Giving a gift that lasts a lifetime

Over Christmas and during our clean up after the New Year's Eve 'Great Flood' I contemplated the amount of 'stuff' you accumulate in your life- stuff that you don't fully utilise or even need and end up having to simply throw out (not to mention those consumer items with inbuilt obsolescence that are designed to be replaced regularly).

I truly appreciate the sentiment behind the gifts we were given over Christmas but there is only so many material items we need in our lives. I had suggested instead of presents that money to a charity in China could be donated but no one took us up on the suggestion (and I guess I am guilty of it to a degree also because I didn't give the such a gift to them- although most everyone got a present where the profits went to a China charity). I guess it is almost like people feel that it isn't a real present and what would people think.

Last November I wrote about sponsoring children in China to go to school (http://journey-with-magnolia.blogspot.com/2006/11/diary-of-ma-yan-life-of-chinese.html and http://journey-with-magnolia.blogspot.com/2006/11/it-is-when-you-hear-from-girls.html).

For Christmas my husband and I gave each other sponsorships for 3 years for a further girl and two boys from our daughters hometown. We had originally intended just to sponsor girls because we feel strongly that through education the girls may be able to break out of the poverty cycle and also demonstrate to others the value of having daughters, particularly educated ones. But when we realised that there were boys needing education in our daugther's hometown, we realised that it was probably just as important to show our daughter that not just girls who were encountering difficulties (a sort of equal opportunity).

I'm also happy to report that at the same time two other Australian families who have adopted from Fuling also sponsored a further 6 children between them. The organisation in Fuling that coordinates the sponsorships continues to be so pleased that foreigners take such an interest in the children.

My husband and I are now sponsoring 6 girls and 2 boys - and it will be something to remember long after the tinsel is a distant memory - and for those kids it will last a lifetime.

So if you are stuck for a gift suggestion or idea for a birthday, Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day or Christmas etc - forget the extra pairs of socks or the box of chocolates - maybe you would like to consider sponsoring a child in China, or elsewhere, or maybe helping meet medical costs for a child with special needs.