How it's working across the world.
Guatemala
World Hope International’s Child Sponsorship program is based in a tourist area known as Lake Atitlán. Through a range of programming, World Hope International serves children and families in the mostly rural mountainsides of this area, where income often limits a family’s ability to send their children to school and food can be scarce. Child sponsorship gifts are used to impact sponsored children in the areas of:
- Tuition assistance
- Uniform and shoes
- School supplies
- Food support
- Annual medical check-up
Haiti
The World Hope International Child Sponsorship program serves children through several schools in the inner city of the capital, Port-au-Prince, at Cité Soleil, on its outskirts in Diquini and in the village of Percin, several hours away. Most schools are privatized, creating a need for child development investment in lower income neighborhoods. While services in each project site are unique, they often include:
- Tuition assistance
- Uniform
- School supplies
- School improvement
- School construction and renovation, as needed
- Special programming and youth activities
- Community needs assessment and development
Central India
Rajnandgaon is a city in the heart of India. In 1905, missionaries established a Leprosy Hospital here. Today, there is still a strong stigma attached to leprosy and the children in these family lines are rarely enrolled in school. Dr. Devadas, a former professor of economics, saw the need to educate and train these children. Several former hospital buildings were transformed into a hostel to serve as a place to board children and ensure their education at a local Christian school. Child sponsorship gifts are used to impact sponsored children in the areas of:
- Tuition assistance
- Uniform and shoes
- Food support
Northeast India
Northeast India is a little-known region composed of several states squeezed between China, Myanmar (Burma) and Bangladesh. The people here face prejudice because of their ethnic heritage. They often feel overlooked or neglected by the Indian government. It is not uncommon for teachers in government schools to bribe officials for their salaries. Many of them never show up or fulfill their contracts. Because of child sponsorship, many sponsored children in this region are able to attend Christian schools with quality teachers. World Hope International also partners with the Wesleyan Church to help the church develop the leadership potential of the next generation. Many sponsored children in this region are able to attend Christian schools because of their sponsorship.
Through a range of programming, child sponsorship is leaving a great imprint on this area of the world and on tomorrow’s leaders. Child sponsorship gifts are used to impact sponsored children in the areas of:
- Tuition assistance
- Uniform and shoes
- Food support
Indonesia
Child sponsorship through World Hope International in Indonesia is a significant support to the Wesleyan Church here. Many of the Wesleyan churches here are small and scattered far from one another, which has made church growth difficult. Church outreach is strengthened when local people hear that our church partners are helping poor children through sponsorship through tuition assistance and school supplies. Without sponsorship, many students would not be able to pursue a high school education. Beyond this, many children in the sponsorship program are afforded the opportunity, regardless of their religion, to pursue their high school education at quality Christian schools. This has special significance in a country where 87% of the population is Muslim. Empowering the local church to equip their next generation of leaders is crucial to spreading the gospel in Indonesia. Sponsored children benefit from sponsorship through:
- Tuition assistance
- Uniform and shoes
- Food support
The World Hope International Child Sponsorship program serves children in the Bomi County region on the northwest coast of Liberia at the Alfred K. Brown Wesleyan Institute. Liberia is still recovering from the adverse effects of more than a decade of brutal war in the country, with a death toll of over 250,000 including the loss of critical teachers and doctors. Still, more than 80% of the urban and rural populations have no access to electricity. In the Bomi County region, only 43% of school age children are currently attending school and, of those not attending, 60% are girls. Recovering from war and the recent Ebola crisis, along with deeply engrained traditional practices and high teenage pregnancy rates, all contribute to high poverty and illiteracy rates and low school attendance. Through a partnership with the Wesleyan School System of Liberia, that story is changing! Child sponsorship allows children to attend school and, through the encouragement of their sponsors, these young people have the power and motivation to change the future of their country.
Through a range of programming, child sponsorship gifts are used to impact sponsored children in the areas of:
- Tuition assistance
- Uniform and shoes
- School supplies
- School assessment and quality enhancement
The World Hope International Child Sponsorship program serves children in the Philippines through a partnership with the Wesleyan Church, as well as various schools and communities. Our program is uniquely designed to reach the tribal communities through education, livelihood development, and programs to prevent child prostitution, child labor, and early marriage. In Taclabon City, we work with the many widows and orphans left behind after Typhoon Yolanda to provide access to education and income generating activities. At Batotitik Mission Academy, instead of being discriminated against and treated as outsiders, children from tribal communities receive a quality education. This school is ranked second among all private schools in Mindanao. In the nurturing environment of the school, the children are also protected against many unhealthy, community practices, such as early marriage, child labor, and child trafficking. At Grace Mountain Mission Academy, children who have lost one or both parents and would not be able to attend school otherwise, can stay at a nurturing boarding school. More information on each of these programs can be found below.
The Philippines represent unique needs and vast ministry opportunities for those living throughout the 3000 islands that stretch from the coast of China to the northern tip of Borneo. While services in each project site are unique, they often include:
- Tuition assistance
- Uniform and school supplies
- Food support
- Spiritual guidance
- Saturday programming to combat forced weekend prostitution
Batotitik Mission Academy
The World Hope International Child Sponsorship program partners with Batotitik Mission Academy, a Wesleyan School, to serve the Blaan tribal community in Southern Mindanao. Tribal communities, such as the Blaan, are located in remote, hard to reach locations and are often subjected to extreme poverty, cruel treatment, and discrimination from the larger Filipino population.
Early marriage, trafficking, and child labor are far reaching problems throughout the country, especially for indigenous children living in poverty. When children are born into a tribal community, excluded and detested by the larger society and not having a voice or a platform, they are even more vulnerable to brutal abuse.
Grace Mountain Academy
Grace Mountain Academy is a boarding school for children in poverty, located in the mountains far north of Manila. The World Hope International Child Sponsorship Program supports children in the boarding school by providing them the opportunity to thrive in a nurturing environment. The children at GMMA would not be able to go to school if it wasn’t for this academy. Beyond this, children in the program receive the food, shelter, and care they need to thrive and are introduced to the love of Jesus Christ. Some children have graduated from high school and returned to work in the school!
Tacloban City
World Hope International partners with the local Wesleyan church in Tacloban, capital of Leyte, 360 miles southeast of Manila. While it is an emerging city, Tacloban was devastated by Typhoon Yolanda in November 2013. Pastor Knamerto and his wife started the partner church after the storm and began to respond to the needs of widows and orphans in their community. Many of the husbands in the community sent their wives and children to higher ground before the storm. Since the men stayed behind to guard their fishing boats and houses, it was largely the men in the community who died. This left a huge number of widows and many orphans. Children in this program have the opportunity to attend school, special weekend programming through the church to learn life skills and about God’s love for them. In addition, the widows participate in income-generating activities.
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone is a small country in West Africa, rich in natural resources, including diamonds. The country was thrust into civil war and chaos in 1992 over control of this natural resource. Thousands of innocent civilians were terrorized, brutally treated or displaced. With the cease-fire in 2002, the country began the long road to recovery. Twelve years later, the country was struck again when it battled the largest Ebola epidemic in the world’s history. In partnership with the Wesleyan Church and multiple schools, child sponsorship is creating powerful change in rural areas of Sierra Leone! While services in each project site are unique, they often include:
- Uniforms and shoes
- School supplies
- Food support
- Community and school development
- Support to partner schools to ensure teachers are properly certified, compensated and have necessary teaching supplies
Bombali Bana Primary School Partnership
The World Hope International Child Sponsorship Program has a partnership with Bombali Bana Primary School. Bombali Bana is a midsize rural village with strong leadership. Seven teachers teach roughly 300 children in grades 1-6 in the primary school. While the village has seen many improvements through WHI’s sustainable development efforts, the aftermath of the Ebola crisis has created an ongoing need for these families.
Binkolo Primary School Partnership
World Hope International partners with Binkolo Primary School in the Bombali District of Sierra Leone. With a population of about 5,000, Binkolo is a growing rural village located along a well-travelled dirt highway. The school is centrally located and has children attending from several small villages in the region. School leadership boast of their progressive outreach to girls in the community where, unlike most schools in Sierra Leone, the number of girls attending school in Binkolo exceeds the number of boys – almost two to one! While the school has an eager and compassionate teaching staff, they lack required teaching materials and struggle with infrastructural problems. Families in this region are continuing to recover from the aftermath of the Ebola crisis and struggle to send all of their children to school as the cost of school fees, uniform and supplies remain a constant barrier.
Children With Special Needs (Freetown)
Good quality pre-natal care and child health services in Sierra Leone are scarce and often unaffordable. As a result, many children are born with or acquire mental and/or physical disabilities in their early years. Cerebral Palsy (brain damage) and other neurological defects are common, as are orthopedic abnormalities. Extensive poverty, traditional beliefs and illiteracy compound the situation, often leaving the affected children rejected or abandoned and seen as a curse on their families. But, child sponsorship is changing this story! With help from the Enable the Children program and through sponsorship, children are given a caseworker, a plan (including physical and occupational therapy and specialized equipment as needed) and hope for a brighter future! Learn more about sponsoring a child with special needs here.
Sri Lanka
The World Hope International Child Sponsorship program in Sri Lanka, where 70% of the country’s population is Buddhist, aims to help children in difficult circumstances attend school. Partnering with the Wesleyan Church, this effort carefully fosters child development and assists with school needs as persecution towards Christians is strong. The education offered via government schools is often inadequate to help children meet countrywide exam standards, therefore children must often enroll in costly evening tutoring classes where transportation is also needed. This additional expense is far out of the reach of many families. Child sponsorship gifts are used to impact sponsored children in the areas of:
- School fees
- Uniforms and school supplies
- School transportation
- Crucial doctor visits / medicine
Many families World Hope International works with in Zambia through the local church have been devastated by HIV/AIDS and most of the children in the WHI sponsorship program have lost at least one parent, if not both, from AIDS. According to UNICEF, there are over 750,000 orphans in Zambia. The local church has been overwhelmed by the need to serve widows, widowers and orphans, and World Hope International enthusiastically partners with them to promote powerful change in the lives of those in need. While services in each project site are unique, they often include:
- Tuition assistance
- Uniform and school supplies
- Community needs assessment and development