Participants:
Series Code: HIM
Program Code: HIM001113S
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00:02 Child Impact International is an organization
00:05 that gives hope and fosters permanent, 00:07 positive change in the lives 00:09 of disadvantaged children and their communities. 00:13 Countries include Zambia, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, 00:18 Sri Lanka, and Myanmar. 00:20 Child Impact's investment in the lives 00:22 of more than 3,500 children 00:24 continues to yield infinite returns. 00:27 Outreach spans from child rescue operations 00:30 to providing an education 00:31 and a home for deaf and blind children and orphans. 00:35 Above all, Child Impact's sponsors 00:38 give hope to the ones who need it the most. 00:59 If you were to visit Bangladesh, 01:01 you would see 01:02 that it is a country rich in history, 01:04 culture and natural beauty. 01:07 But those who live there have little time to enjoy it. 01:11 Due to economic challenges, 01:13 most of the people have to focus on working 01:15 as much as they can 01:16 in order to put food on the table. 01:20 Families with both parents struggle, 01:22 but if one parent leaves or dies, 01:25 the rest of the family suffers even more. 01:29 That is where organizations like Child Impact 01:32 offer children in these situations hope. 01:36 Today, we will be hearing from two people, 01:38 a current student and a former student 01:41 about the change that sponsorship has had 01:43 on their lives. 01:45 On our trip to Bangladesh, 01:47 we had a guy that helped us every step of the way. 01:49 His name was Shohag. 01:51 He helped us find students to interview 01:53 and would translate what they said 01:54 when they couldn't speak English. 01:56 Jim Rennie from Child Impact sat down with Shohag 01:59 to learn more about him. 02:01 Today, I'm going to have a chat with Shohag Boidya. 02:04 Shohag is our sponsorship manager 02:07 in Bangladesh. 02:09 And over the years, 02:11 I've got to know him fairly well. 02:13 And I can tell you 02:15 that he's a very committed hard worker. 02:18 But today, we want to find out a little bit more about him. 02:22 And, Shohag, 02:24 how long have you been doing this job? 02:26 I am doing now is 11 years. 02:29 Eleven years? 02:30 Wow. 02:32 So let's talk about your earlier days. 02:35 Tell us about your mother, and father, and your family? 02:39 So my father is a mission worker, 02:44 and working in the Sonapur village school. 02:47 And when I was born that time, 02:52 that village robber attacked my father and he died. 02:57 And then one of our pioneer mission workers, 03:00 they took us, me and my brother to the KKMS Orphanage, 03:06 and I grew over there. 03:08 And as time passed and after 10 years, 03:13 my elder brother died in the school somehow. 03:16 That's sad. 03:17 And my mother, she is young lady, 03:22 and she sacrificed her life for me to grow up 03:26 and get the education and study. 03:30 And now, this is our contribution. 03:32 I am here standing in front of you. 03:34 Wow. Wow. 03:37 It is heartbreaking to realize that Shohag's past 03:40 is one that most children in Bangladesh 03:42 are currently living. 03:44 Approximately a third of the 160 million people 03:48 living in Bangladesh are children. 03:50 With proportionally fewer adults 03:52 to take care of the children, 03:53 they often have little hope for the future. 03:56 In spite of these dire statistics, 03:59 Shohag has been able to use the gift of sponsorship 04:02 to have a better life. 04:03 And you have a family? 04:05 Tell us about your family? 04:06 Yeah, I have family. 04:08 I have my wife and my two daughters. 04:11 One daughter is nine years old and another is five plus. 04:15 Both are growing fast, 04:17 and they are attending school in Dhaka. 04:19 We live in Dhaka in the union office. 04:22 Okay. 04:24 Shohag is not the only person to have his life changed 04:26 for the better by Child Impact. 04:29 While visiting SAMS, 04:30 Jim Rennie got to sit down with one of the students. 04:33 So we're here at SAMS Seminary in Bangladesh, 04:38 and today we're going to meet another Child Impact student. 04:44 She doesn't speak a lot of English, 04:46 she speaks Bangla 04:47 and I don't speak much Bangla. 04:49 So we're going to ask her some questions about family 04:54 and what she wants to accomplish in life. 04:58 So what is your name? 05:01 My name is Sita Mumu. 05:02 Sita Mumu, and how old are you? 05:05 Sixteen. 05:07 Sixteen. Okay. 05:08 So tell me about your family? 05:36 Do you enjoy being at the school? 05:38 Are you happy at the school? 05:40 Yes. 05:41 Yes. 05:43 And what do you want to do when you grow up, 05:45 when you get older? 05:46 What do you want to be? 05:51 A teacher, okay, that's great. 05:54 So here's a young lady that lost her father 05:57 at an early age and thanks to her aunty, 05:59 she was introduced to the school 06:01 and now the family have been given hope 06:04 with sponsorship. 06:05 If it wasn't for her loving family 06:07 and the opportunity of sponsorship, 06:09 Sita Mumu story could be very different. 06:13 Children of impoverished families 06:15 are often sold by their parents 06:17 who hope that they will be fed 06:18 and cared for better than they are able to do. 06:21 But these children are rarely in a better situation. 06:25 Most have to live and work in the streets. 06:28 For girls, they often start out as domestic servants. 06:31 But as they get older, 06:33 they are forced into prostitution. 06:35 For poor children in Bangladesh, 06:37 sponsorship is their only hope. 06:41 I just want you to tell me 06:43 how important is sponsorship to these children? 06:49 This is a really huge impact on the children. 06:53 You can see, in my life, 06:55 in full of my life I got the sponsorship. 06:58 And I get education, and I am graduated. 07:01 Now I'm serving children. 07:04 Same time, children have three times meal 07:09 in boarding school, they get education. 07:11 Even this is the big impact for their families also. 07:15 Some of the parents very poor, 07:17 even they don't have work every day. 07:20 But most of them are day laborers 07:22 in different work. 07:24 So this is the big help and big impact, 07:26 in the child life and also in their family. 07:32 How many children do you manage? 07:34 We manage over 3,200 students. 07:41 Three thousand two hundred? 07:43 We have four field managers and I am supervising them. 07:48 And we have big and small, around 10 partners. 07:53 Right. Yeah. 07:55 Do you know how many children there are 07:57 in Adventist Mission schools? 07:58 Yeah. 08:00 All of them are in mission school 08:01 and many of them graduated. 08:04 And some of them get job inside the church 08:07 and some of them go outside doing some work 08:10 in the private organization. 08:13 Some are working in NGOs, 08:15 and also some of them working in government office also. 08:19 So how big is the school system in Bangladesh? 08:24 It is a big school. 08:27 We have seven boarding schools, like SAMS, 08:31 and including one college, 08:33 and we have around 100 village schools. 08:38 Hundred village schools? 08:39 And we in total we have more than 7,500 students. 08:44 Also we have 11 Adventist Mission schools 08:48 around the cities. 08:50 So you say you have four field officers. 08:54 Just tell us, what does the field officer do? 08:56 Just very quickly, 08:58 what does the field officer's role? 09:00 The field officer main role is to check the roll call, 09:04 and prepare the new application. 09:07 They prepare the photograph. 09:09 They do collecting the thanks letters, 09:13 translating even, 09:15 they collect Christmas cards, distribute gifts, 09:19 and also check other school like, office supplies, 09:22 and other activities they do. 09:25 They travel in the village schools also. 09:27 This is their big role to handle all village schools. 09:31 Right. 09:33 So the field officers in all the countries 09:35 where we have children 09:36 are very key to the success of the organization 09:40 both in checking the children. 09:42 Now they're getting feedback with letters and APRs. 09:46 In the team that works with Shohag, 09:49 we also handle our projects. 09:52 And starting now at KMMS School, 09:55 we have a very large building project, 09:59 and the critical thing for us is to have people on the ground 10:03 that we can trust that we can work with. 10:06 And I guess 10:08 over the last four or five years, 10:10 I've got to know these guys personally. 10:13 I see them as my friends. 10:15 I see them as my work colleagues, 10:17 and I see them as our partners. 10:19 And so for us, 10:20 to ensure that the donor's money 10:23 is being well spent, 10:25 it's critical 10:27 that we have good support on the ground. 10:29 And here in Bangladesh, we have that 10:33 and we are grateful to the workers here. 10:36 But we're also grateful to the donors. 10:39 And by bringing the two together, 10:41 we can ensure value for the donors. 10:45 For those children who are lucky enough 10:46 to be sponsored, 10:48 they can look forward to a future 10:49 where they can live in a safe environment, 10:52 in environment where their immediate needs 10:54 will be taken care of. 10:55 And through education, 10:57 they will be empowered to help not only themselves, 11:01 but also others. 11:03 There is a very different future 11:04 for those that are not sponsored. 11:08 Shohag, tell us about some children 11:12 who can't get into a boarding school, 11:14 who can't get into an orphanage. 11:17 What's the sad thing that could happen? 11:20 What's the bad impact that could happen? 11:23 So the bad impact of their families and life 11:27 that they will definitely 11:34 addicted into smoking, drinking, 11:37 and they don't get to the school. 11:39 They don't go to the school, even they do other work. 11:43 And they will not have bright future. 11:46 They don't have the education. 11:49 Yeah. 11:50 Yeah, we visited a village the other day 11:53 and there was a solo mom, 11:56 and she's having a challenge with her 10-year old boy. 12:00 Because he can go into the field sometimes 12:02 and earn some money, doesn't have to go to school, 12:05 and she was very distraught as if we could help her. 12:09 And so, children, as we're driving along, 12:13 you see the brickworks and you see the children, 12:16 and the brickworks are a place where children are exploited. 12:21 And so, we're just so excited 12:23 that we can give some children hope 12:25 and through sponsorship, that's what happens. 12:29 We are very reliant on people like Shohag. 12:33 And what makes the big difference 12:35 that some of them 12:36 have actually been sponsored children. 12:39 Some of them have had to come through the orphanage, 12:42 and so they have a passion. 12:43 And I know that Shohag 12:45 and most of the staff in Bangladesh 12:48 have a real passion, 12:49 and we're very excited that they partner with us. 12:53 And we're very excited that we can sponsor children 12:57 and that you the sponsors can make a difference. 13:02 While the need for sponsorship is still large, 13:05 the difference that every sponsor makes 13:07 is it changed life, 13:09 a life that doesn't have to live 13:10 on the streets, 13:11 a life that could find hope even in the shadow of loss. 13:16 Sponsorship may not be able to change the world, 13:18 but it does change the world 13:20 for one of God's precious children. |
Revised 2020-07-06