The long-awaited time for retirement arrives for Eric, who lives in Belgium and has spent 37 years teaching at an elementary school. After working for a living with the children, Eric asks what could be done for those who did not receive an education, for those who live in difficult situations and in distant lands. After all, all children are equal, have the same curious eyes and the same infectious laugh. This is how, together with his wife Lut, he decides to commit his free time to solidarity action. Eric, already a supporter of a child, began to promote the AFNonlus programs for long-distance support. With the help of the youngest of his daughters, Maria-Laetitia, he involved friends and acquaintances, helping to make more alive in each one the need to also donate a small sum for a noble cause. “For us, as for many people, the situation of many children in the world is unbearable: they are the first victims of all violence and poverty,” says Eric. The couple receive many opportunities and experiences for thought: a young father from Romania said that thanks to long-distance support he was able to finish his studies, which have allowed him to get a job and start a family. A woman who has lived for many years in Congo, being in contact with the Petite Flamme project has been able experience first-hand the help that long-distance support offers children. These testimonials feed in Eric and Lut the certainty of having committed themselves to something big. “Our dream,” says Eric, “was to find at least 10 people over the course of 2016 who would take the step of supporting a child. It seemed like a mountain because in three years we’d found only two supporters (namely us and my father!).” But clearly the commitment and time spent promoting the news from the various programmes paid off. A couple decides to support a Haitian child and to continue the action of solidarity. Even Eric and Lut’s children want to do their bit. As well a man with a friend of his, a nephew who lives in Switzerland, glad to be able to ”do something for humanity”, a young couple of newlyweds, a businessman who wants to support a child with his company, a young dad, and Lut’s parents who want to support a child while living in a nursing home. And so on, so many beautiful experiences around this kind of support! The projects for disadvantaged children around the world are moving forward thanks to supporters, their sensitivity and their support. In addition to Eric and Lut, we also find Enzo and Fiorenza, whose support has accompanied Jessica, a Brazilian girl, for most of her life. But assuming a long- distance support means above all to create a bond with the child, a thread of solidarity that runs through the world to connect distant countries. That’s why now as an adult Jessica wanted to contact her supporters for Christmas, offering them the best gift that can be placed under the tree: the gratitude for a life redeemed from poverty. Source: AFNonlus – Spazio Famiglia