Introducing Billy
SENEGAL
By Delbert Blickenstaff 

Do you know where Senegal is?  I didn’t until my parents started talking about it.  It is a country on the west side of Africa, and I do know where that is.  Remember when we had a family council when Emily became allergic to dogs?  Well, we had another one. 

Dad called us together and asked us kids if we would like to have a brother or sister.  We immediately thought that Mom was going to have another baby.  But Mom said that they were thinking about a foster child who lives in some other country, and they wanted to know what we thought about it. 

Then Dad told us about CHILDREACH, which is an organization that connects people like us with poor children in other countries all over the world.  We asked if this poor child would live with us and Mom said no but we would write letters and get pictures of the child.  Dad and Mom would send some money to CHILDREACH every month which would go to the child and to the town where he or she lives.  Henry and I liked the idea.  I don’t know what Emily thought. 

This all happened several weeks ago and now we have a foster child.  CHILDREACH sent us a picture of Khoudia Wade and her mother and told us about the family in Senegal.  Khoudia is ten years old and she does not go to school.  Instead she helps her mother around the house.  Many families in Senegal do not believe that going to school is important, especially for girls.  I feel sorry for her that she doesn’t get to learn to read and write.  There is a worker in her village who will read our letters to the family and we are expected to write about once a month.  I’m going to write about our dog Nelly and I’m going to tell her about my school.  I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t get to go to school.  Playing video games would get boring after a while.  Even though I like to read I wouldn’t do that all day.  I hope things change for Khoudia. 

Billy