South West Life

Well by now most of you know the rules, the story has to have a link to the South West. Normita lives in the Phillipines, and has done all her life, so what are we doing making her the people story?

The link is through John and Heather Powell, who to most people look unremarkable. What is remarkable is that for nearly 30 years Heather has been writing a cheque for what seems like a small amount and in that time has impacted on the lives of young people like Normita.

In about 1988, Normita was living in poverty in Quezon city, which had been swallowed by the ever expanding metropolis of Manila. One of eight siblings, born into a poor family, Normita was destined to live as one of an underclass in a society that had developed in that way. The government of the Phillipines provides education right through the primary school age range, but the poorest families cannot afford associated costs and the likelihood of her escaping the cycle was low.

Heather had been involved in sponsoring children for about ten years previously and one girl in the Phillipines had just graduated, when she chose in a fairly random way to sponsor six year old Normita. From that time for about 12 years Heather, now with the help of her husband John, sent a cheque which at today's prices is about $30.00 per month, and with that was able to provide support to Normita and the rest of her family. The money, which is worth in the order of a cappucino every three days, kept the little girl in school to the end of high school, looked after her health care and provided reasonable nutrition in the home. Even today, young people in that and many other countries are falling out of primary school because they are needed to work or a pencil is too much for their families to purchase. Even today, young people are struggling to make it through school while their parents feed them what they can, but not enough to stave off malnutrition.

There is nothing that would make the Powells stand out in a crowd, but in 1988 they took on a young girl in a country they'd never seen, and though they haven't changed poverty in that country, they've broken the cycle for one person. In 2000, just weeks before Normita turned 18 and thus was removed from the program, John and Heather scraped together the money to visit the Phillipines. The trip clearly had a significant impact on the Powells, who since then have found that it'sa much easier to write to their sponsored children. They used to love getting the letters from their children too, but it carries that much more joy now. And how do I measure that the process has impacted on them? Well when we did this interview the Powells told me that they had two new "daughters" sponsored in the Phillipines. Then we talked about their three "sons" in the same country. Then about their new boy in Kenya. In any given month they're now making an impact on the lives of six young people.

So what is the impact on Normita? John and Heather went back to the Phillipines in 2004 to see their sponsored children. The trip is done in very simple ways and there are no 5 star hotels in the itinerary. While there though, some contacts arranged for them to see Normita. She brought Nicole with her.... the Powells are now "grandparents" in the Phillipines. Her husband is involved in the telecommunications industry there, and the future for Nicole is much brighter than it had seemed for Normita.

We love this story. We don't want to promote one aid group over another... The Powells use the Australian Baptist World Aid group. The South West Life staff have involvements with Compassion Australia. World Vision are important, and there are similar schemes that very probably have links through your own community or tradition. What we want to say is that this is a really splendid thing you can do, and that looking into the face of your "grandchild" in another nation, whose life can be sustainable because of the kickstart you gave them is a real possibility. Thirty bucks a month in the South West might be a bargain, see what you can do with it.