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My husband Ed and I spent a week in Honduras visiting our seven sponsored families. It was unbelievable and I want to share it with you.
In this special edition episode you will hear from some who have sponsored children, teens, elderly and scholars about their experiences meeting their person.
You'll hear from Miron, director of the Honduras subproject about all that the program does.
Also from Cameron who is from the Kansas City office and tells more about the logistics of sponsoring..
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[00:00] Jan: Foreign welcome my friends to episode 64 of Just Talking about Jesus.
[00:09] Last week we heard from Sarah Griffiths. Hugh for an impactful, heartfelt conversation about trust,
[00:15] surrender and the power of praying scripture over your children.
[00:20] A lot of us need that, right?
[00:23] Today's episode is a special edition.
[00:26] My husband Ed and I traveled to Honduras for a week on an Unbound sponsor program.
[00:31] I can't say enough about what an amazing organization this is.
[00:35] We've been sponsoring for over 25 years with them.
[00:38] Their goal is to support families on their self directed paths out of poverty and I want to tell you it's working.
[00:45] Today you'll hear from sponsors telling about their experiences, meeting their sponsored children, elderly and scholars,
[00:53] an interview with Myron who is the director of his sub project and Cameron who is a part of the main Kansas City office.
[01:01] The episode ends with a word from my husband Ed, who has literally sponsored,
[01:06] I think close to 100 individuals over the past 25 years.
[01:12] I hope you'll be motivated to check Unbound out.
[01:16] So let's get started.
[01:26] Speaker B: I would like to add that being part of Unbound is the best decision that you can make in life.
[01:33] And if you have the opportunity to come and join Unbound in one of our awareness trips, you will.
[01:42] Well, it speaks for itself. You know, everything that Unbound is doing with the families and you will experience firsthand the reality that I'm telling you.
[01:54] And I think you should join Unbound.
[02:00] Speaker C: My name is Ken Dawson,
[02:02] I am from Valrico, Florida and we're down here in Santa Rosa, Honduras with Unbound on a tour Discovery to learn more about what Unbound does and also to meet our sponsored friend.
[02:21] For us, it was a young lady whose name is Betsy that we've been sponsoring for eight years now.
[02:30] We started this when Unbound came to our church and my wife Cindy decided she wanted to have another daughter.
[02:38] And it worked out well because Betsy's birthday was the day after hers,
[02:44] my wife's birthday,
[02:45] and that was the driving force.
[02:48] This is something that I think she wanted.
[02:51] I was working so I left it with her to take care of writing letters being being the one in charge.
[03:00] As I mentioned earlier in a meeting about two years ago, we got a letter from Bessie and she wrote,
[03:08] said I haven't received a letter from you in a while.
[03:11] And I was, for whatever reason, by this time I had quit work. I was mortified.
[03:17] And so I immediately sat down and wrote her a note,
[03:22] tried to find some pictures that you know of our lives, you know, just snapshots of Cindy and I.
[03:29] And then ever since then, it became like, oh, hey, it's time to write a letter. We've got a letter from Betsy. What did we do?
[03:36] And try to bring little stories of taking my granddaughter skydiving,
[03:43] or,
[03:44] hey,
[03:45] we have a gator in our backyard in a pond,
[03:47] because, of course, we live in Florida. And just I wanted her. Her expressions. And when we heard that they were the most precious things, like skydiving. Oh, no,
[03:57] you have a caiman in your yard. Because.
[04:00] Oh, no.
[04:02] But the more I wrote, the more I just wanted to, you know, kind of be part of her,
[04:09] you know,
[04:09] let her know what's going on in my life. When the trip came up, the available. The ability for this trip came up at the beginning of the year.
[04:18] We applied,
[04:21] got accepted,
[04:22] sent Betsy a note going,
[04:24] we're coming. I really hope you want to meet us, because, you know, we're really looking forward.
[04:30] And like I say, two days ago, when we met Betsy, it was probably one of the kind of the high points of my 70 years of this, you know, meeting this girl that we have nothing in common with except a few letter.
[04:44] A couple of letters a year.
[04:46] And she seemed to be so,
[04:48] you know, gracious of the fact that we came this way to see her,
[04:54] that we wanted, you know, wanted to be part of her life for a little bit,
[04:58] see how they're doing.
[05:00] And it meant.
[05:02] To me, it meant the world. I mean, she was a shy young lady. She didn't want to be out there in public, per se. So she wrote me a letter that she didn't want anyone to edit it.
[05:16] She wrote it out and said, this is for you.
[05:19] And it was probably,
[05:22] I don't know, this made me very emotional. I try not to be too emotional,
[05:26] but when it brought tears to my eyes about, you know, how she felt and,
[05:31] you know, thanking me, thanking us, thanking me for. For everything, it was.
[05:35] Jan: How old is she?
[05:36] Speaker C: She is 19 and a half and basically the same age as our other two granddaughters. So she's like our third granddaughter.
[05:45] And I. I think what put me over the edge is when she said, dear Godfather and just like,
[05:51] okay.
[05:53] And I realized that at that point, being with her on Saturday,
[05:58] that I really messed up in life by not learning Spanish so I could talk to her, you know,
[06:04] as opposed to going through a trans. You know, our translator, or hopping on our little phones and typing in translate sentence and say here.
[06:12] And. Which was fun. It was a lot of fun. But something was missing.
[06:17] And so if nothing else,
[06:19] may just have to learn some better Spanish so I can have a real conversation with her one day. Because I have a feeling we'll come back just to see her again, just to see how she's doing a year or two later.
[06:32] Jan: Because she's continuing on.
[06:34] Speaker C: Yes, she is.
[06:35] That's the great thing.
[06:37] We thought we were done at 18 when she graduated from high school and found out, oh no, she's in college. I go, oh, that's great.
[06:45] Jan: What is she pursuing?
[06:46] Speaker C: She said international business,
[06:50] which is like blows me away. I mean,
[06:54] much, much better than what I ever did. So let her know. I'm just so proud of her. And like, like I, I told the group earlier today, like when I get home next week, I'm probably going to write her a letter and I'm gonna, next month I'm gonna write her another letter.
[07:09] Jan: It's gonna be a different letter.
[07:10] Speaker C: Yeah, it'll just be a different letter just to let her know that this was something special.
[07:17] And I think she's afraid of.
[07:20] She did mention she doesn't like goodbyes and she knows it'll end. And we had a big discussion of this in our meeting and yeah, hey, you know, when it comes time still around,
[07:30] I'll have no problem saying unbound. Hey, here's my email address. If she wants to still communicate, I understand all the implications and I'm fine with that. But not that I want to continue to financially support her, but I guess more emotionally support her.
[07:48] To know that we're friends and we adore her for her friendship and we just want to know that we're thinking about her as she grows on in her life.
[08:00] The rest of the story is that's all I thought Unbound was,
[08:03] give money to an organization who gives money to kids in poverty stricken areas of the world.
[08:10] I didn't understand or have a knowledge of this. You know, the mothers groups and you know,
[08:17] bringing them in to teach them how to go out on their own, learning how to work out of poverty,
[08:23] working together as in a community was to me the most fascinating thing. And understanding,
[08:31] you know,
[08:32] Honduras, Latin America is a very macho society.
[08:36] But to seeing women step up and taking in this role of trying to help their family get better,
[08:43] help their community, help their children,
[08:46] making improvements in their community is just something I wasn't even aware that these guys were doing.
[08:53] And I can't say enough that if anything unbound, they need to do a little bit better publicity on that to say really what's going on?
[09:04] If this is going out to people, if you get a chance. Unbound I know eight years ago, I was very skeptical because kind of a skeptical guy.
[09:15] But if you find somebody, if there's someone that just.
[09:19] You see the picture, you reach out and you realize, well,
[09:23] hey, can I afford 40 bucks a month? You know, I spend that much on, you know, buying a couple of bottles of wine.
[09:30] So, you know, so.
[09:32] And you're helping somebody so they don't, you know, and things, you know, I kind of knew they had, like, children,
[09:39] you know, teenagers didn't really pay too much attention to the older adults, I guess, the plus 60.
[09:45] But you realize that there are those, you know, the seniors that need help, too, that they may not have the same support structure that we're used to or the family around.
[09:58] So, you know, it's amazing to find out that, yeah, I got, I gave them $30 or $40, whatever the donation is,
[10:07] and how that helps people. We met today, you know, a couple of older gentlemen that, yeah, it helped me with my. Buy my medicine. It helped me buy some clothes.
[10:17] It helped me, you know, buy food, you know, helps my family in our house.
[10:23] And, you know, that just, you know, that's the kind of stuff that you go,
[10:27] you know, God's blessed me with.
[10:29] With like, I hate to call it abundance, but, you know, I've been fortunate and I know I'm not going to spend it all.
[10:36] And I.
[10:38] If now I've realized there's something more I can do to help.
[10:42] May still just be with Betsy for as long as possible.
[10:45] Don't know if I'm going to do it. Another child,
[10:48] because it's sort of,
[10:49] you know, we find out we all start getting emotionally attached, even though we don't see them or with them.
[10:57] But when we see all the people we've seen this week, this past week,
[11:01] and they seem to have been just overwhelmed that we made the trip down here to see them. They came out and stood in 90 degree heat just to wave to us,
[11:14] to the little kids to come up and.
[11:16] And give us a hug,
[11:17] you know, to have, you know,
[11:19] all their cell phones pop out,
[11:22] have a hundred pictures taken of me, you know, shaking someone's hand or the little kid coming up or the. Or the grandma coming up and giving you a hug and tell me how I.
[11:32] How appreciative they are that you came to them and they just welcome, welcoming us. So all in all, it was.
[11:39] He was amazing.
[11:40] Jan: Yeah. Thank you so much.
[11:42] Speaker C: I don't know what else I can say, but it was a great experience.
[11:51] Jan: Yep. You're good.
[11:51] Speaker C: All right. It was a very Special day. We sponsored Julissa for 22 years. I didn't realize it was. Was that long. So it was the first time we met her.
[12:03] And for me, it was. Was very touching.
[12:06] They gave us a photograph of her family that was probably the most touching of all. So Julissa has Down syndrome. So it's interesting how that happened.
[12:17] Speaker D: Faye, I have a sister who has down syndrome.
[12:20] Speaker C: She reminded me as soon as I looked at her, I said, wow, she.
[12:23] Speaker E: Looks a lot like my sister.
[12:26] Speaker C: We just really had a good day.
[12:27] Jan: You had a connection that way. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And so you have communicated through letters and photograph and photographs.
[12:39] Speaker C: Yeah, I've sent her a lot of photographs.
[12:41] So when we pulled out her phone and I was showing her showing her mom different photographs, her mom would say, yeah, I have that.
[12:50] Speaker B: She saved them.
[12:51] Speaker E: I had a stack of them.
[12:52] Jan: Yeah, they do. They do, because it's so important. What do you think the effect was, that family to meet you?
[13:00] Speaker F: I think it was very positive.
[13:01] Jan: Yeah.
[13:02] Speaker F: I mean, I think her mother. I mean, they came a long distance and they had to do. Part of it was walking about a mile. I mean, excuse me,
[13:09] three hours.
[13:10] You know, it was two hours in the bus, and then it was an hour on the bus, on the trail. And they live at the top of a mountain. And her daughter was going to bring Ulyssa,
[13:20] but instead her mother really wanted to go, and she. So she did.
[13:26] And it was just funny. I mean,
[13:29] you know, I don't speak Spanish, but you don't have to speak the language. You know, I think there's a lot of body language that goes on in.
[13:37] Jan: People'S eyes, and it was just really good with unbound.
[13:41] So with someone that has down syndrome or a handicap,
[13:44] how long do you think they will allow you to sponsor them?
[13:48] Will it continue or will it. Is there a cutoff?
[13:51] Speaker F: Yes, it will continue as long as we're all still alive.
[13:56] Jan: Yeah.
[13:56] Speaker B: Yeah.
[13:57] Speaker E: Because she's.
[13:57] Speaker C: I mean, what they told us is as long as we continue,
[14:02] and then if something happens to us, we can have one of her children continue the sponsorship, because she's depending on how they're dependent on the income that they receive from us.
[14:16] Jan: Yeah. And so when you think in the scope of things, it's $40 a month, and what that does for them, you know, it's life changing.
[14:29] Speaker C: It is life changing. Yeah. It's hard to put that into perspective, but you could tell how much they appreciated it, especially the mom. And the mom.
[14:37] I really was impressed with the mom. Hard worker. She does laundry. Seven Days a week and very committed to her daughter and taking care of her. That's what was. I mean, strong family bonds.
[14:50] Jan: Yeah. Yeah.
[14:51] Speaker F: I think you're finding this culture hot, right?
[14:54] Jan: Okay, thank you. Okay.
[15:01] Speaker B: It haven't been easy, easy,
[15:05] but what I can say that God have been real good with us,
[15:10] as many sponsors says.
[15:12] And Bobby says, well, unbound is a gift of God.
[15:17] So that was my first experience having a job,
[15:21] and I started to work as a social promoter at that time.
[15:25] I used to work with all the families,
[15:28] but I still have.
[15:29] And I always worked very close to the families in Unbound. And I always wanted to give back everything that my sponsors gave to me, you know, like helping people to overcome difficulties, their situations.
[15:46] And that's why I'm like giving myself to Unbound. I work hard despite I'm tired,
[15:54] but I still try to do my best for families because I think we feel a lot of satisfaction, a lot of joy when you see the families that are overcoming their situations in life.
[16:06] And I think that's the thing that really motivates me and helps me to continue working withinbound and being here and giving my best,
[16:16] because I went through all of that thing.
[16:19] And as we say in unbound, we don't see poverty in the families. We see that they have the potential to overcome all the situations.
[16:28] And I always tell the families, you know, if I.
[16:32] If I.
[16:33] My family and I, can we overcome all of this situation? Coming. Coming from the poverty, coming from poverty, I think you can do it. But so walking beside families,
[16:47] I think is like telling them, you're not alone.
[16:52] And I think,
[16:55] well, I've learned from the, From Bob Hansen.
[16:59] I met him as well,
[17:00] and he was a real nice person.
[17:06] He was like,
[17:08] every time he came here to Honduras,
[17:10] will.
[17:11] Will come to me and tell me,
[17:13] how's your family?
[17:15] Jan: He cared about you.
[17:16] Speaker B: Yeah, he cared.
[17:18] And I.
[17:19] And, and I. And I think that when you care about. About the people,
[17:24] they really want to overcome situations. You know,
[17:28] they say, like, okay, there's other people that are pushing me and helping me to overcome, so I want to do better.
[17:36] And yeah, I think it's wonderful to be part of unbound and helping people.
[17:42] First I was a social promoter. Then I became to be the director of correspondence.
[17:48] Yeah, I'm in charge of 10 co workers.
[17:53] And last year I was promoted to be the coordinator of this sub project.
[17:58] And it's really. I'm. I'm really enjoying it because, like,
[18:02] we're putting new strategies to work with the families,
[18:06] helping the families, because we're working so that they can have an impact in their lives. You know, like, we're doing this because we want the families to change,
[18:17] not to live in the same situation. They started when they were part of unbound, when they were not part of unbound. Sorry.
[18:25] So visiting the families and going through all the communities,
[18:30] I have also observed and see how many families are changing their lives and having a better life now. And it's because education.
[18:43] But mothers also here doing a great job now with your children.
[18:49] It's not easy though.
[18:51] Each family have to fight to overcome their own situation.
[18:57] But unbound came to their lives to tell them that they have the potential.
[19:03] Jan: To.
[19:05] Speaker B: Walk out of poverty.
[19:07] Because normally what people think is they're poor. But when you started when in and bound we're working also with poverty stoplight.
[19:18] It's like we're using the green, yellow and red colors.
[19:22] The families go through a survey and at the end they will have like a life map with the colors. The green means non poverty, yellow means poverty, and red means extreme poverty.
[19:34] And when the families take this survey, they will like get to see how your life map is.
[19:41] How many red colors do they have, how many yellow colors do they have,
[19:46] but how many green colors do they have?
[19:49] And this is how the family can see how many potential they already have. And they're not putting it into work.
[19:55] Jan: So describe some of the questions on the survey.
[20:00] Speaker B: Like, for example,
[20:02] some of the families, they don't have enough incomes,
[20:06] so the incomes that they have aren't enough to cover all the basic needs in their home.
[20:13] So they have poverty there.
[20:15] Maybe it can be in yellow or red. It depends.
[20:18] So we encourage the family to set their own goals.
[20:21] So how can you as a family improve the situation?
[20:25] So the family starts to look out what they can do different or what they're not doing. Correct.
[20:32] And this is how the families are overcoming and setting their own goals. Like, okay,
[20:38] mom didn't work before. Now she's the one that also looking for a job or doing some economic activities at home to.
[20:47] To get some incomes.
[20:48] Because mostly in Honduras is like just the man working and the woman is the one that stays at house, you know, like doing all the chores.
[20:58] But this is changing because we're empowering the mothers. We're empowering them so they can also know that they have the potential to give to their houses, to give to their family.
[21:10] So that is one. And also like other ones can be like,
[21:16] like in your community as well.
[21:19] Because sometimes you're. You're part of a community but you can overcome things. But if your community continues,
[21:27] like, in the little.
[21:29] With a bad environment,
[21:31] well, that. That's poverty as well.
[21:34] Or you don't have, like, good relationships with your neighbors that is like in red color as well, because you're poor,
[21:42] extreme poor.
[21:44] So in unbound, we are working with groups of mothers, and they're gathering together in their communities and they're helping themselves. They have mutual support in many ways to overcome difficulties that they have in their own community.
[22:00] Like, for example, in their schools. Sometimes they have.
[22:04] Well, there was a community that didn't have a teacher to go to school to attend that school.
[22:10] So all the community moved to get a teacher so their students can attend school and preschool. So that was really nice. And this is a way that they are overcoming the poverty.
[22:22] Jan: I think part of it is enabling them to learn to know that they have agency, that they can change things and they can have a vision for what's to come.
[22:36] I mean, a dream for things.
[22:39] Because I think a lot of times when you're stuck in poverty,
[22:43] you don't think about getting.
[22:45] You get through the day, and that's all you've got. You don't think past that. And to think there's any hope that you could do anything else.
[22:52] Speaker B: Yeah, And I think working as a team in the family can help the family to get out of poverty.
[23:04] It's because in the past, it's just like the man in charge of everything and not the woman.
[23:11] But we're really working hard. It's not easy, though. It takes time.
[23:17] Because our cultural situation, you know, we have a lot of machismo,
[23:22] so it's not easy. But men, it's really good to understand also that the men from.
[23:28] Well, I mean,
[23:30] all the fathers. That belongs to the program.
[23:32] You're understanding our program. You're understanding about the.
[23:38] About what we're doing, empowering the mothers.
[23:42] And that's really nice that you're understanding everything.
[23:46] Jan: And I think really importantly is when the mothers are joining together and they're getting ideas of things that they can do to improve their community and even getting a job and they're able to get a bank account correct as well.
[24:03] And to start saving money or figuring out even how to use money,
[24:07] you know, wisely like that, the children see that because they're modeling it for their children. And then that becomes the culture,
[24:16] the new culture that's being created.
[24:19] Speaker B: And that's what we want, you know, because we want the mothers to teach your children as well.
[24:25] And I think, like.
[24:27] Well, here in Honduras, we have been working like with credit unions and it's a new experience for the mothers. Mostly it's confirmed by mothers because they are the one that stay at home normally and they will attend all of our responsibility, all the responsibilities that we have in the program.
[24:46] So they're working there with savings and they are also managing different kinds of projects that they're running in their community.
[24:57] They're also helping to develop your community as a group of mothers and a credit unit. Credit union, sorry, is a legal identity that they have and in the future they're thinking to starting to give loans to their own members.
[25:14] So with low tax, low interest, sorry.
[25:18] And I think that can help a lot. And they're learning a lot.
[25:22] And also their,
[25:25] their husbands really thinking positive in a positive way about what we're doing with the credit unions.
[25:33] Jan: Yeah. Talk to us about entrepreneurship.
[25:37] Speaker B: Well, here in Honduras, normally when you graduate from 12th grade,
[25:43] go to the university, you don't have like the same opportunities like in the US but what the students or what this population is doing is trying to start their own business is the way that we can have a country development,
[26:05] because we don't have it.
[26:07] We're working on it though.
[26:09] But many mothers are starting their own business.
[26:14] But through the credit units, unions,
[26:17] we want the families to get loans to start their business and help them.
[26:24] And we have many families already working with their own business.
[26:30] I have in Okotepeca, there is a credit union that has a chicken farm.
[26:35] It's just 10 of the women being part of the credit union and they have a huge chicken farm and their children are involved and they're getting good incomes from that.
[26:47] I think that if we continue empowering our economy and this way, or always looking out for good ways to support our you,
[27:01] we can really improve all the situations that we're going through or the families that are going through and really have better life conditions in the future.
[27:13] Jan: And when someone wants to start some type of a business, do you mentor them or do you have someone that mentors them in how to go about that business?
[27:25] Speaker B: Yeah, normally in unbound, we train the families how to run a business.
[27:29] So like the booking and everything.
[27:32] So we try to go slow so they step by step so they can understand and make sure what you're doing. You know, like,
[27:41] okay, I feel really reliable with this.
[27:45] So that's what we're doing.
[27:48] Jan: Can you share with us about any family situations or whatever that you've seen.
[27:56] Speaker B: That have really impressed you after coming to this trip? We were looking for families that have overcome their poverty situation.
[28:06] And I was really impressed with one family that took the poverty stoplight survey and they didn't have enough incomes.
[28:16] And this mother, that was like two years ago,
[28:19] and that mother started a small business like a. Well, I don't know how you call it, but we call it like a shop here where, where you sell different kind of groceries.
[28:31] And she started a small business in her community and started to grow.
[28:37] Now she have three people working for her.
[28:40] And she told me, well, I, we visited her and she told me we're paying an accountant also to help us to run this business.
[28:48] What you're doing that.
[28:50] Wow, that's crazy.
[28:52] Jan: Wow. And. And with her success then I'm sure she tells other people as well who she inspires them.
[28:58] Speaker B: You know, the people from this we have the mother's group.
[29:02] You're really excited also about her.
[29:05] But also this what she's doing are encouraging them also to make decisions to help them to improve their lives.
[29:15] Jan: Yeah. Because when they see somebody else can do it, it's like if they can do it, I can do that,
[29:21] you know,
[29:22] and I, and I know, I saw that she got help in order to make it through. You know, I could get the same help.
[29:30] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, and as we have shared before,
[29:35] everything of this have been done thanks to the sponsors and also thanks to Unbound and thanks to the families and stuff because the family are really believing in Unbound, but they are also believing in their sponsors because their sponsors are the one that also are pushing them to keep improving their lives.
[29:56] Jan: Yeah.
[29:57] And what about the kids? So the kids.
[30:00] Well,
[30:01] you have from children to youth to scholars and elderly like that.
[30:08] What has been the biggest impact you think on the kids?
[30:12] Speaker B: Well,
[30:13] you know, the kids.
[30:15] Well, we have work here in Honduras with children learning spaces like also trying to give them like different kind of topics like helping them with school,
[30:28] helping them with situation that they can go into their families through their families and the children, they're really happy about being part of Unbound because as a mother shared with us today that her children didn't had like all their school supplies to attend school.
[30:48] And it was so happy to hear from her that she says that when they come to be part of Unbound now, now they have all their school supplies, they have money to buy their food.
[30:59] So getting and being part of Unbound is a blessing for the families because we work with families that are in poverty and it's not easy for them to well,
[31:14] afford all of the expenses that they have for their children to attend the school.
[31:18] Jan: Well, and just to be educated. I mean. Yeah, a lot to be said for that too. Tell us about the scholar program.
[31:28] Speaker B: Well, the scholar program starts, it's just for the youth,
[31:32] but it started from.
[31:34] For those who are 14 years and older.
[31:38] So the scholars is apart from the sponsorship program while Unbound scholars get it from only donors we go through.
[31:50] Well, all the students,
[31:52] they have to submit some requirements to be part of the scholarship program.
[31:58] Like for example,
[31:59] have a good average at school,
[32:02] also have good behavior and.
[32:06] Well,
[32:07] that's the ones that I remember.
[32:10] But the scholarship program is helping all of those students that have,
[32:14] well,
[32:15] their lack of many things to continue with your schooling and to achieve their goals in life.
[32:24] Normally it happens.
[32:25] Like for example,
[32:27] I visited last,
[32:30] last month, one of the scholars and she was telling me her story.
[32:35] She told me, you know, I was just going to finish my 12th grade and I didn't, I. I didn't have plans to continue with my university because it's expensive for us.
[32:47] So she noticed about unbound and then she got the scholarship.
[32:54] This is how she started to go to the university and she graduated, she's graduating this year from business.
[33:02] Well,
[33:03] the career is business administration.
[33:07] And she's really happy. She was crying and telling us about this,
[33:11] how the scholarship have helped her to achieve her goals in life.
[33:17] Normally the funds that she received was just to afford her monthly fees at school.
[33:24] But she says that if she had done it by her own, maybe it wasn't be possible.
[33:33] Jan: Right? Yeah, yeah, the same. And the elderly, so what's the impact for the elderly? Elderly?
[33:40] Speaker B: With the elderly, we want them to live in good conditions and to enjoy their lives,
[33:47] to have,
[33:50] well, to live in a good environment.
[33:54] So with the elders, we're like helping them with,
[33:58] to get your medicine,
[34:00] to have food.
[34:01] Because many elders here in Honduras are forgotten.
[34:05] They're not where they should be a caregiver for them. But normally they're like just forgotten.
[34:11] And here we don't have like, well, our people, they're not, they don't have retirements or pensions.
[34:18] If we say, we can say so the unbound funds, the sponsorship funds are the only support that they receive.
[34:26] So they,
[34:27] they are really happy to receive the sponsorship funds because now they can have a,
[34:35] a new bed, they can have a stove, for example.
[34:40] Medications,
[34:41] Medication that is very important.
[34:44] And today we visited elderly at her house and she said, oh look, thanks to my sponsor, now I have a new dress,
[34:52] I have my shoes and I have food and I have, I have had all my medication and that was so nice to hear from her, you know?
[35:01] Jan: Yeah, yeah. I think for me, just seeing smiles. I mean, I just want to collect smiles. Yeah. Because there's just so many, so much happiness.
[35:15] Speaker B: Yeah.
[35:16] And you're so grateful.
[35:18] The elders here,
[35:19] they're so grateful,
[35:21] and it's really nice to visit them. You know, you will listen to your stories. They will start. Start telling all of their stories, and it's really nice to sit down in their houses and start to listen to their stories.
[35:33] Jan: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[35:35] Speaker B: And that's what Unbound has.
[35:37] Have been working with the elders also, like getting close to them,
[35:41] having a good time with them,
[35:43] taking a coffee with them. So. So they can be feel part of the society and not forgotten.
[35:49] Jan: Yeah, yeah. So important. I think that's the bottom line, is you look at everybody as being important.
[35:55] Speaker B: Yeah. And what we see in our elders is wisdom.
[35:59] Jan: Right.
[36:00] Speaker B: Yeah. That's what we see.
[36:02] Jan: Right, Right. Yeah. Is there anything else you'd like to add?
[36:06] Speaker B: Well,
[36:08] can.
[36:09] I would like to add that being part of Unbound is the best decision that you can make in life.
[36:16] And if you have the opportunity to come and join Unbound in one of our awareness trip, you will.
[36:24] Well, it speaks for itself, you know, everything that Unbound is doing with the families,
[36:31] and you will experience firsthand the reality that we are that I'm telling you.
[36:38] And I think you should join it in town.
[36:42] Jan: Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Thank you so much, Myron. So I'll have Mary here to tell about her experience.
[36:57] Speaker G: I have been an unbound sponsor for 24 years.
[37:01] I just began sponsoring my third family.
[37:04] It has been a wonderful experience for me.
[37:07] It's not only about financial support, but giving them a lift up out of poverty.
[37:15] I've seen that with my two previous families.
[37:18] I look forward to the letters every month, and they'll let me know how they're doing in school and what is going on in their life.
[37:26] And they ask me lots of questions about my life and what is going on with me often, what the weather is.
[37:32] And it's just a way to build a relationship with your sponsored family.
[37:39] Jan: What was the experience for your kids when they got to meet with you this time?
[37:44] Speaker G: It was joy. It was just so much joy.
[37:49] Jan: And then at the end of it, you were a little teary. Why was.
[37:54] Speaker G: Well, my two sponsored friends have ended their time with Unbound so they can no longer be sponsored by me. So after 13 years of a relationship with my children and their family,
[38:11] goodbyes are always hard.
[38:14] Jan: Yeah. So you get to start A new adventure with someone new now.
[38:18] Speaker G: Yes. The new adventure begins with Jaylene. She's nine years old. She lives close to where we are at and here in Honduras. I got to meet her and her mother on Saturday at the Aqua park here, and we shared a sponsored friends dinner that evening along with a talent show.
[38:37] Jan: Perfect. Thank you so much. Tell us about your unbound experience, being with your kiddo, and any other things that you'd like to share.
[38:52] Speaker E: We've had a wonderful experience. Or I can speak for myself. I've had a wonderful experience here in Honduras. People are just so gracious and kind and welcoming. You know, they put out the best for you, even with their.
[39:05] The poverty that they have. And it definitely was a highlight seeing Azia Sina after,
[39:12] you know, all this time that we've been sponsoring her to finally get to meet her in person.
[39:17] I kind of felt bad as we were meeting her that, like,
[39:20] you know, I wish we had written more letters over the years than we had actually written,
[39:25] because it's obvious. She brought out this album and showed us every single picture and every single letter that they had ever written.
[39:32] And we're like, wow, she really treasures this, you know, relationship, and it definitely motivates me to want, you know, make better use of the letter writing in the future.
[39:43] Jan: How did you think it was for her to see you?
[39:47] Speaker E: Well, that's really solid.
[39:49] Speaker G: She seemed really happy. She was definitely very nervous. Like, she even, like, told us that she was nervous.
[39:56] Jan: How old was she?
[39:57] Speaker G: She is 15 years old.
[39:59] And she definitely seemed truly grateful to see us.
[40:03] She told me in a letter before we came here, she cried tears of joy when she found a we were coming.
[40:09] So I imagine she was very nervous, but at the same time, very happy.
[40:13] Jan: Yeah. And how was it for you to meet her?
[40:16] Speaker G: It was so great. Like,
[40:19] I've known her my whole life and we've written to each other for a long time,
[40:24] but I never met her. So getting to meet her for the first time, getting to meet somebody that you've known your whole life is incredible and really life changing.
[40:34] Jan: What other experiences did you like? How did they impact you? The things?
[40:40] Speaker E: Definitely the house visits yesterday was very impactful. It's not my first time to, like, this kind of poverty,
[40:47] but,
[40:48] you know, you can kind of forget living in all the comforts of an American home that, like, the first house we went to was extreme poverty. Like, no running water,
[41:00] very, very tiny house.
[41:03] And it just reminds you to be grateful for what you have, you know, that, like,
[41:09] I probably could have fit this entire house in my living room. And,
[41:12] you know, and yet again, people were so gracious, they were so proud to show us their space. They brought out soda for us, like a bottle of soda at both of the places we went to.
[41:22] So it was just really neat to see that. And then the second house we went to was a little bit more technology. They had electricity,
[41:31] they had running water for at least from what we could tell,
[41:34] but still very, very humble surroundings there.
[41:38] And again, it just got a reminder of, like, the blessings that we have, like, even just the little comforts we have, you know, at home that a lot of the world doesn't have.
[41:49] Jan: Yeah. How is that for you?
[41:52] Speaker G: It's really humbling and very cool to see how here there's so much poverty and they don't have the things that we have yet. They're so happy and so content,
[42:04] and they're so focused on their community and their faith.
[42:07] Jan: That's really cool.
[42:08] Would you recommend this for anybody?
[42:11] Definitely, yeah.
[42:12] Thank you.
[42:19] Laura, thank you for participating in this little interview.
[42:24] What was your experience like, meeting your.
[42:27] Your sponsored child?
[42:28] Speaker F: Oh, it was pretty amazing. It was very exciting.
[42:33] I couldn't really believe it was gonna. I was finally gonna get to see him. And he and his mom looked just like their photo.
[42:40] Jan: How old was he?
[42:41] Speaker F: He's 13.
[42:42] Jan: Oh, how long have you sponsored him?
[42:44] Speaker F: 10 years.
[42:45] Jan: Oh, so you had a long time.
[42:47] Speaker F: Experience and, you know, since they've been asking for the last five years. When are you coming?
[42:53] So I finally decided, you know what, this is the year I've just got to do it.
[42:58] Jan: What kind of things did you talk about?
[42:59] Speaker F: We didn't talk a lot. He's very shy and so is his mom. In fact, they don't even make eye contact a lot.
[43:07] So it was pretty slow getting started. But we started talking. And of course, the translator helped a lot. And the girl social worker, I guess, or the unbound worker that came with him was helpful too.
[43:20] And so we just, we talked about he had had some health problems recently that he didn't know anything about.
[43:27] And that was pretty concerning. They were fairly serious. He had a.
[43:30] An infection from a contaminated needle that they used to give you an immunization. It was awful.
[43:37] And he got a terrible staph infection. And they had to have part of the skin and the muscle cut out.
[43:43] And then it was on antibiotics and had discs. Skin graft was incredible. As a nurse, you know, I had picked him because he was kind of,
[43:52] was as sickly as a little toddler. And so I thought, okay, he wants something.
[43:57] And the mom had told me in her letters that they used the sponsor money to buy medicine and vitamins for him as he was growing up. But he's very tall, and he looks great otherwise.
[44:10] But he's still not doing the letters. The mom is always doing the letters.
[44:16] So I tried to encourage that maybe, you know, Jose could start helping.
[44:21] And he doesn't like to do it. I think it's part of the.
[44:26] I had him print his name. I said, can you print your name? And I had a pen of paper with a pen, and he did it, and it was beautiful.
[44:32] He did it real quickly and without thinking. And so I thought, okay, you can do this.
[44:38] Jan: Yeah. Yeah. No excuses, buddy.
[44:40] Speaker F: No. So we'll see what happens. So I.
[44:42] I talked to Cameron and asked him if he could check with the person who comes into their home and let me know a little more, you know, is the mom going to the mother's meetings?
[44:51] Because she seemed. She always looks kind of worried, and,
[44:55] you know, she has a lot of children. But I think there's only Jose and his younger brother still at home. The others are out now,
[45:02] so I want to make sure she's getting some support.
[45:05] Jan: And they may be able to find a tutor for him as well.
[45:08] Speaker F: Yeah, I hope so.
[45:09] It's. You know, from what the. The translator said, when children have trouble in school.
[45:15] Like, he's tried to pass the fifth grade for three years in a row.
[45:20] And so. Well, part of it was when he was ill, he couldn't go.
[45:23] And I don't know that a mom is able to help him much with school. So a tutor would be great.
[45:29] Jan: Yeah.
[45:29] Speaker F: I'm hoping that maybe that will happen.
[45:32] Jan: Yeah.
[45:32] Speaker F: There's got to be somebody else in that village that would be patient. He just needs somebody to sit with him and do it with him.
[45:39] Jan: Yeah.
[45:40] Speaker F: Let's just start it.
[45:41] Jan: Changing lives.
[45:42] Speaker F: That's right.
[45:43] Jan: Changing lives.
[45:44] Speaker F: Yeah. But he's a wonderful artist,
[45:46] and I think he's really very smart. But it may be that he has trouble with understanding the sound of the letters to read. Although I was reading the letters that mom had brain that I brought with me,
[45:59] so I let him keep that whole binder. I said you could keep that. And that's something to practice reading.
[46:03] Jan: Oh, that's good.
[46:04] Speaker F: Yeah. So I was excited about that.
[46:06] Jan: Yeah.
[46:06] Speaker F: See if that will happen.
[46:08] Speaker B: Good.
[46:09] Jan: Okay. Thank you for sharing.
[46:10] Speaker F: Oh, you're welcome. Thanks for asking.
[46:20] Jan: Okay. I have Cameron here with me. He is from the Kansas City unmarried office. So, Cameron, tell me why you even got started With Unbound.
[46:33] Speaker E: What.
[46:33] Jan: What drew you to do that?
[46:36] Speaker D: So it's actually a good story.
[46:38] I didn't decide or choose to go with Unbound for any particular reason. I had my brother in law, he worked at unbound in 2019 and when he left the organization,
[46:51] I was looking for a job at the time and he was telling me about Unbound and all the good things they were doing. So it sounded like something I wanted.
[46:58] Speaker C: To be a part of.
[46:59] Speaker D: So I applied and three interviews later,
[47:03] I'm here. And I would say that what kept me with Unbound is their mission of their the radical journey of walking with the families on a path out of poverty.
[47:15] That is,
[47:16] it's really transformative for someone who didn't know anything about Unbound, you know, to learn about that mission and walk that path every day.
[47:27] I'm thankful and I'm just so grateful that, you know,
[47:31] Unbound came into Holiday.
[47:33] Jan: Was there a point where you'd been working there for a while but then maybe took your first trip? Did that make a difference for you?
[47:42] Speaker D: Oh, it made a world of a difference. So I started off in sponsor support.
[47:47] So I was just, you know, helping. Helping sponsors on the phone, you know, and I knew a lot about Unbound, of course, because I worked there. I knew a lot about what goes on behind the scenes.
[47:58] But I was never in the field, I was never speaking with families, I was never working with our project teams. I worked so hard and do so much for the organization.
[48:08] So when I was able to take that first trip,
[48:11] I mean, it just took my awareness and my dedication to another level. Just being able to see the impact,
[48:19] see the joy that Unbound brings and just see the legacy, you know, that, that is Unbound in these countries. It's. Taking that trip is truly,
[48:28] it's, it's amazing. It makes you dive more deeper into the mission.
[48:34] Jan: Yeah, yeah. Maybe that's why they call it an awareness trip.
[48:38] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[48:39] Speaker D: You're growing your awareness, growing your awareness. Absolutely.
[48:43] Jan: So on your day to day, what do you actually do?
[48:46] Speaker D: Um, so on a day to day, I clock in, I chat with the team, we have a morning meeting about what we're working on that day and what needs to get done.
[48:56] And then I get started on my task. Whether that's, you know, processing applications or responding to emails,
[49:04] doing some callbacks,
[49:06] working with the trips physically.
[49:08] So entering information into our,
[49:11] our, we call it casa, which is our dedicated portal for, for Unbound. It's a, it's all made in house.
[49:18] It's really nice and intuitive.
[49:20] So we work with that. We have team meetings with other departments. We work interdepartmentally to know who we're going to visit on trips. We speak with the project teams to, you know, know what we're going to do on trips.
[49:36] And you know,
[49:37] it's, it's really a lot that encompasses my job. But those are some of the, the broader things that we do on a day to day.
[49:45] Jan: What's the mission statement of Undoubted?
[49:48] Speaker D: Yeah, I, yeah, I actually said it.
[49:50] Jan: This is a test.
[49:51] Speaker D: Yeah, I actually said it in the beginning but it's a radical journey.
[49:58] I want to word it perfectly. It's a radical journey on a path out of poverty. I might have bush it a bit, but that is the new mission statement. It goes along with our new 2030 plan that was recently updated.
[50:15] Ashley Huff has led the charge in that and it's really going to put us in a good position in the next five years.
[50:23] Unbound has been going through some tough times due to Covid. So were wanting to revamp and get things back on track and make things better than. Than they ever were.
[50:36] Jan: Yeah. Yeah. And who is. It's a nonprofit. So you have a board. Yeah. And what's the board made of?
[50:43] Speaker D: I believe there,
[50:44] I can't remember the exact number,
[50:47] but the board is made up of, you know, businessmen and women that work in education or lawyers,
[50:55] entrepreneurs.
[50:56] Ashley Huff, who is our CEO, she's the president of the board and she's also unbalanced attorney.
[51:02] So it's just, it's made up of a group of men and women who were past sponsors who are respective in their fields and you know, they're, they're all dedicated to our mission.
[51:15] They signed off on our 2030 plan and they believe in it wholeheartedly.
[51:20] Jan: And because they were sponsors, their hearts in it, the they see what it does and the whole thing.
[51:26] What have you seen with your coworkers as far as the impact of Unbound on them?
[51:33] Speaker D: Yeah,
[51:35] I would say the biggest unpack. Sorry,
[51:38] unpacked. I would say the biggest impact is their longevity.
[51:42] That is a true testament to their dedication to our mission. One of my coworkers, Jorge Castaneda, he works in El Salvador and he's been with the organization for around 20 plus years.
[51:56] And Stacy King, who is now the manager of the trips team, she's been with Unbound for 16 years now. So those are just a few of the veterans on our squad.
[52:08] We have a couple of new teammates on the team. We just recently got Natalie Ancampo and Elizabeth Suarez, she's in Columbia.
[52:18] So we're really excited about getting them up to speed and just building the TRIPS program to, you know, be better than it was pre Covid.
[52:27] Jan: Yeah. How many countries are sponsored?
[52:30] Speaker D: There's currently 17 countries.
[52:32] Jan: Wow.
[52:33] Speaker D: Yeah, there were 18, but we recently moved out of the Dominican Development.
[52:37] Jan: Oh, you did? Yeah. Yeah. Okay, so you've got Central America, some in South America, Africa, Philippines. What am I missing?
[52:50] Speaker B: India.
[52:50] Jan: India. Yeah. Yeah. Amazing. Okay. And I'm sure on the whole, an awareness trip takes you to see pretty much the same program everywhere, right?
[53:03] Speaker D: Technically. But each program is different in their respective rights. I mean, they're under the unbound umbrella,
[53:11] but each program is their own entity within their respective countries.
[53:16] So they have their own bylaws, they have their own code of conduct, they have their own manuals, you know, that they live and work by. So they have their own identities, which makes it special because Bob Henson always wanted not only the families, but the people that worked for unbound to have their own identities and have,
[53:37] you know,
[53:38] a sense of dignity and self-respect and the things that they do, because that's only going to make them better,
[53:45] which in turn helps them be better servers for our sponsors, our sponsor friends.
[53:51] Jan: And tell me how much it costs to sponsor a child, or is it just children?
[53:55] Speaker D: Yeah. So it's currently $40 a month to sponsor either a child or an elder. We also do elder sponsorship as well.
[54:04] Jan: Excellent. And how much of that money actually goes to the family?
[54:08] Speaker D: Yeah. So currently on our website, Unbound.org you can see the breakdown of how that $40 is dispersed. Currently,
[54:18] 90.2% goes to the families in the countries,
[54:22] and that rounds out to about $37.
[54:26] It's like $36.80.
[54:28] And then I can't remember the respective numbers for administration and fundraising, but roughly administration is about 4% and fundraising is at about 5.
[54:41] Jan: That's excellent. Yeah, excellent. What would you say to those listening about how this maybe compares to other sponsorship programs?
[54:53] Speaker D: Yeah, I would say the proof is in the pudding.
[54:57] Check us out on Watchdog and Charity Navigator. I mean, just search up Unbound and you'll see how we compare. In the industry,
[55:05] very few organizations are giving out 90% of the proceed proceeds to the actual recipients. So. And we're very proud of that, that 90% mark.
[55:17] We work really hard to meet that every year. And we made it a vow to never go below that 90%. We're actually working to increase that, which is where our 2030 plan comes in, comes into play as well.
[55:33] Jan: That's awesome. Anything else to add?
[55:35] Speaker D: I would just say check us out.
[55:37] It's life changing what we do. If you don't know about us, you know, it's kind of hard, kind of hard to know information that you don't know. So simply check us out and I promise you, don't be sorry.
[55:50] You'll fall in love with the organization. You'll fall in love with the children that you see and the elders as well, because we do elder sponsorship as well and they're just as sweet as the kids.
[56:01] And yeah, it's just so much love in this organization.
[56:05] So just come be a part of it.
[56:07] Jan: And so it's unbound.org and then also Instagram.
[56:12] Speaker D: Yes, we're on Instagram as well. Unbound. Kc. And we're on Facebook as well. Just search up Unbound and.
[56:19] Jan: And you do.
[56:20] Speaker D: And YouTube as well.
[56:22] Speaker C: Unbound.
[56:23] Jan: Yeah. Perfect. So it's all over the place. No excuses. All right, Cameron, thank you.
[56:30] Speaker B: Thank you.
[56:38] Speaker H: Hi, I'm Ed Johnson.
[56:39] I've been a sponsor with unbound for 25 years.
[56:44] We still have one family that we started with the very first family.
[56:48] We still have family members 25 years later.
[56:52] So it's been a long,
[56:55] real relationship.
[56:57] And I do it because it brings me great joy.
[57:02] For a very little amount of money,
[57:04] you can make significant changes in people's lives.
[57:08] We've had sponsor friends that have become nurses,
[57:12] business folks and really, really significantly changed their lives for hardly anything at all.
[57:19] And to me,
[57:20] the first letter I send them starts off welcome to our family.
[57:25] And it really is a blending of two families, their family and our family.
[57:30] And to me, it's a covenant relationship similar to what God established with his people,
[57:38] the Jewish people.
[57:39] Because it's not a one-way street. It's not just us giving to them,
[57:43] but we.
[57:45] What we get back in return is people throughout the world praying for us.
[57:51] So to me,
[57:53] we get more bang for the buck than those families do that we give a very small amount of money.
[57:58] So it brings a lot of joy to my family and it brings joy to the families that we sponsor.
[58:03] So that's our story and I'm sticking to it.
[58:13] Jan: Thank you for spending time with me. I really appreciate it. You.
[58:17] Yes, you are why I spend close to five hours a week publishing these episodes for audio, YouTube and Substack.
[58:25] I believe that each one has something that you can take away and draw you nearer to Jesus.
[58:31] And I don't know about you, but close to him is where I want to be.
[58:36] Here are a few scriptures to go with this Matthew 25:35 For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat. Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.
[58:51] Galatians 2:10 all they ask was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along.
[59:00] And first John 3:17 if anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need, but has no pity on them,
[59:09] how can the love of God be in that person?
[59:13] I want to credit Northwestern for the song Hometown that I used in this episode.
[59:19] Blessing My Friend. I look forward to joining you next week. Again we will hear from Armentha Hackett and God's amazing Healing Grace.
[59:28] Have a wonderful, wonderful week.