Support and educate
Watch the videoThanks to Children of the Mekong, 23,400 children are helped by sponsors who accompany them along their journey. Sponsorship allows a child to attend school. It gives a child the means to take charge of their life and that of their family. Thanks to sponsorship, the child you help, wakes up every morning and makes their way to school instead of going to work in a rice field or a landfill.
Our local managers know the families and their needs. In agreement with our overseas volunteers “Bamboos”, they select sponsored children based on three main criteria: 1) poverty and 2) how motivated the child is to go to school 3) and the family’s motivation to send them to school for as long as possible. As soon as sponsorship starts, the child is part of a programme and is personally followed by our local manager. They make sure the sponsorship is used correctly and that the child’s needs are prioritised.
The local managers also call upon Children of the Mekong to help those in the worst situations. Children who cannot go to school in a traditional way are still sponsored. Children from a prostitution background, children with a physical or mental disability, young girls who were sexually abused, or children from the streets – all are supported thanks to collective sponsorship because they, too, have the right to love and be loved.
Beyond financial assistance, it is a bond of deep affection and moral support that is weaved between sponsor and child, year after year. The child will write between one and three letters per year to their sponsor, which will enable the sponsor to learn more about the child’s everyday life.
“In my family, my uncle brought me up alone. He gets up early, goes to bed late and his health is degrading. I will admit, I cried of joy when I heard I was being sponsored. I am very serious about my studies and I also actively volunteer to help other people in need.”
Li, sponsored child of Children of the Mekong
How child sponsorship helps a child's education
When you sponsor a child in Southeast Asia, your monthly donation covers all the costs related to education. Even though school is often free in Southeast Asia, costs related to school such as uniforms, stationaries and transport are too expensive for disadvantaged families to afford.
With £28 or $35 a month, child sponsorship covers all those expenses and give access to school to children from an underprivileged background.
I’ve been sponsoring Namphon since 2007.
She was a 6-year-old girl, shy and with learning difficulties. 10 years and many exchanges of letters later, I met her in Laos: a young girl who was radiant, spontaneous and keen to become a teacher. An impressive evolution!
From Europe to Asia, transparency, seriousness and enthusiasm are the terms that best describe Children of the Mekong. There is such a human quality in each of the members who make up this organisation! The desire to take part in this adventure is necessarily contagious!
Stephanie, sponsor of Namphon
SPONSOR A CHILD NOW
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