Come and talk to me about sponsoring a child in the third world

[fridayschild]

I'd like to Do Something to help, ideally in Africa. Very middle class hand-wringing, I know... Has anyone sponsored a child? How much does it cost, and does it really help the child and his or her family? Can you recommend a charity to organise it? Can I ask to sponsor a child about the same age as my own boys, and pick a country with which I have some connection?

Plan International - you can express a preference re: age, sex, country. I think it's now £14-ish a month.

Are Plan International linked to any particular religion? I was thinking Tanzania, which is mainly Muslim.

I don't think so.

website

Plan or ActionAid - both non-religious afaik.

We do it through World Vision. You get regular updates, they say you are really sponsoring a village, even though we do have a girl who is our sponsored child, in Malawi.. We got a letter last week to tell us that our money bought a widow a cow. She was able to save her children from malnoutrision (sp?!) by feeding them milk and selling milk in the village.

It is only £18 per month.

I think World Vision are pro-actively Christian.

Yes, they are, janeite. We have sponsored with them for years, our current sponsoree (?) is 16 now, this might be a good time to switch.

Ooops! I'm an atheist

So am I, hhhp

i like charities who are not affiliated with any particular religion myself. SOS childrens villages look like really good people doing really good work as far as i can see. less of the glossy marketing and more of the helping kids stuff.

actionaid and plan also good.
wateraid, help the children, medecins sans frontiers, mercy ships all pretty good too.

Message withdrawn

Thank you all, I will make this my old year resolution and get sorted out before 1 Jan!

Fridayschild there was something about this on radio 4 you and yours today, giving the pros and cons you might like to listen again. I worked for an aid organisation in E Africa and my personal opinion is that your money is probably better spent giving to a good charity per se.

Bedhed - thank you, I will try to fish it out. I do have a standing order to Oxfam, and while I am happy that they spend it as they choose, I would like to send some of my money to Africa specifically. Might need to find another charity for that.