To ask if anyone sponsors a child

56 replies

Bellavida99 · 10/07/2023 20:05

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

OP posts:

Oncemoreunderthebridge · 11/07/2023 09:41

I used to do this through a big charity but, like some pps, gave up as I felt uneasy about the whole thing and also wary of big charities. Looking around for something else but in the meantime I am giving every now and again to local charities where I can see what they do.

caringcarer · 11/07/2023 09:45

@Peony654, I know exactly where it is. It's in Ibanda Provence in SW Uganda. My niece's friend has been there to visit and taken my sponsor child gifts from me.

PomPomChatton · 11/07/2023 09:54

Bellavida99 · 10/07/2023 20:52

Thanks everyone really interesting to hear everyone’s views. It was Plan I saw the advert for but I’ll look at others too. I think it would be lovely to actually hear from the child you sponsor but I did wonder about inequality etc. if not every child in a neighbourhood is sponsored so it makes perfect sense the money is used for projects in that area rather than the specific child. I’m still in 2 minds if this type of giving does more good than giving to the huge charities it’s the type of thing it’s almost impossible to quantify. The advert I saw was particularly about sponsoring girls to help them stay in education, not be forced into child marriage, FGM etc. but I’m not sure how monthly donations specifically help with these issues. It’s so difficult. And I’ll definitely look into the salary sacrifice giving for this as I know we can do it with some charities.

But this type of giving is to huge charities. Plan and World Vision are a couple of the biggest in that field. Child sponsorship is just a method to encourage you to give. And being big their overheads can be split across many programmes and countries and they can leverage extra funding that is not accessible to smaller charities. Big does not equal bad.

Plan do great work in the field of girls' education, gender empowerment etc. Obviously not perfect, but no one is. In terms of how money can protect girls from child marriage and FGM, the single biggest thing we can do is give girls an education. Money can help with school fees, uniforms, books, school meals. And on a school level, adequate latrines so girls don't need to stay at home when on their period, facilities so they can continue at school when pregnant. There's so much that can be done.

I always think the best way to give is to find a charity that resonates with you and your values. Everyone has an opinion about what is best but that's different for different people.

marcopront · 11/07/2023 10:27

Milliways · 10/07/2023 21:18

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.

I wonder if I know you.
I know the people involved in it as well.

zingally · 11/07/2023 10:39

When I was a teenager we sponsored a child. I think she was from Uganda and about 8 when we started... We'd write to her, and get a handwritten letter from her in response, with a translation. It was obviously hand-written by a child, but we were always a bit doubtful about the translation. It just didn't sound like stuff a kid would say, cultural differences aside. We expected to hear things about her friends, family, what was happening at school. But it was never that. We started to wonder if the kids were just given a generic text to copy. After about 3 years contact dried up. We kept going a bit longer, but then stopped donating.

Starlightstarbright2 · 11/07/2023 10:58

We did a child through action aid same age as my Ds. Tbh I encouraged him to write but it was really hard mentioning our real life without material wealth.

I also had numerous arguments with action aid that they wouldn’t talk to me only Ds as he was a minor . We did it for about 10 years .

we have talked about it since - neither of us felt anything like we had done anything positive or even if we know the child actually benefited

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