Oct
16
2018
0

Day 289

Misseline

For many years I have been involved with sponsoring children through Compassion UK and I have sponsored this lovely 17 year old girl Misseline in Haiti. I have sponsored her since at least 2011 (maybe earlier).

Today I received a letter saying that she has now moved out of the area and there are no Compassion bases near where she now lives and as a result she has left the project.

I hope and pray that the years of financial support and correspondence have changed and improved her life for the better. I will write her a final farewell letter, and look forward to receiving details of my next child.

Written by Anna Williams in: Compassion | Tags:
Sep
20
2018
0

Day 261

My Dad

I love this photo of my Dad and the seven children he sponsors through Compassion UK.

Despite all he has been through over the last few years he has continued to sponsor these children; carried on changing their lives and offering them hope.

We will never know what a legacy he may have left these children. How their lives have been changed by simple sponsorship on a monthly basis. A couple of hundred quid a month to him but a fortune to them and but lives enriched more than we could know.

My Dad is a great man. A kind generous man who loves much and continues to do. I am lucky to be his daughter.

Written by Anna Williams in: Compassion,Dad | Tags: ,
Mar
05
2017
0

A year in pictures – Day 63

Chief MartynToday my Dad’s church was holding a missions event and my Dad was manning the Compassion stall.

After Mum died we set up a fund to raise money to build classrooms in Burkina Faso. The second sent of classrooms is being being finished but unfortunately we are unable to travel out there for the opening due to Foreign Office travel advice. There are a few pics here on my Dad’s blog. I hope one day to get out there. I am desperate to see the children!!

When Dad went out to open the first school they presented him with these robes. He likes to think of himself as a Chief!

Written by Anna Williams in: Compassion,Dad | Tags:
Mar
04
2016
0

The bittersweetness of life

Compassion UKSometimes life feels bittersweet. Like things have happened that really shouldn’t have happened and now we are all living with the consequences.

Tonight I am going out to a formal event with my Dad and sister in aid of the charity Tumaini. I have a nice dress and shoes but realised I didn’t have any bags so I was in the loft rifling away when I found some of Mum’s smart handbags. Even now when I sit and hold them I can remember what she was wearing when she was carrying them. I think of her smiling and laughing and wearing make-up when she didn’t very often. I sat in the loft and had a little cry, before pulling myself together to get on with it!

When I came down the ladder I noticed that the postman had been and this was one of the letters that had been delivered. It was from Compassion UK, providing an update on two of the projects in which we sponsor children. We have a sponsor child in Burkina Faso called Wendlassida and there was a paragraph in this letter that caught me by surprise.

“Recently, our centre received Compaasion Complementary Intervention funds which we used to build two classrooms where children can be taught in good conditions Before we got these classrooms, we used to teach them under sheds, and out meetings with parents were under trees. We were very exposed to different calamities such as dust and whirlwinds. Now children, their parents, the centre’s staff and church members are very happy and praise Gpd for these new classrooms. So these buildings show us the importance of the relationships that exist between our children and their sponsors.”

Mum's legacyMoments before reading this my thoughts of Mum were sad and I miss her so very much. This letter made me smile so much. She would have been so delighted that the money that we raised, as a testament to her life had gone to such a worthy cause. She would have been so, so happy that children were able to learn in good facilities and that all our sponsor children have opportunities afforded to them that they did not before.

As I approach Mothering Sunday I will choose to celebrate all these good things. I choose to remember the smile on her face and I will choose to give thanks for all she did in her life, and has done in her death.

These are the faces I think of today when I think of Mum. The three children sponsored by myself, my sister and my Dad. Wendlassida, Ezekial and Amelie.

Written by Anna Williams in: Compassion,Mum | Tags: , ,
Jun
09
2015
0

2015 Project365 (Day 160)

Gill's legacySaturday’s local paper featured a large article about Mum’s legacy project in Burkina Faso.

It was really odd to see the two-page article explaining the whole story, from Mum’s death to the opening of the school.

I guess this is where I suddenly realise just how far we have come and how much of a difference we have actually made. Mum would have been just so proud of us and what we have achieved. It’s all for her.

We miss you Mum x

Written by Anna Williams in: Compassion,Mum | Tags: ,
May
31
2015
0

2015 Project365 (Day 150)

Compassion Quiz

This evening we went to a quiz at my Dad’s church which was to raise funds for Mum’s legacy project in Burkina Faso.

It was brilliant and really well organised at they raised about £700 for Compassion UK which will make such a difference and will change many children’s lives.

Of course I should mention that the quiz was a close run contest and it came down to the tie-break question. ‘How many miles as the crow flies it from here to New York’. Our team won it, getting this question right to within 200 miles. Hurray!

Written by Anna Williams in: Compassion | Tags:
May
19
2015
0

2015 Project365 (Day 139)

WendlassidaLook what arrived in the post today! The details of this beautiful, but rather serious little girl, dressed in her smartest dress who is our new Compassion sponsor child.

Her name is Wendlassida, she is 5 years old and she lives in Burkina Faso and is part of the Compassion project through which we built the classrooms in honour of Mum.

The decision to sponsor another child was (slightly) tricky for us in financial terms but the reality is that the rather small sum of £25 a month will change this little girls life. The best bit is that we will can write to her, share her life, pray for her and invest in every way possible in her life.

If you have a spare £25 a month, but more than that, if you have the desire to write to a child, please consider child sponsorship through Compassion. It isn’t particularly costly, or difficult, but it could make an enormous difference.

I so look forward to getting to know this beautiful girl and I hope, so very much, that one day we will be able to meet her.

Written by Anna Williams in: Compassion | Tags:
May
03
2015
0

2015 Project365 (Day 123)

Our children

My Dad and sister’s journey to Burkina Faso is coming to an end.

My sister and I really wanted to sponsor another child each, hopefully from the same project so that our children can write to them and and hopefully in a few years we will be able to go out an visit.

Happily Compassion UK has located two more children from the same project and they were able to meet them at church this morning. This picture is of Wendeleza (our sponsor child), Ezekial (my sister’s sponsor child) and Amelie ( my Dad’s sponsor child.) I am so happy that two more children will have their lives changed by sponsorship, care and love.

My Dad finished his blog by writing the following…

“I wandered down one last time, to see the classrooms before I left. It felt as if we had left another headstone for Gill, but this time it is a living one. We have achieved a lot with this project and visiting it has completed it, and closed a further chapter. With Gods help, many children will be blessed and lives changed. Thank you Gill. “

Amen.

Written by Anna Williams in: Compassion | Tags:
May
01
2015
0

2015 Project365 (Day 120)

Chief Martyn

Today marked a very special day. My Dad, sister and Mum’s best friend Mich went out to Burkina Faso and today they went and opened Mum’s classrooms.

Such an exciting day and Dad Facetimed us to tell us all about it.

Apparently when they got off the minibus they were greeted with all 314 of the children from the school. Rather wonderfully Mum and Dad’s sponsor child Amelie was there to greet him and she held his hand and walked then down to a shelter (it was about 40 something degrees!) where they sat whilst there were speeches and then Dad cut the ribbon and were able to look around the building.

It would appear that Dad has now been elevated to a chief and they gave him a traditional hat and top to wear.

I am thrilled that the day went so well and that the experience was all that Dad had hoped it would be.
Losing Mum has been the most challenging thing of my life, but I am delighted that some good will come out of it.

Currently 314 children at this project are sponsored (I think there are a few unsponsored if anyone is interested!) and they will all directly benefit from the classrooms, as will their families and the children who come after them. That sort of impact makes an enormous difference, as do the personal letters the children receive and the knowledge that an individual cares enough to finance, write to and pray for them. Compassion UK makes a difference.

For more pictures see Dad’s blog here.

Written by Anna Williams in: Compassion,Mum | Tags: ,
Apr
28
2015
0

2015 Project365 (Day 117)

Gill's Legacy

Today my Dad, sister and my Mum’s best friend started their journey to Burkina Faso to open Mum’s legacy; two well constructed, large and functional classrooms in a rural area in Burkina Faso.

I wish, more than anything, that I was going with them but it was just not possible due to still breastfeeding Eliza and I didn’t feel it was sensible to take her out there with me. Still, knowing that I have done the right thing doesn’t make it feel easier at the moment!

Mum would have loved that we had achieved this. This picture is of the plaque and the pictures of Mum that they are taking out there to put up in the school. The plaque is in English and French and reads,

“These classrooms were built in memory of Gillian Langlois, a Compassion volunteer and an Inspirational Teacher, with a great love for children and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Written by Anna Williams in: Compassion,Dad,Mum,sister | Tags: ,

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