday, I sent her some paper goodies to help her celebrate along with this letter.

“To my beautiful Basomingera Ada,

I want to start this letter by saying how excited I am that you will soon be 10 years old! I hope this letter gets to you in time for your birthday and does not arrive too early or too late!

My beautiful girl, I am praying that God would give you a wonderful day on your birthday, and that you would know how special and loved you are. You are special because God made you and there is no one else just like you in the world! I want to share a couple of Bible verses with you. The first one is Jeremiah chapter 1, and verse 5. It says that before God formed us, He knew us, and before we were born, He set us apart. Also, Psalm 139, verse 16, says that God knew all the days of our lives before He even made us! This means that even before the world was made, God knew that someday there would be a little girl named Basomingera Ada, who would live in Rwanda. He knew where you would live, and had your family all picked out. God even knew that I would be writing you letters! Isn’t that amazing?! God has so many good plans for you.

You know, I remember when I turned 10 years old. On that day, I spent a lot of time playing with my best friend, who spent the day with me. We had a lot of fun. My birthday is on December 28, just three days after Christmas.

When I was ten, I wanted to be a singer when I grew up. My favorite thing to do was reading and going for walks. My favorite subject in school when I was 10 was science, and the subject I disliked was math. I always struggled in math. But I worked hard, and I was able to do well in all my other subjects.

What do you want to become when you grow up? I would love to know what your dreams for the future are. It’s good to start thinking about what we want to be, even though our dreams may change many times before we discover what God wants us to do.

Basomingera, would you like to play a game with me? Here’s how we’ll play: On your birthday, close your eyes and pretend I am sitting next to you. I will also close my eyes over here in Newfoundland and pretend that you are sitting next to me! That way, we will both be thinking about each other on the same day! I can pretend I am celebrating your birthday with you, and I can pretend that I am giving you a big hug! What would you pretend? Do you like to play make-believe and use your imagination?

I will close this letter now, but I will write you again soon! I love you SO much!”

I want to dedicate a song to my beautiful girl on her birthday. This is the song that was playing over and over in my head the night I found out that I was to be her correspondent. I hadn’t even seen her yet, but these words describe perfectly how I felt as I was waiting impatiently for a child.

Lastly, in honor of Ada, I want to show you another special girl from Compassion International who needs a sponsor.

This is Irumva Esther. She lives in Rwanda, like Ada; she is ten years old, like Ada; and today is also her birthday! I didn’t think I would be able to find another ten-year-old girl from Rwanda with a birthday today, but here she is. And look at the sad expression on her face, just like Ada’s in her first picture. She's also been waiting 405 days for a sponsor... more than a year! She’s just waiting for a sponsor to tell her how beautiful and precious she is… could it be you? Click here to sponsor Esther.