Gilbert Gives Sponsorship His All

Heidi Isaza - Posted on November 3, 2008

Gilbert NDour is a humble, young and passionate man. He is also a Child Supervisor for the World Vision sponsorship program in Tattaguine. A smile spreads across his face whenever he talks about the kids in his community, which he knows by name and their Sponsorship ID numbers. You can’t walk more than 100 yards with Gilbert without him stopping to say "Hi" to someone in the community, usually someone half his size.

We talked with Gilbert about his role as Child Supervisor. See how he responded.

Gilbert NDour, 25, is a very busy man. "Sometimes, if I have a lot of work, I wake up at 5 a.m.," he says. Gilbert has to wake up and work more hours than most men in his community because not only does he work in his field in order to be able to feed his family, he also dedicates a lot of his time to checking-in with the children in his community who are registered in the World Vision sponsorship program. "Sponsorship is my number one priority. When I have spare time, I go to the field," he says, showing his dedication.

Ten questions for Child Supervisor Gilbert NDour

1. How long have you been involved with World Vision?

"I have been working with World Vision for six years."

2. How did you start working as a Child Supervisor?

"World Vision was looking for a volunteer from the village to be involved and I said, ‘here I am. I want to serve.’"

3. What are your responsibilities?

"I go to visit the children in their homes. I help them write letters or I collect information to write in the introduction letter or [sometimes] I help them to respond to a letter."

4. Do you talk much with the children’s parents?

"In my job I always talk to parents and I encourage them to register their children [in school]."

5. How many sponsored children are you responsible for?

"I have 250 kids and I visit each one of them quarterly. That means that I have to visit an average of almost 100 kids per month."

6. What motivates you?

"I am still motivated by all the kids in my village. I know that this program is building the kids and the community."

7. What impact has your work of being a child supervisor had on your life?

"Being a child supervisor helps me to strengthen my relationship with the community and it helps the kids to strengthen their relationships with other kids."

8. In your opinion, how do you think that World Vision’s child sponsorship has affected your village?

"World Vision has enabled my community to be more organized. It has also brought more unity among the population. Before, it was really difficult to get people organized. I have started to see this change in the last three years."

9. What advice do you give to the sponsored children?

"If I had to pick one word of advice it would be ‘education.’ It needs to be apriority in your life because education now is so important."

10. What role does your faith play in your role as a child supervisor?

"Everyday I start by praying. This is what gives me strength. I am a man of prayer. Any time I see some problems in the work I stop and pray and I can see the result."

Come back next month and go with Gilbert as he visits one of the children’s families and see what the Child Supervisor does.

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