My name is Ailish. I’m from Sligo and I sponsor a child with Plan International Ireland. Her name is Samnang. She’s 8 and she’s from Cambodia.
My sponsorship story started in February 2013 when following a recommendation from friend Samnang entered my life.
From day one, Samnang helped me look at things differently. With the letters and updates came a greater understanding that there’s a person at the end and that it’s not just giving money into an empty hole. She always has the brightest little smile in the pictures and it does make my day. It makes my month when they arrive.
In early 2014, I decided to say hello in person and travelled to Siem Reap, Cambodia’s capital and home to Samnang.
In short, it was extraordinary in every sense of the word. Extraordinary to meet Samnang and her family. Extraordinary to see my small, monthly donations in action. Extraordinary to see Plan International’s logo everywhere – on libraries on the side of the road, on school and hospital buildings, outside maternity care clinics, schools, and water pumps.
Plan’s impact and my contribution to it was in front, behind and all around me. Extraordinary.
