February 02, 2024 | Supporters

The liberating force of love

How sponsor support nurtures Unbound families toward paths out of poverty on their own terms

By Kati Burns Mallows

Relationships have always been at the heart of Unbound. The core message, by design, is love.

Love led co-founder Bob Hentzen’s 1 million footsteps on his first walk from Kansas City to Guatemala in 1996 and then again for his second walk in 2009 that was twice as long. He spoke often during that time about the symbolism of the walk.

“Walking with” the poor and marginalized, as Hentzen described it, is a pilgrimage that implies hope, sacrifice and faith. It implies vision and solidarity, but its overarching theme, then and today, in everything that is Unbound, is love.

“The walk is simply a way for me to say to the poor, ‘I love you. I love you on your terms,”’ Hentzen said on his first walk 27 years ago.

And, on his second walk, he said, “I’m not out here to prove anything. I’m here to get on down the road, because there are people waiting out there for us.”

Every time a child or elder receives sponsorship, that sponsor has chosen to “get on down the road” alongside someone needing another’s belief in their potential. Love is in the education they’ll now find access to and finally coming to know food security. Love is in the personalized care their families will receive from local staff and the opportunities they’ll have for leading their communities toward positive change.

And love is their gift to their sponsors and the world in return.

With this form of leadership, we believe the pilgrim family of Unbound will continue at a sustainable pace to be a liberating force of love in our world today.

— Bob Hentzen, Unbound Co-Founder

Meet 4 individuals benefitting from Unbound's love on their own terms


EUNICE, KENYA — A LOVE THAT MAKES HER FEEL LIKE FAMILY

The kind of love sponsored elder Eunice received from sponsorship was the love of companionship that transcends distance.

Near Eunice’s home lies Mount Kenya, the second highest peak in Africa after Mount Kilimanjaro, rising to 17,057 feet in elevation along the equator.

Once a volcano, the mountain is recognized as part of UNESCO’s World Heritage list for its biodiversity and ecological value, and its cultural value as a sacred place to the local populations who revere it and sustain their livelihoods from its natural resources.

When Eunice thinks about the value her sponsor’s support has provided to her life, she compares it to that of Mount Kenya — enormous and life-sustaining.

The oldest of 16 siblings, Eunice, raised mostly by her grandmother, grew up in a farming family and harvested firewood from Mount Kenya as a child. Her parents were fighters in the colonial war (also known as the Mau Mau uprising) where her father eventually lost his life. As an adult, Eunice worked as a cleaner in a nursing home and preached the Gospel to others in her community. At 76 years old now, the grandmother of five suffers from a variety of health issues. She uses her sponsorship benefits to buy food and her medications.

“You [Unbound] are my children,” Eunice said. “She [her sponsor] is my daughter because when I have a problem, I tell her. I thank God for connecting me to [her].”

Eunice has never met her sponsor; it’s highly unlikely she ever will.

But the human connection they’ve fostered through nine years of sponsorship support and correspondence is all that Eunice has needed to love her sponsor as if she were her own family.

“I love you so much because of the way you have supported me and held my hand,” Eunice said as if speaking directly to her sponsor. “You are my source of hope in everything.”

She [her sponsor] is my daughter because when I have a problem, I tell her. I thank God for connecting me to [her].

— Eunice, Sponsored Elder, Kenya

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Sponsored elder Eunice finds joy in getting to counsel her grandchildren about life, including her granddaughter Elizabeth, pictured left at Eunice’s home in Kenya. Sponsorship helped Eunice overcome a big health scare at one time in her life.

FRANCISCA, GUATEMALA — LOVE THAT SHOWED HER HOW TO KEEP MOVING FORWARD

The kind of love Francisca received from Unbound was an awareness of agency.

Before her son Julio, 11, was sponsored through Unbound six years ago, she describes feeling locked in her own thoughts, trapped in place by a financial situation that seemed beyond her control.

Despite she and her husband, Miguel, working numerous daily jobs, the price of food in their community in Guatemala had risen to the point that they could barely afford the necessities for their family of six, let alone save to get ahead.

Then Francisca began attending mothers group meetings, a benefit of sponsorship, and she learned about budgeting and investing. She decided to try it for herself.

Taking $13 USD from Julio’s sponsorship benefit, she bought chickens and pigs to raise. Later, she purchased a refrigerator and began selling sodas, bread and meats from her home.

Eventually she developed a savings strategy with the profits she began earning from her various businesses. She makes a savings deposit 12 times before she evaluates to see if her family has any major needs.

“Thanks to [Unbound] who awakened my mind of how to do and how to achieve a goal,” Francisca said. “I cannot repay them [the sponsors] with a big thing, but I can repay them with prayers. … I pray for them because … I am seeing results.”

Francisca is saving all of Julio’s sponsorship benefit now in preparation for helping him get a higher education to reach his dream of becoming a teacher or police officer.

Thanks to [Unbound] who awakened my mind of how to do and how to achieve a goal.

— Francisca, Mother of sponsored, Guatemala

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In her home, Francisca embroiders traditional Guatemalan garments, called huipils, just one of the many incoming-generating activities she does to help her family move forward on their path out of poverty.

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Taking a small amount of her son Julio’s sponsorship benefit, Francisca invested in chickens and pigs to raise, eventually making enough profit to help provide for the family’s necessities.

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Among a variety of other income-generating activities, Francisca also launders clothes and sells sodas and snacks from her home, using the refrigerator she bought with some of her profits.

GERLYN, PHILIPPLINES — LOVE THAT CHALLENGED HER TO REACH HER POTENTIAL

The kind of love Gerlyn experienced through sponsorship and the Unbound Scholarship Program taught her to believe in herself.

At 24 years old, Gerlyn is an alumna of Unbound’s programs and now works as an associate software engineer for a technology company. She gives gratitude to Unbound for helping her be able to achieve a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering, but it was the letter-writing experience with her sponsor that made the biggest impression on her life.

Gerlyn loved building a friendship through correspondence with someone on the other side of the world and sharing her life story with them.

“They taught me that even though things are hard and even [if] you may fail many times, God will always be there and that your mistakes don’t define you as a person,” Gerlyn said.

With her first salaried paycheck, Gerlyn bought groceries for her parents and five younger siblings. Since that time, she’s also been able to make improvements to their living situation, which was one of her goals.

“I always remember the learning that Unbound has taught me,” Gerlyn said. “[In whatever] I do, I do it with kindness, gentleness, and I always aim to be of service to others.”

They [her sponsor] taught me that even though things are hard and even if you may fail at times, God will always be there and that your mistakes don't define you as a person.

— Gerlyn, Unbound Sponsorship and Scholarship Program Alumna, Philippines

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At her family’s home in the Philippines, former sponsored child and Unbound scholar Gerlyn performs back-end development work for a technology company. A self-described once shy and sickly child, Gerlyn grew with confidence and motivation after becoming sponsored. 

BERNARD, KENYA — A LOVE THAT INSTILLED LOVE

The kind of love Bernard received from Unbound provided a nurturing environment for his creativity, while instilling in him the love of helping others.

As subsistence farmers in Nairobi, Bernard’s parents remember times when their seven children had to go to bed hungry at night and were frequently sent home from school because the family couldn't pay the required fees.

Now both a sponsored youth and an Unbound scholarship recipient, Bernard studies mass media and communication at Mount Kenya University. He’s a talented artist, content creator and comedian, and it was his sponsor who first encouraged his skills as a child, sending him crayons and books after receiving one of Bernard’s drawings in a letter.

Bernard has many career goals, but his long-term goal is to open a foundation in his community, focused on mental health and sponsorship.

“You will find that a lot of people have so much to offer, but we lack a nurturing ground,” said Bernard. “There was a time when I didn’t feel important but Unbound came in and assured us. … I feel indebted to assure another soul who does not feel important.”

To Bernard, simply thanking his sponsor would never be enough.

“All I can say is that I leave it to God, to clean his [sponsor’s] path and bless him, because I don’t know how to bless him,” Bernard said. “Telling him with my mouth isn’t enough. Neither is buying him a car or taking him to the moon. It is beyond me because sometimes I sit and think — it took him to make me who I am today.”

I feel indebted to assure another soul who does not feel important.

— Bernard, Unbound Sponsored Youth and Scholar, Kenya

Sponsored youth and scholarship recipient Bernard (center) sits between his parents, mother, Dorcas, and father, Raphael, at their home in Nairobi where they practice farming maize and beans and raising poultry. Bernard’s sponsor also sponsors his younger sister Marceline.

Bernard shows off his wall of hand-drawn artwork at his home in Nairobi. Bernard also performs as a comedian, going by the stage name Bena wa Malines.

Be a liberating force of love


Across the three regions of the world where Unbound has programs, children, elders and families are waiting for someone to “get on down the road” with them, someone to believe in their potential but to love them as they are.

Choose to sponsor a child or elder and become a liberating force of love in their lives. Already a sponsor? Let your sponsored friend know you’re thinking of them! Log in to your Unbound account and write a letter today.