A Gift of Commitment

My name is Michael Kirungi, and I am from Uganda. I was born into a family of 15 children, and for as long as I can remember, we struggled with life because of poverty. But at the age of 10 I was enrolled in the Compassion program, an opportunity that changed my life forever.

When I look back I can tell that my Compassion sponsor Nancy, from Waco, Texas, taught and showed me commitment.

Nancy became my sponsor when I was 13 years old. As a little boy I always enjoyed writing her letters telling her everything that was happening in my life, family and country. I always looked forward to her replies. I was never disappointed. There is not one letter of mine that she didn’t respond to.

I actually kept most of these letters, and I still have them up to this date, I value them so much!

On many occasions when Nancy wrote me letters she always told me that God loves me and He has a great plan for me. She would quote me Scriptures and say a prayer in the letters for me and my family. Her letters expressed her love and her desire to see me grow into a man who feared God.

Nancy’s commitment to sponsoring me inspired me to study very hard in my academics and to participate in school and church activities. So every time I had a success story in my grades or got a leadership role in school or church, it was my joy to share that with her and her family.

To me, her commitment to sponsoring me was a great privilege that I had to cherish.

When I finished high school and I was going to join university, I thought that Nancy was going to stop sponsoring me. But Nancy was so committed! She sponsored me through university until I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in human resource management.

Actually, you might even say her commitment helped me to find my wife, Flavia, whom I met in college. We have now been married for seven years, and we have two children, Michelle and Marcus.

I believe that by being a sponsor, you, too, are showing this kind of commitment to your child. Your support means a lot to the children you sponsor, and it can change their lives forever.

Michael stays busy as a preacher, an owner of a safari company and the founder of Mifik Global Mission, a nonprofit that coordinates mission trips and provides educational and developmental services to disadvantaged children in Uganda.