Sponsor a Child in Africa: Empower Them to Overcome Poverty

Choosing to sponsor a child in Africa can change their life for good

For just £1.05 a day, you can be the tangible difference in one child’s life. Sponsor a child in Africa with Compassion and you’ll ensure they have access to school, nutritious food, medical check-ups and emotional support.

You’ll come alongside a local church, joining a team that will help give a child in need life-changing stability and security – breaking the cycle of poverty.

Five tough issues facing children in sub-Saharan Africa

While there are regions of extreme wealth in parts of this diverse continent, many children face the daily injustice of hunger and fear in communities experiencing extreme poverty.

That’s why Compassion partners with local churches in eight African nations where children face the challenges of poverty, including Ethiopia, Tanzania, Zambia and Kenya, to run our world-class child sponsorship programme. With your help, together we can meet the critical needs faced by children. Our programme is based on empowerment, enabling children to overcome poverty in an ethical and effective way. This then has a ripple-effect through support for the wider family and going on to help bring change for the entire community.

1. Education in Africa

12-year-old Monthe from Kenya, East Africa, grew up amidst chaos. Her alcoholic father was unable to hold down a job. He wasted away the little money her mother managed to earn. Night after night, Monthe and her sisters went to bed hungry.

“My prayer was for Monthe to be registered in [Compassion’s child sponsorship programme] so she could start attending school,” says Ruth, Monthe’s grandma. “I wanted her to have a decent chance at succeeding in life.”

Thanks to one sponsor taking action in partnership with the local church, Monthe was able to go to school for the first time. Monthe’s sponsor helped protect her wellbeing, ensuring she had the school fees, school supplies and nutritious meals she so desperately needed.

“I’d never worn shoes before in my life. I was very excited when I wore my new shoes and the school uniform.” Monthe, 12 years, Kenya

Education facts to help you understand why sponsoring a child with Compassion is so important

One of the most powerful and long-lasting ways in which sponsorship works is by providing access to education.

Sadly, not all children are given this opportunity. Of all regions, sub-Saharan Africa (African countries south of the Sahara Desert) has the highest rates of education exclusion as reported by UNESCO.

• One-fifth of children between the ages of about 6 and 11 are out of school.
• 60% of youth between the ages of about 15 and 17 are not in school.
• Across the region, 9 million girls between the ages of about 6 and 11 will never go to school at all, compared to 6 million boys.

Compassion’s child sponsorship programme is a highly strategic way of fighting poverty by giving children the education they deserve, along with other support. Sponsorship provides the funds to cover school fees, which are often required, along with the cost of uniforms and books.

The financial assistance, coupled with seeing the longer-term benefits of keeping children in education for achieving higher-earning and more stable vocations, means families begin to want to keep their children stay in school for longer. Education is also vital for protecting girls against early marriage.

By sponsoring a child from sub-Saharan Africa today, you can give them the opportunity and resources to learn.

2. Sponsor a child and give them access to healthcare

At Compassion, we’re committed to protecting children’s dignity, yet we still want to be honest about the challenges children in communities face and we’re committed to serving the most vulnerable children, many of whom are severely undernourished.

4-year-old Beatrice from Togo collapsed after suffering from malnutrition. “If the project was not there for me, Beatrice would have died,” shares Beatrice’s grandmother. Thanks to Compassion’s partnership with the local church, she was given urgent medical care and now receives weekly food support.

Beatrice is not alone. The African regional office of the World Health Organisation has issued a report asking for urgent action to tackle malnutrition and healthcare challenges in Africa.

“Undernutrition is leading to catastrophic costs to individuals, communities, and to national healthcare systems in Africa,” explains Collins Boakye-Agyemang, WHO.

We’re passionate about wanting to provide healthcare, offering support to babies and children so they can enjoy full health. Through our child sponsorship programme we partner with local churches to support children living in poverty with nutritious meals and regular health check-ups so that they can grow up healthy and strong.

Poor health makes it very difficult for children and young people to engage with education and other opportunities. Our child sponsorship programme is committed to serving children’s holistic needs in mind, body and spirit.

3. Orphaned children in Africa: Empowering the most vulnerable

Compassion Graduate, Kemi, became an orphan as a teenager. He says, “My mum was only eight years old when she ran away from early marriage. They wanted to give her away, but she said no. So, on her own, she took a train to the big city. She didn’t know where she was going, she just ran.

“That’s how I came to be born in one of the slum areas of Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia. Raised by a single mum after my dad abandoned us when I was just two years old. I had no siblings. Growing up in extreme poverty and without a father figure was really tough…

“When I was 16, my mum was sick, and I had to go and support her. On the third day she literally passed away on my hand. Life became so dark for me because she was my inspiration — the hopelessness I used to know as a kid came back to me. I’d already heard that my dad had passed away, so I was an orphan.

If it wasn’t for Compassion, I wouldn’t be the person I am today. The project workers from the church would come into my house and pray over me and encourage me. They told me “Don’t ever give up. You can still do it for her.”

Read Kemi’s full story here.

In global development communities, an orphan is defined as a child under 18 who has lost one or both parents to any cause of death. In sub-Saharan Africa, an estimated 52 million children have lost one or both parents.

Our church partners are committed to supporting the most vulnerable children in their local areas, including those who have been orphaned. Children identified as particularly vulnerable in this way will receive extra support from their local church, both with provision of necessities like food, and also with mentoring and counselling.

“Because of the certainty of our calling to end poverty, we persevere in the individual journey of each child in our programmes. Thank you for the part you are playing.” – Sidney Muisyo, Compassion Chief Programme Officer

4. Child labour: why sponsor a child in Africa like Ebenezer

Child trafficking is a very real threat in every country around the world, including the UK.

Forced labour seriously harms children, damaging their physical and psychological wellbeing, and is a concern that our local churches work hard address in the African countries where Compassion serves. Safeguarding and education around the dangers of forced labour are address amongst children who attend Compassion projects, and their whole communities.

Ebenezer Agoa was just six years old when he was sent to work on Ghana’s Lake Volta, a notorious location for child slavery. Battling to take care of nine children, his grandma had been attracted by the traffickers’ promises to send Ebenezer to school and pay for his medical fees.

But their promises were lies.

For three years, Ebenezer worked at the lake. He cast the nets and heaved them in until his shoulders burned and his hands cracked and bled. It took the courage of Henry Amanor, a Compassion project director, to step in and help free Ebenezer.

Through Compassion’s programme, Ebenezer’s sponsorship gave him access to a brighter future. He was given the education, nutrition and support he needed to become a mechanical engineer.

Child labour in Africa

As of recent International Labour Organization (ILO) and UNICEF reports, sub-Saharan Africa has the highest global incidence of child labour. Currently:

• One in five children (around 20%) in the region are engaged in child labour, totalling approximately 72 million children. This figure is significantly higher than in other world regions.
• Nine percent of African children work in hazardous conditions, which also places sub-Saharan Africa at the highest level globally for child labour in dangerous settings

Like you, we want to protect African children and young people like Ebenezer from exploitation and harm. We want to give them a quality education that allows them a stable and fulfilling future.

 5. Facts about HIV-AIDS in Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for nearly 90 percent of new HIV infections among children under five. Our church partners are passionate about coming alongside children who face the double-edged battle against both HIV and poverty.

Gracie was devastated when she learned her son, Jacques, had contracted HIV during her pregnancy. Her husband died when his illness developed into AIDS soon after Jacques’ birth.

Gracie’s thankful that the government of Togo now offer medication for HIV for free, as otherwise the cost would have been beyond her. She has also received support through the local church, where Jacques is sponsored to participate in a Compassion project.

Gracie says, “It’s through the support of the Compassion project that I can say that I’ve found some sense of peace and relief. I receive a monthly amount of money which I use for all the family food… They pay for any medical treatment for me and Jacques. Anytime I fall sick, or need to go through a health checkup, they support me with what I can’t afford.”

Visible support within a community from the local church helps to alleviate stigma and demonstrate that there’s plenty of opportunity for a child born with HIV to live fully.

Note: Seeing Africa’s diversity

As a Christian charity working in ten countries in Africa, we’re committed to seeing and understanding Africa as a vast and diverse continent of one billion people spread over fifty-six separate nations. In each of the African nations where you can sponsor a child, we only employ staff who are nationals and have a clear understanding of the cultural contexts they’re working in.

We’ve put together these two handy guides to answer frequently asked questions and help promote an understanding of Africa as a continent:

• Understanding Africa: Three tips for reconsidering this wonderfully diverse continent
• Rediscover Africa: Why Africa isn’t the country you think it is

Sources: UNESCO: Education in Africa, International Labour Organisation: Child Labour in Africa