SPONSOR A CHILD's EDUCATION
How it works?
Sponsorship - an opportunity for better life
If you’ve landed on this page, you’re probably thinking about helping a child in Africa; specifically, The Gambia, get an education. You probably have a lot of questions and maybe even some concerns. We fully understand this, which is why we try to ensure transparency by providing information, photos, videos and a personal approach to our activities. Helping children through our organization is entirely voluntary and has no time limit.
Through our organization, we already support more than 540 children in their education with the help of godparents from various European countries. From Slovenia to Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, France, England, Scotland, Holland, Poland and America! Over 540 children mean approx. 18 classes of students!
However, for us, children are not just numbers. We meet with the children and/or their parents/guardians at least once a month. We see some of them every day. We know their personal stories, we know where they live, and we know their conditions. We can also say with great pleasure that many godparents who came to The Gambia met the families and children in person.
If the families did not receive help, such results would never have been achieved. We constantly encourage visits, personal contact with families and joint monitoring of education and the situation with families.
There are various reasons why someone decides to support a child’s education. It is important to everyone that the money goes into the right hands, into the hands of the families they have decided to help.
Why godparents, what you get as godparents, how much money families actually get and much more, read in the following points.
Why support a child?
Musa Faal, founder of Kids Are The World, The Gambia, met a couple from England at the age of 12 who decided to help him with his education. Due to the opportunity for education, which he got with the help of his godfathers, Musa had to move to his uncle in the city to attend school, which did not exist in the village then. Life in the city was difficult, but with his godmother’s help, he got an education and successfully graduated from high school. After finishing high school, he started working and soon became independent. This is the main reason that for ten years, he has been helping children and parents who today find themselves in such a situation as he (and his mother) was in about 30 years ago. He received the help of a godfather in his youth, and his life is better today.
Education is essential in developing a child’s identity and is crucial in the development of the local community and the country in general. It affects the quality of life, the reduction of child mortality, better medical care and food production.
There are no state-run kindergartens in The Gambia, so parents of children have to pay fees for their children to attend. They do not have organized nutrition in any kindergarten, and parents are also obliged to pay for school uniforms, school supplies and everything else the child needs. Without early education, children have a lot of problems in elementary school. Parents of poor children are mostly illiterate and cannot help them with basic education. It is also typical that illiterate parents do not speak English, the official language of The Gambia, which is used in all kindergartens and schools.
Primary and secondary state schools are free, but parents must pay for compulsory school uniforms, textbooks, notebooks, school supplies, and other school-related costs (excursions, school parties, and other contributions). Private primary and secondary schools are not free. In addition to the mandatory purchases of uniforms, school textbooks, notebooks and school supplies, education costs or tuition fees vary depending on the chosen school and the town or village where the school is located.
Conditions in state schools are quite difficult, which also affects the level of education of children. School classrooms are (too) full of children, even up to 100 in one class, where only one teacher teaches. In many schools, children are educated by unqualified teachers who are paid very little, which is why the interest is all the less. All parents want their children to be educated in private schools, but for many, this is impossible because some earn less than €30 a month. They partially solve the matter by paying school fees in several instalments. If they are unable to settle their obligations, the child is expelled from school before the end of the school year.
University education is a privilege that the vast majority cannot afford.
For the above reasons, even a small donation can make a big difference in the life of a Gambian girl or boy.
Why The Gambia?
Poverty in The Gambia is widespread. More than 60 percent of the rural population lives in deplorable living conditions. Ethnicity and village size appear irrelevant to poverty, which is uniform across the country, although rural areas are hotbeds of extreme poverty. These areas are home to a third of the Gambia’s rural poor.
Every year, residents of The Gambia face the so-called “hungry season”, during a 2- to 4-month period, at the height of the rainy season, between July and September, when food supplies for the household are meagre or wholly depleted.
The monthly income of some individuals does not even reach €30. Several monthly instalments are the answer and solution to the question of how parents can pay school fees for a child, which on average costs €60 per year. Many parents are looking for extra income and help from abroad, which enables them to survive. However, the day-to-day expenses of transportation, school lunches, school supplies and other necessary things for a child to attend classes every day are too much of a burden for most, which is why too many children still stay at home. The percentage of illiteracy is still relatively high, the majority being illiterate women. The most common reason for this is the choice of the families to educate sons before daughters.
What is the amount of sponsorship and how does it work?
From 1. 5. 2021, the monthly sponsorship amounts to €20. The annual school fees contribution amounts to €60.
In 10 years, the prices of essential life goods and costs have increased significantly, as they have all over the world. The most significant differences are rents, transportation costs, clothing and footwear, and food.
All funds that sponsors transfer to our account for children are intended for them and their families for the necessary clothing, education, food and medical assistance. So far, it has turned out that direct assistance to families with monthly contributions and annual school fees is the best solution for improving the quality of life today and in the future.
With your voluntary contributions, you will provide children from low-income families with a stable and safe childhood and access to basic health care, food and better education. In this way, we improve both basic living conditions and educational opportunities for children while at the same time investing directly in the development of the local community. It is about helping raise the basic standard of children’s lives, especially developing their education.
We want every sponsor to visit their families, talk to them live and see what kind of conditions they live in. For us, this connection is very important because it is impossible to describe the feelings we experience when a desperate mother or father shakes their helper’s hand, looks at them with gratitude, and says nice words about them.
How much money does the family receive?
On average, families receive €1 to €1.50 less than the amount received in a bank account in Slovenia. Families in the Gambia will receive approx. 1000 GMD out of a €20 donation that you transfer to a bank account in Slovenia. The money for the families is handed out in cash, as impoverished people usually do not have and do not use bank accounts.
Amounts vary due to:
- different amounts of bank fees
- constant fluctuation of the international exchange rate
- various costs of sending money abroad
- different scope of work
The monthly donation of €20 (some sponsors donate more) is reduced by €1 to €1.50 due to the unavoidable costs of sending money to The Gambia transparently, i.e. via bank transfers, and to cover all expenses which arise from the transfer of funds to a bank account in Slovenia to the delivery of money to families in The Gambia.
Cost amounts include:
- The bank in Slovenia charges a fee of €0.12 per transfer from your transfer to our account from Slovenia. If you transfer from abroad, the commissions are higher, especially from countries outside the EU (even up to €10 per transfer).
- Bank transfer costs and fees are paid at a bank in Slovenia and a bank in The Gambia. These costs depend on the amount of money sent (more money sent results in higher costs).
- Sending money between Slovenia and the Gambia is regulated by a correspondent bank in England. So, the transfer takes place through three banks. Money is sent from Slovenia in EUR, and the organization in the Gambia receives money in Gambian dalasi/GMD. The amount received in The Gambia is also affected by the changing bank exchange rates. From 2012 to today, the exchange rate in The Gambia has changed from 35GMD/€1 to 57GMD/€1.
Note: You can exchange money individually at a location in The Gambia at higher exchange rates than if you sent the same amount through a bank. If you know the exchange clerk well, you can negotiate for a better exchange rate. Negotiations for amounts transferred to a bank account at the bank are not possible. - Children live in different areas. If the family receives the usual amount of sponsorship (€20), the family is visited at least once a month. Suppose the godparents send more money for the family (birthdays, holidays, etc.). In that case, it is necessary to visit the family several times to photograph the purchases made by the family and pass the photos on to the sponsors. Several visits and calls are also necessary during the collection of certificates.
- Cost of accounting services (€50 per month + €100 annual balance). This cost is shared among all sponsors; currently, about 500 sponsors. So the cost is €1.4/per person.
The other operating costs of both organizations are also covered by other funds, namely with the help of application fees under the Travel as a Volunteer program and other support donations from our partners in England.
How you can help?
You become a sponsor by making a voluntary contribution to an individual child in The Gambia, which amounts to €20 per month and €60 per year for school fees.
School fees and costs vary (chosen school, distance to school, school lunch, etc.), but we set an average amount (€60) for easier administration and differences that could affect children’s choices.
High school and college fees are higher, and so are all the associated costs since most high schools are located in the capital city. We are looking for additional sponsors and donors for children attending secondary and higher schools whose sponsors cannot fully cover their school fees. Before that, we talk to the initial sponsor of a child.
In addition to the monthly contribution (€20), we expect the sponsor to pay the average amount for school fees (€60) each year. Tuition payments and monthly donations are very closely related. Without paid school fees, the child cannot go to school; without a monthly contribution, the child does not have a guaranteed daily meal, means of transportation to school, medical care, etc.
If you do not donate a yearly contribution, the expenses of the school fees, school uniforms and materials are covered by a share of the monthly sponsorship. By paying school fees, we ensure that all school obligations are settled (school fees, school uniform and basic textbooks), and with a monthly contribution, we ensure a stable and safe childhood for the child; we offer them access to basic health care and quality education.
Note: We do not live with families, so we cannot provide you with the exact specifications of how your voluntary contributions are used. No receipts are issued at the markets and kiosks where families mostly shop. If you were to ask for an invoice, there is a high probability that the seller would not know how to write it, as the percentage of illiterates is still relatively high. The paper they can write on demand is not an authentic account. Also, the prices, as everywhere in the world, differ depending on the quality and shop. However, some shops are owned by foreigners, where you receive a receipt for every purchase. Still, the products from these shops are only accessible to wealthier Gambians and foreigners/tourists due to their high prices. Families and their needs differ, and deeply interfering with people’s needs is not a principle of our society. The condition for receiving aid is that the child attends school and that the child’s basic needs are met.
