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Sponsoring a girl with Compassion provides her with food, clean water, shelter, clothing, access to educational resources and medical care.
Girls are disproportionately impacted by the effects of poverty, especially during the Coronavirus pandemic. Your support is more critical than ever before.
Why sponsoring a girl makes a difference
Access to education: Globally, twice as many girls as boys will never start school. With the Compassion child sponsorship programme, a girl in poverty receives the fees and resources to go to school. Compassion sponsored children are 41.6% more likely to finish secondary school.
Protection from female genital mutilation (FGM): More than 200 million girls and women alive today have been cut. Compassion’s church-based project allows girls a safe space where staff work sensitively to educate families and communities about the dangers of FGM and protect girls at risk.
Protection from child marriage: One-third of girls in the global south are married before the age of 18. The Compassion project champions a girls’ right to education, helping to protect her from being married early, giving her choices for the future. Educating girls is one of the most effective strategies to combat child marriage. Each year of secondary education can reduce the likelihood of marrying before 18 by five percentage points or more in many countries.
Protection from human trafficking: Women make up nearly half of all human trafficking victims, 19% are under 18. Compassion’s staff know each child by name and care for them deeply. If a child is in danger or goes missing, Compassion’s staff are well placed to notice and act quickly.
Protection from child labour: 160 million children are trapped in child labour – a rise of 8.4 million children since 2016 - of these, 63 million are girls. That’s 1 in 10 children worldwide. Providing educational resources, health and nutritional support, sponsorship relieves the financial strain on a girl’s family, lessening the need to work to provide for her family.
Increased self-esteem: Poverty damages a child’s confidence. Receiving one encouraging letter from their Compassion sponsor every six months can improve a child’s self-esteem.
Opportunities for long-term employment: 496 million adult women are illiterate and account for more than half of the world’s 781 million illiterate adults. Compassion supported children are 35.9% more likely to get a white-collar job and 75% more likely to be community leaders.
You can sponsor a girl to go to school
"My family doesn't see my education as a good thing. That's why it is important to me to be part of the Compassion project. I want my daughter to become educated so her house would be a good house. She would be able to sleep in a good bed that is not made of cow skin and she would go to a good school." Beatrice, 16, Compassion-sponsored girl
Investing in education for girls brings lasting change to the individual child and the whole community indeed, it could change the entire world!
Why Sponsoring a girl makes a difference
Thanks to child sponsorship through Compassion UK, vulnerable children living in poverty receive:
- School resources and uniforms
- Medical check-ups
- Nutritious food and clean water
- Christ-centred guidance through the local church
- Vocational training
- Recreational activities
- Love and support from Compassion’s local church staff
- A one-to-one relationship with you, their only sponsor, with letters translated into their native language to bring real hope and positive change.
If circumstances change, such as a natural disaster or pandemic like Coronavirus hits, Compassion can quickly send emergency relief such as food packs, shelter, and clean water. Staff and volunteers live and work in their communities, making them well placed to distribute critical necessities to families in greatest need.
Sponsor a girl like Hilda
“My name is Hilda. I am the eighth child in a family of 10 children. We didn’t have much money growing up and we lived in one room. When I was five years old my dad had an accident which left him unable to work. We had no money for food and I was very scared. I felt like no one cared about me and I didn’t matter.
Then everything changed. When I was nine, one of my neighbours told me about Compassion at my local church. I was sponsored through Compassion and started to go to the project every week. I was fed there and I learnt how to care of myself. I learnt I was special and that God loved me.
My sponsor wrote me letters. They loved me so much even though we never met in person. I am so thankful for my sponsor and everything they did for me.”
Sponsor a girl and empower her to overcome poverty
If you’re thinking through the pros and cons of child sponsorship, Hilda’s story is a powerful testimony. Sponsor a girl and empower her to bring change:
- Sponsorship kept Hilda in school. Now she’s a university graduate.
- Hilda is a school teacher, empowering the next generation.
- A respected leader in her church and community, Hilda is even putting her younger sister through university.
Together, we can directly empower girls to overcome extreme poverty.
Girls in poverty are denied medical care
- 45% of child deaths are linked to malnutrition. The leading cause of malnutrition in kids under 5 is diarrhoea.
- HIV and AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis are the three biggest poverty-related diseases.
- 1.25 billion women around the world do not have access to a toilet during their periods. And 1 in 10 school-age African girls ‘do not attend school during menstruation’.
Being a girl is tough. And girls in the world’s poorest communities have it toughest. Knowing the injustice, you want to take a stand, but how do you solve a problem as complex as poverty? Begin with a child. Partner with Compassion to sponsor a girl.
Make it a girls’ world: Sponsor a girl and protect her health
We share your passion for giving every girl access to the health care she deserves. Health support is a key part of the Compassion UK child sponsorship programme. Thanks to the support of their sponsor, every Compassion-sponsored girl is given regular health check-ups and nutritional support.
When Akouvi was first registered into the Compassion programme she was severely malnourished. She couldn’t stand, walk or talk. Akouvi was immediately taken to hospital for treatment. Thanks to immediate intervention and nutritional support, she’s now a thriving seven-year-old. Akouvi loves to run.
When you sponsor a girl, you boost her self-esteem
Poverty is a thief. It tells girls they don’t matter – that they don’t deserve to sit at a desk and learn. The girls who graduate from the Compassion programme are not only given access to education, they become leaders in their families and communities.
"There is a very big difference between girls in the [Compassion] project and the girls who are not. You can even recognise it by looking at those girls. They have a very high self-esteem because they are getting an education. But above all, because they have been attached to a church and to the Compassion project, they are able to get a lot of other skills from seminars, camps and training." Francis Mbore, Project Director, Compassion Kenya
“I made a difference”
I decided to sponsor a girl because I am a girl. I know my sponsored child can now get a good education. She can impact her community a very important way. She can help her community to change, to hope. Eleanor, Compassion sponsor
Where to sponsor a girl
Compassion works in partnership with local churches in developing nations.
You may want to sponsor a girl in an area where you or your family already have a connection. You could sponsor a girl in Africa and support a girl in one of the eight African countries where we’re partnering with local churches; Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Togo, Burkina Faso, Kenya and Ghana.
If you’re looking to sponsor a girl in India or Nepal, sadly, Compassion isn’t currently working in either of these countries, but you can empower a girl living in Asia. You can support a girl in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka or sponsor a girl in Thailand to overcome poverty.
Compassion also works in countries across Central and South America, including; Brazil, Colombia and Mexico.
How to sponsor a girl
1. Start your sponsorship journey by choosing a girl waiting for a sponsor on our website and sponsoring her for £28 a month.
2. You’ll soon receive a beautiful Welcome Pack through the post with a photo of your sponsored child, plus everything you need to write your first letter.
3. Over time, you’ll see the difference you’re making through your sponsored child’s letters and photos, you’ll receive regular updates and your letter writing will help encourage and empower a young life. You can also pray for your sponsored child and their family. Your sponsorship money will enable your sponsored girl to be educated, fed, protected, and empowered.
You can release a girl from poverty and give her a future.
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