From taking on her mom’s sponsored children when her mom passed away, to sponsoring more kids in Kenya and providing scholarships, a sponsor from Texas shares her sponsorship journey and her motivation to keep her childhood dream alive through her daughter.
Karol, right, with daughter Audrey.
Compassionate, passionate, and intentional are just a few of the words that describe Karol Dereal.
Karol has been sponsoring children through OneChild in Kenya since 2010. Her journey with OneChild began when she took over sponsorship of her mother’s sponsored children when her mother passed away.
Before her mother died, Karol had never heard of OneChild, which was then called Mission of Mercy. But Karol’s journey with sponsorship goes further back.
Since she was in her early 20s, Karol had always sponsored a child with another organization.
“It was all part of God’s story,” she recalls. “When I had no idea where my next dollar was going to come from, I still knew I wanted to sponsor a child.”
She says this was a seed sown by her parents.
Karol’s family wasn’t well off when she was a child, but she recalls seeing her parents care for other people and give of themselves to others.
Karol is the youngest of four. Although she and her brothers grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, she can relate to some of the difficulties her sponsored children experience. As a child, she went through some very hard experiences including the loss of a beloved brother.
The mother of a child Karol had sponsored gives her and Audrey some beaded jewelry.
Karol recalls living a humble life as a child because her dad, who was the sole breadwinner, had only been able to get an eighth-grade education. He worked casual jobs to earn a living.
“Money was hard to come by,” says Karol. “But the little my dad got was well used, and he worked hard to make us comfortable with what he could afford.”
Realizing Her Talent
From what she observed in their home and from managing their household with the little they had, Karol quickly learned the ropes of managing money and accounting.
Karol says that as a third grader, she wasn’t sure if she had any talents in life. But along the way, God helped her identify her gifts.
“All my life, I never felt like I had talents,” she says. “But there was something about how I managed money — even as a little girl, I found records, helped keep them in order, and assisted my parents in tracking expenses. From tithing to preparing our Christmas budget and all other recurrent expenditures in our house.
Karol and Audrey meet the family of Muntet, a boy Karol had sponsored.
“Then later God showed me that this was a gift that He had given me. I believe it is then that He showed me He was going to use me in a powerful way.”
Karol quickly learned how to be a good steward of the resources God provided.
After years of hard work, Karol’s father ended up investing in real estate, which helped the family become more prosperous.
But as he grew older, Karol’s dad needed someone to help manage his finances and the accounting. So, he reached out to Karol, who by then was then married with three kids and managing her own businesses.
When her father passed away and left an inheritance for his children, Karol chose to use hers to set up the Vincent Genovese Foundation, in honor of her dad. The foundation provides support to a wide spectrum of people in need.
Keeping Her Mom’s Legacy Alive
In 2009, Karol’s mother, Clo, was diagnosed with cancer and succumbed to it in 2010.
Karol knew her mom sponsored kids but was not sure with what organization. As she was going through her mom’s belongings, she found neatly arranged files with letters she had written and received from all the kids she had been sponsoring with Mission of Mercy.
From left to right: Audrey, Tausi’s dad, Tausi’s mom, Tausi, Karol, and Michael (who Karol sponsored with he was a boy).
Karol says she felt it in her heart to continue the work her mom had begun. So, she reached out to the organization and asked to take over the sponsorship of the five children her mom had been sponsoring.
Three of the children had been newly registered in Kenya, and the other two were in India.
Around that time, Karol learned of a group called Women’s Circle of Caring that was planning a trip to Kenya. She thought it would be a perfect chance for her to finally meet the kids her mom had been sponsoring.
She says it was important for her to take the trip to Kenya because she knew the kids were very important to her mom.
“I remember her sitting in the chair writing her letters,” says Karol. “This was so important to her, and I learned from her. She made copies of her letters, she had a file for each child, and to this day, I do the same with the kids that I sponsor.”
Karol and Audrey talk with Muntet’s siblings in the family’s home.
Karol had thought it would be impossible to ever meet the kids she sponsors, so when the chance to see her mom’s sponsored kids came, she took it.
She traveled to a Hope Center in Malindi, a coastal town in the north of Kenya, to visit Tausi, one of the sponsored kids.
On arriving at the Hope Center, she recalls a Child Champion giving her a neatly arranged file for Tausi.
“It was a special moment for me. Tausi, my child, was my mom’s little girl. When I visited, I saw the original letter my mom had written on her last Christmas,” Karol says.
“She wrote this profound letter and then at the end she says, ‘Now I know, Tausi, you’re only three years old, but know that God loves you and one day you will grow to understand this letter.’ She then quotes 2 Timothy 2:15, as a scripture for her.”
That letter was special to Karol because she recalls her mom writing the same verse in her Bible as a child.
A Commitment to Hold the Kids’ Hands to Stability
At that time, Karol had never sponsored five children at once, but she knew that God had prepared her for this by enabling her to set up the foundation.
On top of the five children she had taken over sponsoring from her mother, Karol went on to sponsor three more children.
Today, all of them have graduated from the OneChild program, except two who are in high school. Through her philanthropic work, Karol continues to help support them through their college education.
Meet Michael, a student pursuing a career as a surveyor with Karol’s support.
Her decision to support them even after they graduate from the program was informed by her wish to see all of them become stable in life as they transition to adulthood.
Karol with Michael, who she sponsored and encouraged when he was younger.
“When I met all of them, I made a promise to them to support them until they were stable,” says Karol. “I told them to do their best and they can count on my support, so I have to honor the promise I made years back.”
Passing the Legacy to Her Daughter
Today, after a longtime commitment to sponsoring kids in hard places, Karol says her deepest wish would be for her daughter Audrey to join her in championing kids as a sponsor.
In August 2023, Karol took a trip with her daughter to Kenya to show her the power of sponsorship by letting Audrey meet all the kids she sponsored, who are now graduates.
At the time of the visit, Audrey was already sponsoring two children in Kenya, and she had a chance to visit their homes and meet their families.
“Holding a child’s hand is so dear to me,” says Karol. “To see them have dreams and live up to them is something that gives me so much joy. I am not sure what tomorrow brings, but I wanted my daughter to see this side of me that is so important.”
Karol believes that sponsorship not only helps transform a child’s life but that it is God’s way of using Child Champions as vessels for His work.
“When we as supporters support a child, we help those without dreams to have a chance to dream, we plant a seed of hope in their hearts, and then we let God do his part in transforming them,” she says.
“I have visited Hope Centers in Kenya, and I have seen the work that the field staff and Child Champions do, and it is a confirmation that God has brought together a community, and together we are helping transform the lives of kids and families.”
Karol hopes that her dream of leaving behind a legacy of championing for kids will be taken up by her daughter.
She also prays that all the kids can find happiness in life, dream big, and experience the domino effect of making a difference in the lives of others.
She tells them, “I came from nothing. And if God can bring me to you, then there’s no telling what God can do for you.”
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