Ramadan might be over, but you can still take a look beyond your immediate community and make your charitable efforts go further. Kelly Crane learns how you can help children in dire situations around the world.
War didn’t kill her but water might. That’s the slogan for the latest UNICEF sponsorship campaign to help children in troubled Syria.
The hope? Kind people from around the world who live comfortable lives and can afford to help those who don’t. If you want to keep the charitable, giving spirit of Ramadan alive, why not give a little further afield this year and help children in more than desperate situations outside of the UAE, both in the surrounding region and further flung locations.
According to research from the University of San Francisco, more than nine million children around the world are sponsored by donors, a system which improves their lives considerably. Approximately Dhs11.2 billion was transferred from the rich world to the poor through sponsorship of children in 2012. Sponsored children are likely to stay in school longer, be more likely to have white-collar jobs and more likely to be leaders in their communities in countries including Bolivia, Guatemala, India, Kenya and Uganda. We’ve rounded up five schemes which allow child sponsorship.
Unicef: Syria crisis
More than 1.6 million people are reported to have fled violence in Syria, half of them children – and every day thousands more pour over the border. These children have experienced fear and abuse and though they have survived the war so far, the battle ahead is even harder. Unicef is working round the clock to provide clean water, food, medical care and warm clothing. Just Dhs28 can feed a family of seven for a week.
Unicef.org.uk/syria
Muslim Hands: Help in Mali
As the humanitarian situation in Mali continues to deteriorate, thousands of ordinary Malians have lost their homes and livelihoods. Muslim Hands works to help those affected, launching an urgent appeal for funds. More than 20,000 people have fled Mali to escape the conflict which has, in turn, increased the refugee count in Niger, Mauritania and Burkina Faso to 53,000. MH Mali works relentlessly on the ground to distribute food, mosquito nets and blankets to internally displaced Malian children. Muslimhands.org.uk
Save the Children: Latin America
Latin America and the Caribbean cover an area of approximately 7,880,000 square miles, comprising almost four percent of the Earth’s surface. In 2009 its population was estimated at more than 568 million and remains one of the most diverse in the world. With this comes inequality and poverty: nearly 25 percent of the population live on less than Dhs7 a day. Undernourishment affects 47 percent of Haitians, 27 percent of Nicaraguans, 23 percent of Bolivians and 22 percent of Hondurans and children are hit the hardest. Save the Children offers a sponsorship programme to help those who have nowhere else to turn.
Savethechildren.org
World Vision: Sudan
World Vision has now resumed limited operations in South Darfur, Sudan, after two workers were killed by an errant grenade during violent clashes near Nyala, the state capital. The agency run Internally Displaced People (IDP) camps to help with food and water distribution and health services and critical, life-saving services for children. World Vision’s work in Darfur benefits 1.5 million people each year.
Wvi.org/sudan
Thai Children’s Trust
Thailand is not a poor country, but millions of youngsters live in dire poverty. Girls are tempted or sometimes forced into unsavoury business in Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya and the country ranks 17th in the world ‘league table’ of HIV infections. Your donation would benefit children of the Baan Tharn Namchai Orphanage, which houses kids displaced by the South Asian tsunami of 2004. Some are orphaned, some have one parent who can’t care for them. The orphanage provides a safehome and a secure future. Dhs101 a month gives them all they need. Thaichildrenstrust.org.uk
