Visiting Richard

A few years ago, when we initially signed up to sponsor a child through Compassion International, I picked a child from Togo knowing there was a good chance we would visit the country again and possibly be able to meet our sponsored child.  When the details worked out to visit Richard in his village, this was one of the events I was most looking forward to during our few months in Togo.

Richard lives several kilometers outside the capital city of Lome, so we traveled about 3 hours via a taxi van that morning.  Upon seeing the dilapidated van with no seatbelt options, I took a deep breath, said a prayer and hoped we weren’t making a really unwise decision.   Our driver spoke no English.  Fiona was thrilled to climb from seat to seat and hang her hands out the open window. 

We met our translator, the Compassion project pastor and social worker at the project itself to see where Richard attends every Saturday for tutoring, medical care, worship and Bible training.  We were shown around the small property that cares for 230 children and the workers seemed proud to show us their immaculate office and organized file of each child containing details of his family, medical history, grades and records of gifts given by the sponsor and how they were used.  We were super-impressed with the integrity of Compassion.

Our next stop was Richard’s school, currently empty because the school teachers are all on strike.  Sigh.

In Richard's classroom.  Richard was #3 in his class of 90 during the last grading period.  We did the math and figured 3 or 4 students sit at each desk.

Then onto my favorite part of the day, meeting Richard and his family at his home.  We walked along the dirt path to some traditional mud-brick homes and saw a group of people gathered, waiting for us.  It didn’t take long to spot Richard’s face, the one we have looked at many times through the photo sent to us.  It was overwhelming to see him in person, this boy we pray for almost every day, the one I have pictured in my mind so many times and wondered what life is really like for him.  He was dressed in his best traditional clothing and looked so sweetly scared as he stared at us.  I, of course, couldn’t hold back the tears.  Because I couldn’t communicate with him, I think I felt like the only way I could show him love was to hold his hand or squeeze his arm or hug him.  Who knows what he thought of this, but I hope and pray he knows he is loved and cared for and that his life matters.

Richard went inside his home and brought out our family photo and every letter we have ever sent him.  It's hard to imagine they are such prized possessions, but they are.

His family was extremely kind and expressed so much thanks for Compassion.  His mother seemed to have a speech prepared, telling us through the translator that we are now family and that I am another mother to Richard.  They gave us a huge, heavy bunch of plantains and a rooster, tied by the legs with a shoot of grass.  Finley was over-the-moon about the rooster, as you can guess.

With Richard and his mother.  His youngest sibling is in the wrap.  Because of the great limited number of spots in Compassion's project, Richard will likely be the only child from his family that is able to participate.  This also means his other siblings probably won't finish school, if they are able to attend at all.  Richard's mother is quite proud of him, for good reason.  I wish my internet connection was able to load a video of his makeshift battery powered light he wired himself.  He gave us a demonstration and we were all in awe.

We took Richard to a playground and out for lunch and he reluctantly ate what was probably his first slice of pizza ever.  Our time together was cut short due to a major storm that down-poured in Lome, causing the streets to flood in no time.  We really didn’t want to get stuck in the city so we sent Richard home with the Compassion workers via a separate taxi and started our long drive back to the hospital.  The day definitely lived up to my hopes.  If any of you get the chance to do a similar visit, it is absolutely worth the effort.