I know I've said "My family of sponsored children is complete!" about 6 times now...I just am a sucker for a child in need. And this little boy is in desperate, desperate need. His name is Jairo Joel T. P. and he lives in Guayaquil, Ecuador. He is 5 years old, turning 6 in two months, on November 28. He is 3'4" tall and weighs 34 lbs.
All the children CI helps are needy. So what made me want to sponsor Jairo even after I said I was done adding kids? (Other than the fact that he's adorable, of course.) Well, Jairo lives with his parents and SEVEN siblings on an income of $37 a month. In Ecuador. I don't even know how that's possible. At first I thought it might be a typo- that a digit might be missing. But once I received the family report, I don't think it's a typo. A lot of things on the report lead me to believe that Jairo's family really is that poor.
The Latin American countries have higher costs of living than the Philippines, Zambia, or India; consequently, people tend to make more money in Latin America. My other two sponsored children from Ecuador, Egda and Jazmin, have family incomes of $200 and $220 per month. $37 a month in Ecuador is so poor that I truly cannot even imagine it. It's just so far outside my frame of reference. So you see, I just couldn't pass Jairo up or make him wait who knows how long for a sponsor. He needs one NOW.
Jairo does not attend school- his family lacks the money to send him. So I guess that means that at 5, he is old enough to go to school. If he was too young I think the report would indicate that- it does for my 2 year old, Henry Daniel. So needless to say, getting Jairo into school is one of my priorities!
At home, Jairo is too young for chores. He likes to draw, dance, and play with toys and cars.
Jairo lives with his parents and seven brothers and sisters. Father Luis is a janitor, and mother Paola is a homemaker. Older sisters are Jadira, 15; Jessica, 11; and Janina Michelle, 9. Older brothers are Gary, 13; Jostin Geovanny, 10; and Yeiko Jasmany, 8. Jairo also has a younger brother, Jeriko Jair, who is just 2 years old. The family lives in a home with two multi-use rooms. The floor is wood, the roof is corrugated metal, and the walls are split cane. I didn't know this until just now, but split cane is apparently VERY flimsy and can collapse easily. I knew it wasn't as solid a building material as, say, concrete or brick or even wood, but I didn't know just how unstable it can be.
The family does their cooking on a gas stove, and Jairo has a metal frame bed to sleep in. Water is stored at home in a barrel or a tank, and the family uses non-regulated electricity. Their sanitary facility is an open field.
So you see what I mean about certain things in the report leading me to believe that the $37 figure is correct- the split cane home, the not attending school, the non-regulated electricity and the open field.
Jairo is a little boy who is in desperate need of the benefits sponsorship provides. I don't know if he's been sponsored before- I can't see his past photos on the CI website at the moment. I do know his ID number begins with 105, and it seems like the children who have not been sponsored before have numbers that start with 111-115. So hopefully he's had a sponsor and been receiving benefits before now!
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