Christmas Greetings

I was delighted to open an envelope and find inside a Christmas card to me from Project Mala. The project sends Christmas greetings to its sponsors as one way of keeping in touch and showing appreciation throughout the year. It is nice to be remembered in this way. This year’s card has a wonderful picture of some of the children from one of the Project Mala Schools. Each child is holding up an individual letter card to spell out the message, “Merry Christmas from children of Project Mala”. It is great to see the children’s smiling faces…yet again the cliché, “a picture tells a thousand words” proves to be true... so a scanned version of the card is pasted below so you can see what I mean.

The envelope also contains the latest edition of ‘Mala News’, the quarterly newsletter which is sent to sponsors to update us on the work of the project. I look forward to reading it – and blogging about it – when the commotion of Christmas has passed.

Something to consider when choosing a child sponsorship charity?

As a Project Mala child sponsor, I read with interest an article written by someone who sponsors a child though another charity. In her article, published in The Guardian, the author describes what happened when she was introduced as the child’s sponsor to the child and her family. This is not an experience I would ever have because the Project Mala arrangements for child sponsorship do not include any personal contact from the sponsor to the child or his/her family, although the project provides a sponsor with information about the child s/he sponsors and encourages sponsors to visit Project Mala schools where they can see their sponsored child. This is a boundary I have always appreciated, respecting the explanation given on the Project Mala website for this stance. At the same time I realise that some people may feel they want to be more involved with the child they sponsor.
I have concluded that it is good there is a choice for potential sponsors when deciding which charity to support to sponsor a child and that an important factor for potential sponsors to consider may be a desire to write to the sponsored child. I am therefore surprised to read the following statistic in this article: “only 10% of all those who sign up to sponsor children with ActionAid ever get round to writing to them, let alone meeting them”.  
I am interested to know the views and experiences of other people about this aspect of child sponsorship. Please post any comments below.      

One year anniversary as a sponsor

 

Since my last blog entry it has been the first anniversary of me sponsoring a child with Project Mala. I feel that I have gained a lot although my input has been minimal, by which I mean

(i) the monetary amount of just £9 per month is much less than other child sponsorship charities require


(ii) sponsoring a child through Project Mala has not made any demands on my time of a practical nature. I became a sponsor just by clicking on a link on the Project Mala website then chose to complete one short and simple form provided by Project Mala so a standing order could be set up to deduct the sponsorship amount from my bank account without me having to do anything further


(iii) unlike some other sponsorship organisations Project Mala does not require sponsors to have direct personal contact with the child s/he sponsors although all sponsors receive photographs of their sponsored child as well as family information and school reports. Sponsors also receive updated information about the work of the project through its quarterly newsletter which is posted or emailed to each sponsor. Personally I find these newsletters incredibly interesting and inspiring.


The newsletters are one of the ‘gains’ I have made from my sponsorship year. Through the newsletters I have an insight into an aspect of life which I wouldn’t otherwise come across. This is both informative and thought-provoking ~ often helping to give me a sense of perspective.

Another gain for Project Mala sponsors is an altruistic feeling of doing something useful ~ helping a child and his/her family who have not been fortunate enough to have the opportunities which I have. Also helping Project Mala itself; when you read about the work and achievements of this small but highly effective charity you can’t help but want to be a small part of what they do.


Personally I have also gained the experience of writing this blog ~ teaching myself how to do it and trying to find the time to do it has been far more challenging than I expected. But I have persevered in the hope that it may encourage other people to sponsor a child with Project Mala.


I am so pleased I came across Project Mala and became a child sponsor a year ago. Throughout the year I have been impressed with how I have been treated as a sponsor and amazed with the life-changing achievements the project makes with a small amount of money.


If you are considering supporting the work of Project Mala, either as a sponsor or as a one-off donation, and have any questions you would like to ask me about my personal experience of Project Mala please get in touch.