Newsletter

"Does sponsorship really help children?" Whether you are a new or long-time sponsor, you may have asked this question before. Our brand new newsletter Discovery Sponsorship Journey, which offers you a relaxed "guided tour" every 2 months, is designed to answer your doubts and help you better understand the profound changes you can bring to impoverished children and their communities as a sponsor.

Are you ready? Here comes our first tour! Now let us "visit the village" and take a look at three projects that you may have seen in the Annual Progress Report 2020 -- projects that may seem minor but actually hold great significance!

[The Weight of a Piece of Paper: Ensuring Children's Rights] Without a birth certificate, a child cannot receive basic vaccinations, enroll in school, take public examinations, or even have legal protection for marriage or access to other benefits. A birth certificate is like a ticket to all civil rights, but many parents do not register their children simply because they do not understand its importance or cannot afford the transportation costs.

World Vision works with hospitals and schools to actively promote birth registration in the community, ensuring that children have legal identities and access to their civil rights. In the Pala community in Kenya, 12-year-old girl Anzuna said, "I didn't have a birth certificate before, so I couldn't register for the exam. World Vision helped all the students in our school to get birth certificates. Now I can focus on my studies."

In 2020, for example:

• The Kwango community in the Democratic Republic of Congo: 1,019 babies were registered.
• The Urban Kathmandu community in Nepal: 15,285 children were assessed, and those who needed birth certificates received support to access basic services and vaccinations.

[Mothers Learning to Cook? Becoming Nutrition Experts!] Children may suffer from malnutrition, not just because of a lack of food, but also because they do not know how to eat right. Many mothers in poverty believe "eating enough" equals "eating well". For example, there was a mother in the Philippines who fed her children only mangoes for all three meals, and another in Cambodia who gave her children snacks as their main meals... How can they prepare nutritious meals with the limited ingredients they can afford?

Through the 12-day Positive Deviance Hearth sessions, World Vision teaches mothers about nutrition and how to prepare nutritious meals using local ingredients and simple methods. Nami, a mother in the Fulbari community in Bangladesh, said, "I learned how to cook delicious and healthy meals at a very low cost. My daughter saw other children enjoying the food in the cooking class, and she is now willing to eat too!"

In 2020, for example:

• The Sambalpur Community in India: 4,585 mothers participated in cooking workshops to learn how to better nourish their children
• The Prasath Ballang 2 community in Cambodia: 1,981 young children gained weight, and 189 underweight children received appropriate nutritional support

[The Making of Caring Dads: Responsible Fathers, Happy Families] No one is born knowing how to be a parent. For example, in the Nuwara Eliya community in Sri Lanka, where a culture of male superiority is deeply rooted, men rarely take care of their families but find happiness in alcohol, which often leads to family conflicts. Therefore, World Vision started the Celebrating Families programme to help fathers understand gender equality and women's rights, encouraging them to share household responsibilities and save for the future.

As fathers improve their attitudes towards their wives and children, the children are the happiest. 6-year-old Mohannan said, "My father used to drink a lot and quarrelled with my mother, and the whole family was unhappy. But after participating in the programme, he stopped drinking and started saving for us!" When men understand their responsibilities as husbands and a fathers, children will be able to grow up in a happy family, which can have a positive impact on their lives.

In 2020, for example:

• The Kolfe Keranio community in Ethiopia: 200 parents learnt about positive parenting and child protection, and shared the knowledge with other villagers
• The Bardhaman community in India: 1,115 parents participated in family counselling sessions to learn new parenting skills to improve parent-child relationships

Assisting with birth registration, organising cooking classes, and hosting family workshops – none of these are minor. The efforts are made to protect children's civil rights, effectively address malnutrition, and build harmonious and healthy family relationships. By carefully handling every "minor" matter in the community, we hope that every child can enjoy their rights and grow up healthy and happy.

If there are any questions about sponsorship, or other topics that you would like us to cover, please send us an email at [email protected] to "Discovery Sponsorship Journey". Your questions may become the topic of our upcoming issue!