Sponsoring at Tso Pema - by Chloe

Preparations for sponsorship at Tso Pema

Day 4 – Tso Pema, Himachal Pradesh, India.  We were dropping off a sponsorship to a Tibetan lama.  While there we met an older woman who was on the sponsorship list from last year and nobody had volunteered to sponsor her.  She started to cry and her desperation was palpable ... and it broke our hearts.  This was just one reminder to us of the value of this work.  That $200 can change someone’s life for a year; the cost of 4 weeks of cappuccinos in Australia!

Many recipients were in tears of gratitude when they received their sponsorship money, to think that there is someone on the other side of the world to care enough to give them money to survive. 

The honour and privilege our family felt to witness and be a part of this process which makes such a strong bond with the people, was immense.  As my daughter Mallory said, these people have so little, but gave us so much grace, gratitude, joy and love.  We went there thinking we were helping, but in fact received so very much.

There are so many stories, too many to share here.  But if anybody wants to know more and feels the desire to hear some first hand accounts, please feel free to contact any of us through Pantha.

It was such a wonderful, wonderful experience.  We would highly recommend  anyone to take the opportunity Pantha offers to journey with her to these beautiful settings and meet these astounding people.  We not only got to witness  the importance of these sponsorships to them, but also felt profoundly accepted, nurtured and humbled by them both as individuals, and as a community .

Mallory, Graeme & Chloe