From an India boarding school to 35 years of sponsorship

For Dan Sinclair, India isn’t just a place on a map — it’s home. Born in Tamil Nadu to Canadian missionary parents who served in India for 35 years, Dan’s earliest memories are of the deep compassion his parents lived daily for impoverished children.

“They worked in remote villages,” he says. “Back in those days, the people there hadn’t ever seen a white person.” His parents started orphanages and children’s homes, building schools, planting churches and helping children grow up safe and educated. That example shaped Dan’s life, and it’s why, for more than three decades, he’s been a child sponsor with Children Believe.

Now living in Lindsay, Ontario, Dan’s connection to India remains strong. Though his career took him into the technology world — leading large teams and running offshore operations — his heart never strayed far from the mission that guided his family.

“I’ve been back and forth to India a huge amount in the last 30 years,” he says. Along with business, his work there evolved to be intertwined with ministry, helping fund projects that lift children and families out of poverty.

When Dan and his wife, Christine, began sponsoring through Children Believe about 35 years ago, it was an extension of that same family legacy of faith and action. It was an opportunity for them to build on his background and extend their generous support to children around the world.

“We’ve sponsored three children,” he says. “It’s just been the joy of seeing them progress… watch them grow, to stay connected and know they’re doing well.”

For Dan, sponsoring children in Central and South America, helping with school supplies, nutrition, and healthcare, represent the same spirit of service his parents embodied: changing lives one child at a time.

India continues to be part of his story. His mother, now 98 and experiencing dementia, still speaks fluent Tamil. Recently, she lit up when she met a Sri Lankan nurse and could again use the language learned all those years ago in the villages where she served. It’s a reminder, Dan says, that the seeds his parents planted continue to bloom. He witnessed their legacy in one of his trips to India where their name is still on orphanages and in churches.

Through his commitment, Dan is an example of how one person’s story can reach across generations and continents. Children Believe is grateful for his 35 years of dedication, which he says will continue when the child he supports graduates, as he plans to continuing to sponsor.