Frequently Asked Questions
1. How are the kids in Ghana doing?
Great. We now have over 90 children in our care in Ghana, and we support over 200 children in Cambodia and Vietnam.
2. What can I do to help?
The thing that I wish someone had told me years ago, back before Jantsen died and I was struggling to figure out why I so often felt restless was this: help yourself, and do what you need to do to figure out how to find your own sense of contentment, to find your Mark. Gather your friends, make a meal together, write your dreams down and share them with the group. Get rid of your fears of failure and looking stupid. Embrace this year like you have nothing to prove and nothing to lose.
If you’re interested in specifically helping out with Touch A Life, I will love you forever. You can find out how to help here. I’d also think it’s great it if you’d consider getting your family, friends, book club members, classmates, or coworkers to consider launching a Find Your Mark chapter to benefit the kids in our programs.
3. I want my book club to read this book. Any advice?
Visit this page for ideas.
Click to view photo gallery
4. I’m interested in adopting. Can you help me?
I am a huge fan of adoption and would like nothing more than to see every child who doesn’t have a family find theirs. Touch A Life is not, however, an adoption agency. But here are some places you can start researching:
5. Where can I learn more about the child trafficking problem?
Visit the Educational Resources page at the Touch A Life website for more information. It’s also a good idea to read the most recent Trafficking In Persons Report, a document created by the U.S. State Department every year.
6. Are there plans to rescue any more children from the lake in Ghana?
We’d love to, but won’t be doing that until we raise the money to support the children who are currently in our program.
7. How much does it cost to support each of the Ghana kids each month?
It costs $150 per month to sponsor a child. Touch A Life has a great sponsorship program - we’d love for you to be a part of it. If $150 per month is an unreachable goal right now, you can join our Global Family program by donating any amount of your choosing each month.
8. Were you able to do what you did because you’re wealthy?
I get this question a lot. First of all, Randy and I are not rich. We’re not poor either, but we’re definitely not rich. For us, it was a matter of making a decision after Jantsen died that our life was going to look different, and then setting priorities to make that happen. For years, I found excuses why I shouldn’t act, and I so often hear people offering their own: a bad marriage, a lack of money, not enough time, not being smart, and on and on. But you must make a conscious decision to silence those fears. There are solutions to every problem. Find them. If you need support, you might find it here.
9. What’s next for you?
I will be working every day until every child is rescued off Lake Volta. I think it’s possible to eradicate slavery in Ghana and beyond, and to help make that happen, I will recruit everyone I can to join the fight. I will also remind Van and Tatum to practice their piano and guitar, and will try to keep some normal balance of being a wife and mother.
10. What is next for Touch A Life?
We are working on some amazing projects with our U.S. staff (we’re based in Dallas) and our in-country staff members. You can read all about the cool things going on with the our programs by reading Touch A Life’s blog.
11. How do you spend the money?
We usually have funding for the next two minutes. I use those two minutes trying to get more money. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. Running a non-profit is like cliff diving: you free fall and hope the water is deep enough when you land.
But seriously, nearly 80% of each dollar given to our organization goes directly to international program support. We only have a handful of staff members in our office so we spend very little on administrative costs.
12. What is Crista doing now?
Crista married her sweetheart, Zach Austin, and they are living in Abilene, Texas. Crista is an aspiring teacher and Zach is in graduate school at Abilene Christian University. Like Randy and I were doing when we were their age, they are living largely on love. I have a granddog named Dexter. He is a Morkie.
13. Where are the proceeds of the book going?
Well, should we be lucky enough to get proceeds off the book, a large portion of the money I earn will be spent like all the other money that I earn: supporting Touch A Life. Therefore, buy many books.
14. I recently lost someone very close to me and I am worried that I won’t be able to move forward with my life.
First of all, I’m so sorry. Grief is the journey you are on and it unfortunately does not carry a formula for recovery. Grief needs to have it’s respectable place on the shelf. Randy used to use the analogy of reading a good book. Sometimes you have the time to just sit for hours and read the pages and embrace the moment and other times you have to put the book on the shelf and go fix dinner. If you choose to sit in the chair and do nothing but read we all know that you will become a very unhealthy person physically and emotionally. But then if the book is never taken off the shelf and caressed and appreciated, referring to the life of the loved one you lost then you are not giving it the respect that it deserves.
15. I’m going to Africa! How should I prepare?
Surround yourself with people who are welcoming, kind and warm. Wear the same outfit for nine days, and spend a few hours, fully clothed, inside a sauna. Brush your teeth with bottled water. Also, have diarrhea.
But really, you can find out a lot of information about traveling to Ghana by viewing the travel information we provide to volunteers who go abroad with us.