Sponsoring a child is one of the most rewarding ways to make a real and tangible difference to the lives of others. Below, we discuss 5 reasons why the process might just be for you.
1. It helps to break the poverty cycle
When you sponsor a child, you supply a child with the means to afford school fees, as well as school essentials such as stationary, textbooks and a uniform, amongst other basics. This means that the child you sponsor, along with their family, have a strong chance at breaking out of the poverty cycle.
Research has shown that children who have received sponsorship are 27-40% more likely to complete secondary school, 50-80% more likely to complete a university education and 35% more likely to obtain a white-collar job as an adult. When you sponsor a child, by helping to give them access to high quality education and a strong position in the job market, your money not only has an immediate effect on the fortunes of the child and their family, but the lives of future generations too.
Quoted research by the University of San Francisco:
2. Build a Personal Connection
Child sponsorship is a unique way to donate because the focus of your donation is an individual child. This gives the act of donating each month a very real and human emphasis. Not only do you know that the money you give is genuinely having a profound effect on a child’s life, you also build a distinctly personal connection to the child and their country through correspondence, learning more about how they live, their culture and with the potential to build a lifelong bond with them.
At Children of Cameroon, we put a particular emphasis on building a deep personal connection between child and sponsor and so we offer the ability for you, the sponsor, to decide on the child that you would like to support. We then send out a monthly sponsorship report, which includes information on what the child has got up to that month, pictures and a personal message from the child to the sponsor. We also encourage our sponsors to send emails to their sponsored children in order to build up correspondence because we believe a personal connection between sponsor and child leads to long-lasting impact.
3. It gives hope and improves wellbeing
The personal connection developed in child sponsorship will perhaps have the most meaningful impact on the sponsored child themselves. Children knowing that someone from across the world cares about them enough to support them, take an interest in their lives and send them messages is life changing. It gives them a sense of hope and has a profound effect on their wellbeing.
Of course, it’s not only the sponsored children who gain from child sponsorship, but the sponsors too. Various studies over the years have presented the benefits that donation can have on wellbeing, increasing levels of happiness and self-worth. Because child sponsorship involves having such a strong personal investment when donating, this can only make the act more fulfilling.
4. Child sponsorship is transparent
Unlike many forms of donation, when you sponsor a child, you have a good idea of where your money is going and can directly see the benefits it has on the life of an individual. This transparency is key to what we do at Children of Cameroon. Of the money given by the sponsor, we guarantee that at least 80% of the money is spent directly on the sponsored child. The remaining 20% pays the field worker’s wages and expenses and covers the cost of sending the money to Cameroon.
We also offer a financial breakdown as part of our sponsorship report, which goes into the details of how exactly the sponsor’s money has been spent that month, so that the sponsor knows without a doubt that their money is making a difference and can see the changes that are taking place because of it.
5. You can make a difference from a distance
One of the fantastic aspects of child sponsorship is that you can create genuine positive impact for vulnerable children in areas like Cameroon without having to travel the world or donate any more than your personal finances allow. Sponsorship is 100% remote and for £15 a month, little more than a Netflix subscription, you can supply the means for a child’s school fees and supplies, as well as fresh vegetables each week. £15 a month, then, will genuinely change a child’s life.
Do any or all of the above points have you convinced?
If so, why not visit our child sponsorship page?
Or if you want another way to help children in Cameroon remotely, take a look at our volunteering opportunities.
If you have any further questions about how sponsoring a child works with us, leave a comment below!
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