To ask if anyone sponsors a child

[Bellavida99]

I just saw an advert where you can sponsor a specific girl abroad and get letters from them etc. it sounds great and really worthwhile but for some reason I’ve not heard of this before so would love to hear if it’s legit etc. thanks

I thought it was Plan that now sent updates about a fictional generic child?

I sponsor a child at Tong Len Hostel in India. I know it's legit as I've visited! I get emails from the child I sponsor and messages at Christmas, to which I reply.

The hostel takes in children from a local slum and gives them a steady home and an education (they still see their families regularly). They do wonderful things.

tong-lencharitabletrust.org/

Link here if you're interested in

I'm on my third sponsorship through Plan International. I asked to sponsor a girl in India, and I get occasional letters from the charity reporting on conditions where she is. I didn't want to enter into correspondence directly though.

Check out East Meru community school in Facebook, it’s in Tanzania. We have personal connections so know it’s an amazing benefit to the whole community. They take the poorest local children and give them a free education, daily hot meal, uniform etc and the whole community is involved. Local people make the uniforms and even the shoes. The new library is used by secondary pupils and all the children in the holidays.
There is no religious bias.
We get reports and photos and school newsletters, and you can email enquiries and get personal responses.
we also sponsor a child through one of the major charities but I love hearing the East Meru updates.

Plan do a lot of work in education to avoid FGM. They're a good organisation

I sponsor a girl via ActionAid. I could choose the country and they emphasised the poorest ones so that's the one I chose.
I am not allowed to send gifts or books as it singles the child out, and the money benefits the village rather than just her. She has written about twice and I've been sponsoring her over ten years! Not a problem at all but also nice.

I sponsored through Compassion before. It's possible to go and visit the child, so they definitely exist. I never visited my Compassion children though.

I also sponsored a child through a school I helped to build. When I went out 6 years later to work at the school again, I got to see him again at the school.

My ex also sponsored a child at a village we were working in. We also got to visit their home.

Usually the money goes into a central pot for the village, school or community. That also helps to ensure the child gets schooling and basic healthcare though. Usually you can send extra gifts and letters for the child personally too. Some of them you can visit, depending on the charity. I'd only visit if I was already in the area though, otherwise I'd feel it more beneficial to send extra money instead. Two of the children were from areas I was working in, so it was great to see their houses, schools and villages and the charities in action.

I sponsored a boy in Egypt through Plan. It ended when he was 18 but tbh I lost interest some time earlier when his parents took him out of school. I mean it was none of my business but he would have little future with no education.

There is a scheme called Lend With Care through which you can lend money to adults in the third world. It’s at lendwithcare.com

Sorry lendwithcare.org

I sponsored a girl through secondary school, I then met her a few years later after she graduated nursing school and moved to the U.K., she is now a senior practice nurse at a gp's. Kind of nice to know we not only helped her but also her family (she sends money home I know) but slightly disappointed she left her country when the desperately need more healthcare professionals. We exchange Christmas cards and the occasional important news email these days

I've done it for the last 15 years , a girl in Africa. I get letters and photos , DH thinks it's a scam

I sponsored a girl in Paraguay through Plan. We got annual updates with a short letter. We were allowed to send small gifts, but not too much as it would cause resentment. This was about 20 odd years ago. After a few years she "aged out" and they wanted me to sponsor a new child, but I was out of work and stopped. It was a nice thing to do. I hope she never felt pressured or used by the charity.

I agree.

Some years ago , through a charity, I was invited to befriend a girl.
I became inundated with requests from her to fund this, or support that, that it became , financially untenable.
As soon as I refused, the letters and updates ceased.

These things are often scammy.

I have sponsored several children through Plan. Exchanged a few letters, not many and only very light info, very short, as others have said - a bit about what it's like in their country, I'd tell them about ours etc (one child was fascinated to hear that we had snow etc)
Re one, as he hit teenage years I had a letter from plan to say that they were switching my sponsorship to another child as he no longer wanted to have photos shared. I took that as a good sign that they take the childs views into account.
There's very clear guidance - no extra requests are allowed, no gifts are allowed, and photos need to be sensitive eg not highlighting a big contrast in living standards (no posing next to a Merc etc)

I think for a lot of children it's just nice to receive a letter. Sometimes I'd have a letter response from the mum or aunt and they were interested to know why I sponsered, what work I did etc.

More frequently than letters I'd receive updates from the charity about the work they were doing in the community, which was usually about providing more access to education, or helping fund say, farming equipment which would mean less labour required so children could stay in school instead of having to work etc.

I Sponsor a Child through Plan - I think I am on the third one now (one aged out, one moved away). I like their focus on education for the community and focus on children’s rights, especially for girls.
you don’t get their details, and they don’t get your details. I don’t actually exchange letters anymore, but I do like to get the community updates.

Yes agreed. Just donate to a reputable charity

I sponsor kids through Compassion U.K. and don’t think they’re being strong-armed into anything! I suspect once every few months or so if they haven’t written a letter someone sits down with them to help them write one just as a courtesy to the person who is often funding their education etc. I don’t think that’s a crazy power dynamic. I have to write to them too! I’ve had some kids who clearly aren’t writers and just want to go off ASAP and play football and the letter is basically 2 lines of - hi, hope you are well, I like football ok I’m off to play it now bye! And others who spend ages writing loads about themselves and what’s going on with them. So I don’t think they make them sit there and write for more than a few minutes every few months if they’re not into it!

In retrospect, I wish I hadn't done the sponsored child thing. It seems a lot of pressure on one kid to have to send you letters and photos in return for their village getting funding.

in our case it is a short thing once a year (christmas) which usually consists of a drawing they've done, and a few form questions answered (and then translated) such as: what do you like at school (football usually) have you had all your health checks: yes and not much more. It's not onerous. But i do have vague "white saviour" feelings. And then i remember that Honduras is (or was) the murder capital of the world and that any and all money that can help his village is useful.

Yes agreed. Just donate to a reputable charity

like Oxfam?

TBH if you're concerned about FGM i think looking up Hibo Wadere and seeing what she recommends would be good.

Big charities have huge overheads - I'm not entirely sure you get enough "bang for your buck" as it were, even while i recognise that having professionals running it gives it a better chance, business wise, of surviving and getting access to corporate funding.

Small charities tend to be very focussed on either a village, a country, a school, whatever, and really know what is needed on the ground.

Plan strikes me as one of the better ones, I'm with World Vision but we'll stop soon as our circumstances have changed. Unfortunately. I will most likely continue my volunteer work with local charities.

I worked for Plan for a short time about 15 years ago and was shocked by how little of the donors funds went to the projects/kids (about 35%) vs how much was used to run the charity. Most people I saw working there were lazy and ineffective and in my opinion it was ran very poorly - I was used to working in the private sector and no business would have survived their shareholders if it was ran this way! Really put me off charitable giving tbh. Now I save money allocated for charity for either friends/family fundraising at an event (I.e a run) or smaller charities such as Girl vs Cancer, First Days, Bowelbabe. I feel smaller charities are more accountable and transparent about where donors money goes and that it makes more of a difference

My mother in law sponsored a girl in India all the way through school and nursing college :)

I sponsor an African boy through Kafunjo Community. It is a large African orphanage and you sponsor a child. It costs £25 a month and you get regular photos of the child and a monthly newsletter. Once a year they say they would be happy for donations for school uniforms for children and I send an additional £25 that month but no pressure to do so. There's then a whole orphanage photo of all children wearing new uniforms. £25 a month seems to cover their food and they all need stationery to attend school. I've never been but I do know a person who sponsors a child at Kafunjo and has been to Africa to visit this child because she took a few gifts for the child I sponsor for me and I sent lots of exercise books and pens for all children.

This.
Have a look at the charity Give Directly - giving money is so much more effective and empowering. And the sponsorship isn’t going directly to an actual child - that would be impossible to administer, and the letters won’t be from them

Case in point - you don’t even know the country where the orphanage is…. Africa is a massive continent