In the current issue (June 2013) of Christianity Today, the cover story is on child sponsorship. The author, Development Economist Bruce Wydick, asks a very direct question along with a simple answer. He poses, “Want to change the world? Sponsor a child.” He then summarizes a study he and his graduate students undertook for several years on a leading Christian child sponsorship organization. The agency authorized them to collect data from six countries from the three continents of the developing world. Here is the conclusion of their research: “Overall, sponsorship makes children 27-40 percent more likely to complete secondary school and 50-80 percent more likely to complete a university education”. For more information on these astounding findings, you can read the full article at http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013/june/want-to-change-world-sponsor-child.html
Bruce’s findings do not surprise me. Tumaini International is a relatively young organization and it will take a few more years before we can quantitatively report on the educational impact of our child sponsorship efforts. However, I can say that anecdotally, we have seen orphans and vulnerable children improve their academic performance, some drastically, once they are sponsored. We have hundreds of young adults who have completed high school, and many have gone on and earned degrees and diplomas though they were at the verge of dropping from high school due to lack of fees before they were sponsored. Obviously, these students had the potential but lacked opportunity. But we know the bigger story why they have been academically successful now. They were given hope. When I visit with Tumaini children, I see hope in the eyes of those who are in school. They know that despite the biggest loss in their lives, the death of their parents, they have been given hope again through child sponsorship. They have been given a new lease on life, so to speak.
What an opportunity that God has given us– literally to transform lives of so many deserving children in Kenya. And yes, our waitlist is still long. I know that we are not going to eradicate suffering all over the world, but by God’s grace, we can mitigate its impact on a few AIDS orphans.
At Tumaini International, we have a goal to sponsor 300 children by the year’s end. Would you join us today to not only meet this goal but to surpass it? In the paraphrased words of Professor Bruce, if we want to change the world, let’s sponsor kids. I encourage you to pass this information to your friends, work colleagues and family through word of mouth and myriads of social networks.
Hope for Forgotten Kids 