Houida Kassem, morning show host for A-Channel Television in Windsor, travelled with World Vision in January to Nicaragua. She went to see first-hand how World Vision helps communities become self-sufficient through child sponsorship. The “assignment” was unlike any she had ever undertaken.

World Vision: How did you react to the poverty you witnessed?

Houida Kassem: I knew it was going to be difficult. I’d seen it on TV before like everyone else, but it’s even more devastating to see in person. I asked myself a million times, “Why?”
 
WV: What kinds of struggles did you witness?

HK: I saw kids who were dirty. I wondered if they’d ever had clean water. I met a little boy named Anthony, two-years-old, who is so severely malnourished that he’s losing his sight. They just don’t have the medical care and supplies that we have, the food that we have, the clean water that we have.

WV: In what ways did you see World Vision child sponsorship helping Nicaraguans?

HK: I visited a community that finally has clean drinking water. I saw parents learning how to cook nutritious meals for their kids. I saw kids going to school because they can now afford books and uniforms. I saw kids playing in actual playgrounds with toys and games.

WV: How did this experience change you?

HK: Before I got there, all those kids were nameless faces…and then I met some of them. All of a sudden they weren’t nameless faces—they were my kids, your kids, your neighbour’s kids. These kids need help. The more we talk about it, the more difference it makes.

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