Our Journey to Meet Anderson
Anderson and Eleanor Meet
September 25, 2012
by Eleanor Troutman
It took a journey on Island Princess to remind my husband, Ralph, and me just how wonderful it is to take a child out for ice cream.
Ralph and I had taken our respective children (we are on our second marriages) out for ice cream so many times, the experiences have melted into a blur. Same goes for our eight grandkids. But we have another child, one we’d never taken out for anything, let alone ice cream.
His name is Anderson, and he lives in Cartagena, Columbia. We came to know him 10 years ago when I took a leap of faith and sponsored a child through Children International. I knew that I could not change the world, but my hope was that I would at least be able to change the world for one child.
And I think I have. For the past decade, Ralph and I have seen Anderson grow from seven to 17. We send small monthly checks and the occasional gift and get letters and photographs in return. He’s told us about his family, his soccer team and school. We’ve told him about our life in the United States, the family dog and the bears we used to see in our backyard when we lived in Pennsylvania.
In no time, we grew to love the child we never met. We put Anderson’s pictures on the wall, alongside our other children, and whipped out his photo from our wallets.
We tried to meet him once before on a previous Panama Canal cruise, but Mother Nature had other ideas and the port was canceled. This time around, we were determined that we would finally meet him.
Like most international affairs, ours came with tension. We’d arranged that the Children International rep would take Anderson, who was to wear a blue shirt and carry a sign, to where the ship docked. But the port officials wouldn’t let their van through. Then, they prevented us from going to them on foot. Finally, we found an English-speaking officer who took mercy and let Anderson, his father and the Children International interpreter through the gates.
It’s chaotic at the docks, so we charged to the van. Only then did we get to stop and look at each other. It was emotional. There was my son, Anderson, more handsome than his pictures, his smile more dazzling. He looked healthy and happy, which made me even happier.
We drove through the city together, through the fabled old town, but our attention was focused inside the van. I was so touched that Anderson asked us about our dog and wanted to know if we saw bears in South Carolina, where we now live, like Pennsylvania.
We asked Anderson where he wanted to go, which is how we ended up at the ice cream shop. This was our time, a decade of fostering him in one sweet moment. We told him to order as much ice cream as he wanted – three scoops. There we sat, all of us eating ice cream, Anderson laughing, with the spills running down his arm.
I cried when we said goodbye, He hugged me so hard and did not want to let go. We are in our 70s, and I imagine Anderson was thinking he would never see us again.
That was last year. Even though Anderson will graduate from the Children International program when he turns 18, we intend to stay connected by sponsoring his younger sister if she is accepted in the program.
We’re also planning to take another Princess Cruise through the Panama Canal in 2014, with the port of Cartagena our number-one priority. For Anderson is our son as much as any other.
Eleanor resides in Moncks Corner, South Carolina, and has enjoyed eight Princess cruises.
What a delightful and touching story. God bless you and your grandson!
Eleanor,
Thank you for sharing your story. How wonderful that you were able to meet Anderson at last!
Eleanor and Ralph -
Thanks so much for sharing your story with us (your neighbors). It was very touching but to say the least bitter sweet. This is something that Carl and I have been thinking about doing since we heard your story. Thank you again for sharing and I am sure that Anderson knows that he has great Parents back here in the United States. God Bless you two for the wonderful friends and neighbors that you both are.
Marsha, Carl, Sara and Morgan too!
This one really brought tears to my eyes…What a wonderful story of love and compassion.
There are those that talk and those that do. What a terrific story.
God bless them all!
What a blessing you are to Anderson and he to you. Thank you for sharing this. Yes, it brought tears to my eyes
Thank you for sharing this blessing with us….
Great story from a great mother.
what a wonderful expression of love and devotion….if each of us could adopt a child from different countries it would be a better place for the world and the spread of love througout .peace at last…
Thanks for such a lovely story! I know you are blessed beyond what we can imagine.
Goes to show that we humans are all of one!
Great story to share, Thanks
What a lovely story. For so many years I have thought of sponsoring a child, but always wondered if it was a real thing, or just a scam. Now I know that it really does help one child, which in the big picture, is a lot. Thank you for sharing your experience.
Hi Eleanor.
Thanks for the beautiful story, we also have a child in Dominican Republic and your story was an inspiration to go and meet him. God bless you and your family.
Esther and Jose Lopez
Beautiful story.
I am so very happy to see your story about a Child you sponsor. I have two girls that I am sponsoring and your story confirms that Children International is truly a good charity. One of my previous “children” was removed from the sponsorship because where she lived was so full of drug criminals that it was too dangerous for the Children International staff to work there. I was able to send one last gift. I thought my sponsored daughter would buy something that would be helpful for a long time. She bought a pair of bright pink high heel shoes!! Apparently, teenage girls are the same around the world! By winning this Princess program you have given Children International great publicity.
What wonderful foster parents you are : you truly have made a difference with Anderson!!!
You are an inspiration! God bless you.
What a wonderful message and so happy that you were able to meet Anderson in person. We hope to someday meet Vidhya, the little girl we sponsor through Christian Children’s Fellowship in the Andaman Islands, India.
A great story and we were very surprised to find Cartagena to be such a lovely city when we had the opportunity to visit there while sailing on the Coral Princess a few years ago.
Loved your Story!!! Thanks so much for sharing!! And thanks to the English speaking officer who let Anderson through the gates to finally meet you in person. It would have been devastating to come all that way, and still not be able to see each other. God bless you both.
The world needs more people like you, and Anderson. Thank you for doing what you do. What a beautiful inspiration
I was really drawn to read your story. It brought tears to my eyes, as well. I am so happy that you could finally meet. I, too, wondered if these programs were scams and I am so happy to know this one is not. Thanks for sharing this great story.
Your story is so inspiring, sweet, and gracious. I think that what you are doing is truly a blessing for all of your family. Thanks for sharing the story keep up the good deads.
The world needs more people like you; may God Bless you and all your children and wish you a lovely trip next year and hope you will once again meet up and share another ice cream or wherever life takes you to enjoy.
This one got me a bit teary eyed, that is sweet!
This was a wonderful story. I really enjoyed learning about all three of you. So glad that you actually got to meet Anderson and see what your money and love have produced.
Thanks for sharing.
May god bless all the great angels in this world like the two of you….
Glad you got to meet your sponsored child. .It is an exciting thing. I was fortunate enough to meet two girls that I sponsored in 2009. One was in Honduras and had reached 18 and was going to be out of the Plan program. They took me to the school she had attended and the mayor came and they put on a beautiful program with dancers in colorful costumes. The mother gave me a beautiful wall clock in the shape of Honduras. And they had arranged for me and Karen and her mother to go to a small cafeteria for lunch after I first got to see her home. The other child, Karina, was from Guatamala and I sponsored her through Children’s International. They took me to her house and I met the whole family and took them out to a restaurant for lunch. It was all quite rewarding. I would love to see my sponsored child in the Philippines but doubt that I’ll ever get that far.
A beautiful story of opening your heart to others!
May light and love be with you.
What a great story. We too would like to take a friend that has had his luck on the not so good for many years. Maybe in 2014…Thanks for your story
My eyes stinging and tears fall…….Amazed I can type thru the blur, fantastic !!!
What a touching story. I also sponsored a child in Kenya many years ago. We never got to meet him and no longer correspond with him. I think about him now and then and hope somehow we helped him in his younger years. So glad you got to meet Anderson.
Eleanor, I looked at this story and was touched as i have shared the same feeling about a child in Fiji whom I met on one of my cruises My main reason for putting this comment on here is my surprise at seeing this photo as you could be my identical twin. I live in Australia and woulod love contact
Sadly,I must let all who commented know,that Anderson was murdered on the street in Casrtagena on Nov 11th.I am so thankful I got to meet him and was able to bring some happiness to his life in the ten years we sponsered him.We loved him like our own.
We are so sorry to hear this. We know how much Anderson meant to you.