Latest Correspondance from Emmanuel

So we just got a letter from our sponsored child in Uganda. It was a letter thanking us for the Christmas gift. Gifts through Compassion are interesting because they do not encourage people to send gifts through mail. One reason is that packages larger than an 8 1/2 x 11 flat envelopes are suspicious and subject to search and maybe won't even reach their destination. Stickers and photos and coloring book pages are fine, but if it isn't flat, you should probably not send it. However you can donate through a check or online payment for a Christmas gift. The neat thing that they do for the gifts is pool all the special gift money donated by sponsors for one child development center and distribute it evenly to all of the kids. That way if a child has not received a Christmas gift donation from their sponsor, they will still get something.

We thought that Emmanuel would receive some toy or item that the Compassion staff picked out, however his letter states that he received cash, 23,500 Uganda Shillings, roughly $10-12 USD. With this money he purchased a new shirt, shorts, and pair of shoes (sandals really). We thought this was pretty neat because clothes are hard to come by for families in the Compassion program. The letter also said that attached was a photo of Emmanuel in his new threads (it didn't really say threads). The letter was then signed by "Natambae". Now, we were confused, because Emmanuel's entire first name is Naturinda Emmanuel. He signed his first letter with "Naturinda". We have never seen this new name. We then looked at the attached picture and weren't positive that it was him. We compared it to his old picture, and it really is not clear. He is definitely older now, but we can't tell.

So here are the pictures.


Do you think it is him? Is it possible that they included the wrong picture? The letter has his name at the beginning, it has a tracking sticker with his name and number on it, but it is signed by a new name. Is this like when some child in America decides that you have to call him Spiderman from now on?

I think this is going to be one of the joys of sponsorship. You never know what you are going to get in that next letter.