planting the seed

by Tamara Cannon
Founder, Lille Fro

Tenzin Pema is my sponsor child. While born in India, Pema is a refugee. Her family walked across the Himalayas in their sandals with little more than their memories, a teacup and the clothes on their backs.

In 2008, I enrolled Pema in school. I bought her uniform, schoolbooks and paid for her education, food and hostel board which were otherwise beyond the means of her family.

Having looked into sponsorship before, I was only comfortable doing it this way. I wanted to deal with the schools directly and have visibility as to where my funds were going. Most of all, I wanted to know that Pema was the one who was going to benefit.

It was in this exchange that a little seed was planted. After all, if I could help one child, how difficult could it really be to nurture this little seed into a tree of opportunity for others?

The support received was incredible. So much so, the decision to start up a charity in Australia was made for itself.

Entrusted with the task of finding sponsor children for others, I began to focus on the children I couldn't see. Children classed by their society as being on the bottom rung of poverty. Those living in highly destitute circumstances in remote and hard to reach villages where neither welfare nor tourism is known.

Being pointed to a map and told there was no way I could physically get there, became a challenge rather than a deterrent.

And so the Lille Fro Foundation was born. From there our walk, trek and climb began.