Alex Robertson has 10 children and his daughter Lorie-Beth Beattie has eight. But before last November, neither had met any of them. The dedicated father-daughter pair from Havelock North are believed to be New Zealand’s most active child sponsors and have just returned from a trip to meet their special rainbow family.
Now, after visiting some of the poorest areas in India and Cambodia, the 10 children they managed to meet are closer to their hearts than ever before. The experience, says Alex, was life-changing. “This trip was really special. We were really able to connect with the kids and see exactly how we’ve been helping them all these years,” he says.
Seeing the conditions that the children who aren’t sponsored live in, Alex and Lorie-Beth were amazed at the difference between that and their kids’ environment – the benefits of their estimated $100,000 contribution to World Vision between them over 20 years.
“The communities our kids were living in had water and were clean,” says Lorie-Beth. “But then I saw other kids rummaging through huge piles of rubbish to find food – it was horrible. We take so much stuff for granted.”
Alex (65) and Lorie-Beth (28) each met five of the children they sponsor in Nadawa, India and Stong, Cambodia, and say they were welcomed into villages with great fanfare. “We were like royalty!” laughs Lorie-Beth. “The whole village came out to meet us. Everybody was singing and dancing, it was quite overwhelming.
“In India we were given flower leis and Dad leaned over to me and said, ‘Something just crawled out of the flowers and down my back!’” she laughs. “All I could do was laugh and be thankful it wasn’t me!” Even though they live nearly 20,000km away, as far as Alex and Lorie-Beth are concerned, their sponsored children are their family.
And although it was amazing to visit so many of their children, it was also heartbreaking to leave. “Part of you feels like you have to do more. I saw how much more needs to be done, how much further there is to go,” Lorie-Beth admits.
“They are part of the family, that’s for sure,” adds Alex. “You have to get attached, otherwise it’s just a job or a duty. But when you really pray for them and love them, it’s a lot more than that.” While they’ve always written to all of their children, meeting them for the first time was overwhelming for Lorie-Beth, who says she’s never experienced anything so emotional.
“In Cambodia, we visited all five [sponsored children] at once as they were from the same area of development, so we spent a lot of time there with them. “We gave them little presents such as skipping-ropes and stickers, and taught some of the girls how to play Frisbee. That was really cute,” says Lorie-Beth.
“Most of them were quite shy, but there was one girl in Cambodia who was so confident and outgoing. There’s a language barrier, but if you’re playing things like Frisbee, you don’t need to talk. There was just a lot of smiling.”
Seeing everything their money has helped to do was the highlight of the trip. Every month Lorie-Beth donates $320 to her eight kids and Alex gives $400 for his 10. Going on the journey and meeting the children they’ve helped fulfi ls a life-long dream for the pair.
It’s been an ambition they’ve had since Alex and his wife Mary-Anne sponsored their first child 20 years ago through World Vision. “They’ve all gone on to raise families themselves and some of them are teachers,” says Lorie-Beth.
“Our one regret was that Mary-Anne couldn’t come. She has a heart problem and couldn’t fly,” Alex says. Lorie-Beth, who doesn’t have children of her own, has been a sponsor for 10 years, starting as soon as she got a job and could afford to give the support.
“I ended up with two pictures in my hand – these beautiful little girls from Africa – and I couldn’t choose between them, so I took them both,” she remembers. Both of them have seen children they sponsor leave the program, either as they grow up or become self-sufficient.
“But then you get another child that really does need you,” smiles Lorie-Beth. While they couldn’t get to Africa and Nicaragua to see their other eight children, Alex says it’s on their wish list. “One day it’ll happen!”
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