Post by guest blogger and host mom, Veldorah Rice
Recently, I worked on a commercial shoot. I love working in the film industry, and always look forward to the next gig.
The thing is, most of the time, no one knows what I *do*.
I mean, when you talk about a film you like, you probably discuss the actors and the director, right? If you’re really into films, maybe you discuss the cinematographer or the music director.
But rarely do people talk about the producer, or the craft services outfit, or the production assistants. Unless you were there, you don’t really know they exist.
That’s my job. I don’t exist in the final product to most people.
For this last shoot, I was the unit producer, which means I did a lot of paperwork, managed a lot of people, and made sure everything was running smoothly throughout the day. You won’t see my work in the finished project.
But you’ll see the results of my work.
For example, there was one moment in the shoot when someone walked into the place we were shooting and wanted to know from the director what we were doing. This person had an issue that needed to be resolved. That’s where I come in. I took the person aside to see how we could help fix it. In the time that I took to help this person, the director got the shot he needed. If he had stopped to resolve the situation himself, the shot wouldn’t have happened. I may not have worked on the shot myself, but I enabled it to happen by taking care of the things around the director. And every time I see that shot, I’ll know that I did a good job and worked hard.
That’s the way it is with hosting.
Often, all we see is the kids. We see where they start and where they end up. We see what a change hosting made.
What we often miss is how that process happens.
The change can only happen when we create an environment that allows the children to grow. We need to take care of the things around them. We need to give them a chance to feel the love of a family.
And there are lots of people working hard to do just that. The teams of volunteers helping to match the kids. The people who support the families financially. The prayer partners who faithfully intercede for each hosting. The chaperones who give up their holidays to travel halfway around the world in order to help these children.
There are so many people who work together to make a hosting succeed. Most of their work will never be recognized in the final product: a changed child. Yet still they work. And that child would not have been changed through a hosting experience without their efforts.
So let’s come together to help these children.
As we come to the end of the matching period, there are still so many children waiting to be chosen by a family.
They need you.
They need to have you on their team.
Host a child. You’re not doing it alone. There’s a whole support system to help you.
Or be part of the support. Host a chaperone. Give financially. Pray. Tell a friend that they can do this.
Sometimes just knowing that there are others with you is enough to take the leap.
So leap.
