Why Orphan Sponsorship Programs work

We all get the letters and packets from various organizations pleading for money to help starving kids in a far away third world country. It’s the same story. So and so can’t go to school or doesn’t have access to food or clean water or is unable to_____ (fill in the blank). We get inundated with commercials and videos designed to stomp on heart strings. Now add the holiday season and this thing gets out of control. It gets to the point where we simply become numb to these campaigns that try to “get my money for some kid in a poor country”. We see the scandals and wrongdoing of large non-profits who do massive campaigns to stamp out HIV or hunger only to read articles published by whistleblowers informing the public that only something like 5% of the total donations were actually used to end or fight the very thing the campaign was designed to raise money for. The bulk of the money was used for salaries, expenses and “awareness”. It can easily make us sick to our stomachs and make us hold on even tighter to our money. The words waste, scams and inefficiencies among others flood our minds so much that even though we really want to help we often don’t because of our doubts. “Are the kids really getting help?”, “If I were to sponsor, how do I know my money is being used for my kid?”, “Can I trust this organization?”, “Can I swing the $35-50 bucks a month?”

We launched our version of a “sponsor an orphan” program this year. We started in Jan and are coming to the end of the first full year. Right now PfP has about 30 kids in our orphan program. Almost all of our sponsors have signed up again for 2011 and more are being added daily. Our goal for 2011 is to have 100 kids sponsored. This is one of those bitter sweet things. I would love not to have this program but I want it to grow as we have many kids on waiting lists that need help.

Here is why I am blogging today. I got an email from one of our team members in Benin who heads up the orphan program in Benin. A little girl named Dado (her picture is below) was on our orphan program waiting list to get a sponsor. She died 2 weeks ago from malaria. Her guardian could not come up with the 67 cents needed for the medicine that would have saved her life.

67 stinking cents. I am so mad and sad. I can’t save the world but this shouldn’t have happened. Hundreds of kids in Benin are going to die this week due to malaria or malnutrition. Right now, I can’t stop that. A rather disgusting pill I have to swallow at least for now. But the thing is, Dado signed MY list. Not Compassion’s list or Feed the Children’s list. She signed my list. I am mad at my PFP team, I am mad at you, I am mad at me. I am mad at the reality of it all. 67 cents. How do I wrap my head around that? Going forward, we will be having informational meetings with all guardians of those children who are on the list. We will inform them that a fund has been set aside for cases like Dado. While schooling, food and monthly medical care cannot be provided without assistance of a sponsor, we have money for things like malaria meds. It is up to the guardians to keep us informed of the health of the child so we can work together to ensure things like this don’t happen again. I just can't grasp it. How does this happen? It is 2010. How does a child die from not having 67 cents?

I get every counter point and doubt you have about helping a kid in a far off country. I know there have been accounts were people and organizations have taken advantage of your generosity but please don’t resign to the fact that nothing can be done or you have been “burned” and therefore are finished with helping. I can’t speak for Compassion Intl and Feed the Children etc personally but I know they have great reputations and have similar 67 cent stories.

I am not sugar coating this. Kids just like Dado are really dying. Sure, we don’t want to hear it. It makes us uncomfortable because after all we have grown accustomed to the “Us 4 and no more” mentality where it makes more sense to drown our own kids and families with more things they don’t need than to help someone you don’t know. Spend less money on Christmas this year. Adopt a kid through PFP. If not PFP, adopt one with Compassion, ICA, Feed the Children or one of the many out there both big and small. I am serious. If you don’t want to do it through PFP that is fine, just help out somewhere else. If you can’t spring the $35 a month on your own, then group up. Get 5 or 10 of your friends and adopt a kid together. If you are worried about where your money is going, call me or let’s grab a cup of coffee and talk. I will show you where every penny is going.

“Oh come on Jace, aren’t you doing the exact same thing as above? Aren’t you tugging on our heart strings and didn’t you write this blog with the purpose to get our money”.

Yes. But I don’t care about your money. I care about what your money can do. $35 a month x 12 months is $420. I see your $420 commitment as a life saved. I don’t have a great video and don’t consider myself to be a good writer but I need your help. Please be moved by this. Sit with me and talk. Ask me questions. Come to Benin with me. You tell me what assurances you need or what questions you need answered in order to help a kid. Again if $420 makes your budget too tight then let’s group up. Pull 10 friends together. I will come and we can all talk. Dado died on my watch. I can’t do anything about that but I can do everything to try to prevent that from happening again.

If you are upset with my plea for money and help and offended by asking for your money, I am sorry you feel that way. If my plea is only white noise to you then I cannot change your opinion but I hope you find something you can passionately stand behind and partner with. However, if this switched on a light for you, I need partners who will stand with us in this program. I need people who will live beyond themselves. Something has to be done.

If anything I said above made sense to you and you are interested in sponsoring a kid, have ideas on how to make this program better or how you can get involved email our orphan program director at mary@projectsforprogress.com


Thanks for reading. Have a Merry Christmas!

Jace