Honduras – Day 5 – Part 1 – Headquarters

February 6, 2014

By Lisa Pickering

Thursday was going to be another great day. First, we would go visit the Compassion Honduras Country Headquarters, and see how everything is processed and handled.  Then we would go to HO-272 to visit with the children, and Hilary would do a home visit to her friend, Sandy’s sponsor child, and I would visit Genesis at her home.  Since there was so much information, I decided to divide Day 5 into two parts, Part 1 – Headquarters (Below) and Part 2 – HO272 and Home visits.

Headquarters

We traveled to the Compassion Honduras Country Headquarters, and we got a better understanding of how they process our letters, the letters from the children, and register or remove the children from the program.

We learned how the Children’s pictures are taken, and processed for the new packets or for the updates to the sponsors.  They explained that when the picture is taken at the bottom is the child’s number, and there is a certain amount of space at the top, bottom, and sides of the pictures.   The boys hold their hands out in front of them (down by legs) so that all fingers are showing.  The girls put their thumbs in their pockets, and fingers out.   They review the pictures, and not anything that the sponsor may ask about.  If the child has a cut or marking, they will contact the center to find out what had happened to the child, and then note their file. If there is any problem with the picture, they will let the center know, so they can take new pictures.

After listening to them explain the picture process, it explained a lot.  Most of the little girls when they would pose for a picture they would put their hands on their hips and smile.  The boys would put their arms down for their picture.    Know I understand why most of the girls have their hands on hips, and elbows out.  I know in Sharon’s picture, she had a little bit of attitude, with her head tipped to the side.  I love it.

Then they talked about the process when a child is leaving the program.  Sometimes it is sudden, and they really do not have much information.  The best time is when the children are graduating from the program, and they put together this packet from the children that talks about what they have learned from the Compassion Centers and what they plan on doing with their lives.  It has a lot of information, which a sponsor will want to know.  While I do not look forward to the day I have to say Good-bye to “my girls”, I do look forward to reading their report.  I hope and pray that I will have helped to make a difference in their lives.  (I know they have made a difference in my life.)

Then we talked with a lady about the translation process for the letters.  There are several translators that come in each week to pick up between 100-200 letters to translate.  There is one lady that comes in and gets 500 letters a week to translate.  They translate both the letters from the children and to the children.  Then a quality control sample is taken, about 5 letters per 100, to make sure that they are being translated correctly.

After the letters to the children have been translated, they are logged into the computer system, and noted.  The letters are traced every step of the way from the moment they are received in Colorado, to getting to Honduras, to being translated, to being sent to the children.  They have a good tracking system.    They have a large wall full of “boxes” to sort out the letters for the different centers.  Then a report is printed, and each letter is verified against the report, before being packaged to be delivered to the centers.

Hilary, pulled out a packet from the center of one of her children, and pulled out a letter, and wouldn’t you know it was one of her letters to her sponsored child.  She was so excited.  Later Grace asked her to pose for a picture, and she grabbed a packet from another center that she has a sponsored child at, and again she pulled out her letter.  God was present, and was letting us see how this worked.

Next they showed us how the letters are tracked, and it shows when a child entered the Compassion program, and how many sponsors they have had, and how many letters they have received.  (Of course a sponsor can call Compassion, and get this information.)  Since I had Genesis packet in my bag, I pulled it out, and we looked her information up. I am her third sponsor in about 2 ½ years, and she had been waiting for over 4 months for a new sponsor.  She has received a few letters, but not very many.  It was sad to think that in such a short time, she had so many sponsors.  Well, God willing that is done, and she will not have to worry about not having a sponsor or letters.

Then the next part was the saddest of the information that we received, it was the file cabinet of un-sponsored children letters.  When a child loses a sponsor, or is first entered into the program, they fill out the “Yellow form” the “introduction” letter. So when a sponsor is found, they can send the letter to the sponsor quickly.  This is important, so that the contact with the new sponsor gets started.  It was sad to see so many “yellow forms” in the file cabinet, two drawers full.

We were shown how new children who enter the Compassion centers are processed.  The children must have a birth certificate to enter the Compassion program.  Their parents or caregivers fill out an information packet that gives some of the basic information about the child and their family.  They are only allowed to make a certain amount to be legible for the program.   The other families members are listed as well, and what type of home they live in, and if their parents work, what they do for a living.  It was nice to see how this information is gathered.

Several of the sponsors on the trip brought packages for other sponsors, because normally you can not send anything except paper gifts, up to 1/4″ thick.   It was nice to see that there were a lot more children who would receive a nice package from their sponsors, who could not make the trip.

The nice part of this visit was meeting the staff that handle all of the letters to/from Honduras Compassion Children, and how they are processed. It gave me a better understanding of what that piece of paper goes through  before it gets to the child, or to the sponsor.  I wish more sponsors could understand this as well.

Then we left that part of the office, and went to meet those working in the “Implantation Department”.  They work with local churches who would like to be part of the program, to make sure they have what is needed, and understand what their part of the program is.  They assist the churches if a special project is needed, like the bridge at HO372.

We got to meet the “Finance Department” employees, and talked to them about how they handled all the financial needs of children and centers.  They said that we were their first visitors in years, and they were happy to meet us.

Well, it was time to go, and we were getting the privilege of eating at “Power Chicken”.  The owner of Power Chicken was determined to get out of poverty, so he started small, and worked to be a famous and popular restaurant in Honduras. It is a fast-food restaurant, but the food does not taste fast-food, and is served Family style.   While eating, we talked about what we should expect on Friday, AKA Fun Day.  After enjoying the food, we headed to the next project, HO-272, Colonia Jose Angel Ulloa.  I would get to meet my new Sponsor Child Genesis, and get to do a family visit to her home.

More information in Next Blog Post “Day 5 – Part 2 – HO272″

 

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