Sponsorship has given me a second family

“I was a little boy when my parents left me,” remembers Mass, a 14-year-old boy from Senegal, who now lives with his grandparents in a small village brick house. The streets outside his front door are covered in the ocean’s sand and baobab trees, blooming from the recent rainy season, surround the houses and nearby fields. 

“My parents split up and moved to Dakar a long time ago. The last time I visited the capital on a school trip I didn’t even see them,” Mass explains. “I grew up with my great-grandmother.” Surrounded by all of his extended family, Mass had a safe home, but only saw his parents once a year, when they visited the village. Growing up, Mass was his great-grandmother’s child and that’s what he considers himself too.

“The most difficult day in my life was the day that she died. I was so sad. She was the one who brought me up and she was like my mother. It was hard to see her disappear. I miss her so much because she was my closest family."

Mass now lives with his grandmother and uncle, but he also has someone else he considers family. “I never want to stop thinking about my sponsor Thelma. She has become part of my family now and I know that she is always here for me and will always support me,” the teenager says. With a cheeky but shy grin he adds: “I’m just so curious, I’d really love to meet her.”

World Vision has been working in Mass’s village for many years and has seen the little boy without parents turn into a confident teenager.

“I have many friends here and other children also have sponsors,” Mass explains. “Our happiest day is usually when we celebrate Tabaski Day, our national holiday, where we have a big ceremony in the village, followed by singing and dancing to the music of drums. The traditional dances are so much fun for me.”

Mass wants to share as much about his life with his sponsor as possible.

“Thelma writes me letters and she sends me a lot of presents too, that’s why I want to tell her about my life too.”

Last year, Mass got a brand new bicycle from Thelma. “I used to walk to school and it took me a long time. So long, that I wasn’t able to help with the household as much as I would have liked to. With my bike, I’m at school much quicker and I can also go to the market to pick up whatever my family needs.”

With Mass’s parents gone, sponsorship has given Mass both financial and emotional support.

“I like the presents that Thelma sends me, but even without presents, Thelma has become so important to me. She’s part of my family now.”

Photos credits: Delphine Rouiller