Child Sponsorship Works

What do the children have to say about child sponsorship?
The benefits that child sponsorship brings to children and families ranges from the intangible (like the warmth and love children feel when they receive letters from their sponsors) to the tangible (like newly constructed homes and schools).

Below are some stories from, and about, children and how Plan's child sponsorship program changed their lives forever.

If I had not received support from Plan . . .
“My name is Govinda. My village is Holiya of Banke District. I am waiting for the results of my second year of intermediate level. I hope I will pass.

When I completed grade 5, I came to stay here at the Nepal Association of Blind hostel, supported by Plan’s Banke Program Unit. Before I came here, I had to crawl on my knees to go to school. That really hurt. One day I told a Plan staff member about my troubles — that traveling to school and back was difficult and took several hours and I feared I would never be an educated person.

Plan soon provided me with a tricycle which helped me get to and from school and to other places. The regular study at the hostel and the care of its staff helped me pass the certificate exam to graduate. I had never thought I would be able to do so.

My neighbors had frequently said that studying up to grade 5 was enough for a physically challenged boy like me. Their unkind words really bothered me. They didn’t appreciate my past or my problems: because I didn’t get vaccinated for polio, my legs were paralyzed; and my father was dead and my mother had no money for treatment. If I had not received support from Plan, I would not have been able to complete my secondary education.

I might have ended up staying at home doing nothing because our community does not believe that the physically challenged are capable and have opinion. The hostel gave me the opportunity to study hard without being discouraged and to meet helpful adults and professionals. I also got to take computer courses. Now I am working hard to educate myself. I want to do great things in the future to help people like me. Let’s see what time will bring.”

Child sponsorship is the best way to help a child, family and community build a future free from poverty. Sponsor a child today!


Former sponsored child spearheads major tourism project
A former Plan sponsored child who has become one of Bolivia’s most progressive and popular mayors is spearheading a US$2 million project to develop tourism in his home town of Guaqui.

The port of Guaqui, just 60 miles from La Paz in the Bolivian Altiplano, is a poor and largely excluded rural community. Mayor Nixon Mamani is determined to change that. He has raised US$2 million to fund the construction of the Lake Titikaka Ecological and Railway Complex.

When it is completed, the complex will have the highest railway in the world and house three museums, wildlife viewing points, craft workshops and a botanical garden.

From shepherd to mayor
Born in 1963, Nixon was part of Plan's child sponsorship program. While he had to spend much of his childhood tending sheep, he benefited from an education and eventually completed university, where he qualified as an agronomist.

He said: “When I was child, Plan was training families in adequate soil and seed management so they could produce more. I learned everything and then applied that knowledge to my land with good results.”

Nixon later helped to set up the first faculty of agronomy in the La Paz Altiplano, which now trains people to degree level and benefits hundreds of peasant young people each year.

Telecenters project
Nearly four decades after being a sponsored child, Nixon is working closely again with Plan on the Telecenters project in Guaqui. The project aims to provide children in rural areas with access to computers, so they can enjoy the same opportunities as those in towns and cities.

The project will provide ten state-of-the-art computers with internet access in safe, modern rooms.

Sponsor a child today! Child sponsorship supports long-term community development projects that benefit children, their families and communities.

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