In Reply to: Gifts for sponsored children? posted by shaddup on Saturday, 17. February 2007 at 05:55 Bali Time:
The son of a man who's family sponsors an orphanage in Lombok that I also support, went to the orphanage and stayed for a few days, sleeping where they sleep and eating what they eat. He is a teacher, so while there he took some lessons with the kids. He got to spend time with the kids, and the people who run the orphanage, and it was a great experience for all involved.
The point was, these kids got to see that not all white people come bearing gifts. This young man obviously cared for them, and was interested in their well-being, but that did not transform into oleh oleh.
It is much more important to the long term well being of these children that they know people care about them, and while we can't all do what this man did, there are other ways to express our support and love than gift giving.