Child Sponsorship
Use of Sponsorship Funds - Communication - Matching - Personal Sponsor Web Pages - Sign-Up
OSI Child sponsorship provides a channel for individuals to be personally involved in the welfare of a needy child. Orphan Sponsorship International is not a
program to which sponsors simply donate funds. Rather, the sponsors are themselves the program, and OSI serves as a volunteer on-site liaison between the
sponsor and their sponsored child. In this liaison function, OSI maintains the communicative link between sponsors and children and utilizes 100% the sponsor’s
funds directly and exclusively towards the welfare of the child. We depend on separate Program
Site Sponsors for program administration, so that the child sponsor's funds and attention can be dedicated solely to the needs of the child.
The responsibility of sponsors is two-fold. Sponsors communicate with their child in the form of email, postal letters, photos, gifts, creative works, and whatever else the child and sponsor wish to share with each other. In addition, sponsors provide the funding to maintain the child's physical welfare. Most importantly, the children view their sponsor as someone who cares about them personally and individually, -a critical component that is lacking in the lives of orphans.
Sponsorship funding is normally about $25 per month, per child, depending on the child's age, location, situation, and needs. Sponsors can track the usage of their funds through their own personal page on the OSI web site (see below). While every child’s needs are unique, following is a general pattern to how the child’s sponsorship funds are utilized. We are very careful to select and provide items to each child on an individual basis, to suit their specific needs and even tastes, and all items are presented in the name of the child's sponsor so that the child understands, most importantly, that somebody is caring for them individually.
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Food/Shelter - In many cases, OSI sponsorship is the primary source of funding for the child's food and shelter. Clothing - A continual assessment is made of the child's basic physical needs, and the child is regularly provided with necessary items such as clothing, shoes, and hygiene supplies; such items are chosen individually for each child,based on their needs and personalities, and presented in the name of their sponsor. Medical - Sponsor funds may be utilized to cover the costs of medical examinations, prescription and general medications, eye glasses, dental work, and even special dietary needs. Unfortunately, without sponsorship funds, these needs are often not met. School Fees & Supplies - Sponsorship funds may provide the child with textbooks, uniforms, school supplies, and tutors, as needed throughout the year. Enrichment Activities - In an effort to allow the child the opportunity of exploring and pursuing his/her talents and interests, sponsorship funds allow the child to enter art, music, dance, computer, language, and sport schools/lessons, where these are available. Children are also able to take part in historical, cultural, educational, and recreational excursions. Gifts - Without sponsors, the children often receive neither gifts nor recognition on their birthday or other special occasions. |
The personal attention a child receives from his/her sponsor is of equal or greater importance than the financial support. Living in institutional
environments amongst many other children, it is a unique experience for these children to receive any individual attention at all, and due to their histories
they are often quite bewildered and flattered that someone would care to help and love them. To foster this, we strongly encourage both sponsors and
children to correspond with each other, and provide the most expedient means possible to make the sponsor-child relationship as real-time as possible.
Sponsors and children communicate with each other at will, via email and regular postal mail, through an OSI liaison dedicated solely to the program site. The children's letters are promptly translated by the liaison and emailed to the sponsor. In addition, the children's original hand-written letters are saved and these are periodically mailed to the sponsor, along with photos and whatever else the child wishes to send. Sponsors write to their children in a like manner, and are free to send postal mail to their sponsored child as well.
The OSI site liaisons are local individuals, dedicated to the local OSI site and children, and are thus intimately familiar with each child. Sponsors are free to communicate with their OSI liaison at will, and any information about the sponsored child that might be of interest to the sponsor is provided by the site liaison on a regular basis. Our liaisons themselves are wonderful, dedicated people, and our sponsors often enjoy their communications with the liaison almost as much as their communications with the child!
OSI does not allow prospective sponsors to simply pick and choose among the children in need, for the same reason that children do not choose their sponsors.
However, we do believe that sponsors can contribute most to a child with whom they can relate. For example, a teen-aged girl may be most in need of a
sponsor who can act as a "big-sister" figure, and we would thus try to identify a sponsor who would be specifically interested and able to fill such a
role. As part of the sponsor-child matching process, we encourage prospective sponsors to provide their thoughts on the type of child they are best able to
serve, and these are among the factors that we consider during the matching process. This is for the child's benefit, to be matched with somebody who can
best relate to them. For their part, the sponsor's interest should be in helping any child who is in need of their care and attention.
Each OSI sponsor is provided with their own password-protected page on the OSI web site. The sponsor's page serves as an individualized reference, containing
information on their sponsored child and the home and community where the child lives, a regularly-updated Financial Record of the sponsor's deposits and
expenditures, addressing and instructions for sending email and postal mail for the child, and all the reference information a sponsor might need. For an
example, please see the Sample Sponsor Web Page.
Sign-Up for OSI Child Sponsorship
At present, the only children available for sponsorship are in our Sri Lanka programs. If you are interested in sponsoring a child in Sri Lanka, please proceed via the "Sign-Up" link below. Thank you!
Sign-Up for OSI Child Sponsorship!