(Comes from Jaime’s Story)

It was almost Christmas, 2012. I was hunched over my computer when the phone rang. My partner answered, and as he walked towards me, I heard him say, “Who’s calling? Oh? (Mumble mumble) … Common Hope?”

I swerved in my chair. “Hand me that phone,” I said, forgetting the “Please.”

I somehow just knew.

“Hello? Terry? This is Jaime.”

Thus began the remarkable surprise reunion with my long-ago Common Hope Sponsee, Jaime David Obando.

Many years ago, I had decided to sponsor a child from Guatemala through Common Hope, an organization which my brother, already a child’s sponsor, warmly supported and highly recommended. Partly because my own son, Jesse, was in high school, and partly because I suspected many prospective sponsors might be more interested in a cuddly baby than in an older child, I asked for a boy of roughly my son’s age. Common Hope gave us the gift of Jaime, age 14. I still remember the excitement of our first “News from Jaime” letter forwarded through Common Hope, and I flourished it happily at a restaurant dinner with friends.

Terry and her son Jessi who co-sponsored Jaime!

We eagerly followed Jaime’s academic progress, about which he was very honest, as well as stories of his family. It seemed too soon when he turned 26 and was no longer eligible for the program, and Jaime and I lost touch.

It was not until Jaime’s phone call and subsequent letter that I learned of the amazing trajectory of his life. My “little sponsee” had graduated from college in Guatemala, was married to an American he had met while she was studying Spanish there, and was working as a computer technician in Los Angeles—waiting for his Green Card !!

That amazing night, I learned he had been tracking me down—with considerable effort—and was trying out the phone number he had found—all in order to thank me for his education and the opportunities it has given him! Needless to say, I burst into tears of happiness and gratitude for the gift that Jaime had given back.

“This is the best Christmas present I’ve ever had,” I sobbed into the phone.

And it still is.

Unbeknownst to Jaime, I had a surprise in store for him as well. After he and his wife Laura chose to sponsor their own Common Hope child—the first “second generation sponsee,” Dennis—Jaime was chosen as the major speaker for the Common Hope Gala, held in Chicago in September of 2013. His wife Laura and I conspired with Common Hope for me to meet Jaime on the day of the Gala. I stood patiently behind several Common Hope members as they introduced themselves, and then smiled at my (much taller) sponsee: “Hello, Jaime—I’m Terry.” Major jubilation and big hugs all around!!!

The Common Hope folks were kind enough to seat me at breakfast with Jaime and Laura, where he shared his ambitions for himself (many concerning improving education and especially computer literacy for Guatemalan children) and his country. He was so enthusiastic on both topics that I asked (only somewhat jokingly) if he wished to run for President of Guatemala. “No, please,” Laura broke in. “Don’t encourage him!” Throughout our conversation I was most impressed with Jaime’s special combination of idealism and pragmatism; I simply glowed in the discovery of what the little boy in those photographs had become.

Jaime’s mother could not be there to hear his excellent speech that evening, but I imagined that I was representing her, and I felt so very proud. I imagined him saying to her what he had written to me, “I will be grateful forever to you and my parents …. Now I’m a man with education, with a professional degree, with a lot of ideas to help other kids from my country….”

Perhaps not everyone will receive a mysterious Christmas phone call, but everyone I’ve told about Jaime wants to see pictures; they want to know more. The hunger to help is there. Since Jaime, I have sponsored two adolescent girls. My current sponsee, Lourdes, seems very determined to finish her studies and become a teacher or a doctor. My fondest hope for her is a potent smattering of “Jaime Genes” !

— Terry Kidner is Jaime’s sponsor. Read his story.

Terry, Jaime’s sponsor

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