Sponsoring...giving a chance |
Dear potential sponsor,
Street children are a special group, and require special care for recovering from their previous life, and for getting into and through school. They are very motivated to learn, just needing the opportunity. There are unique details you should understand below. Thank you for considering helping them.
Warm regards,
Putu Etiartini, Founder YKPA
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OVERVIEW
SPONSORING SITUATIONS IN BALI
Children still begging
YKPA primary school children
YKPA secondary school children
Children already sponsored for school (not through YKPA)
Possible problems and considerations
COSTS TO SPONSOR A CHILD: SCHOOL AND LIVING EXPENSES
MONITORING THE CHILDS SCHOOL EXPERIENCE
COMMUNICATING WITH 'YOUR' CHILD
HOW TO START SPONSORING
OVERVIEW |
Children's challenges:
Bali street children normally have little or no previous schooling, though they universally want an education, and when given the opportunity, advance quickly.
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Their education level is much lower than other children's level in school, so they are too embarrassed to be the oldest and 'dumbest' child in a class. Children can not go to school without fees, uniforms, and being clean; not possible for children who must also beg in the street when not in class. Street children lack support for clean uniforms, nutrition, and encouragment to complete homework. Most of their parents refuse them going to school, as income from them is judged more important. Their parents frequently are illiterate. Many orphanages in Bali do not want 'street' kids, as they are judged to be 'bad' kids
SPONSORING SITUATIONS IN BALI (street children)
 Children still begging
A large number of children are still begging in the streets, some of which are reached by our Beach School Project. These children are still under the control of abusive adults who will not let them go to school or live in a safe environment.
YKPA group-home primary school children
These children are living in the YKPA Shelter or Group Home and most, but not all need little help with school costs. The greater need is help with basic living expenses
YKPA only accepts sponsoring donations for children who have a stable enough life situation for successful schooling (such as Group Home residents and children with parents who agree to a normal-enough school-life for their child), because of the problems listed in the Already Sponsored section below.
Special classes: YKPA has a collaborative project with the Denpasar Department of Education which offers all YKPA children fee-free schooling for a class in the afternoon. Currently a donor to YKPA pays for the cost of the teacher for the 3 days/week and 2 hour focused small group classes. That same teacher comes to the YKPA home two more afternoons/week, making 5 days/week total ($115 USD/mo for ALL children together). The children can 'test up' to the next grade level when ready.
Normal school class: Several children attend 'normal' school classes in the morning. These classes require the usual school fees; more that the children in the special classes mentioned above.
SUMMARY: For most of our primary school children, the actual cost of school attendance is low, but we need help meeting the living expenses (food, cooking, and operational costs for the organization) that provide the foundation for success in school. However, not all children have the same expenses. Some are higher.
YKPA secondary school children
Next school year, we will have children attending secondary school, and they will require sponsoring for extra tuition as well as living expenses. We welcome your help for setting up dedicated bank accounts for these childrens expenses. Please contact us about these pending expenses.
Children already sponsored for school (not through YKPA)
Many foreign visitors give donations to a parent or a teacher for a child to attend school. Some are successful, others not. Caring foreigners have given (sometimes large) donations for children but very frequently the child isnt successful getting to school or continuing in school because of some of the issues discussed below.
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Possible problems and considerations
1. Parents/caretakers in serious poverty have many needs, and some may be more pressing than their child going to school, especially if the parent has not attended school or doesnt know the value of education (this happens frequently)
2. The school may not meet the childs needs, may be too far away, a teacher may hit the child, yell too much, the child may be too old for normal school; the child has inadequate parent support for getting ready for school each morning with uniforms (and washed uniforms), books, and pencils; getting homework done, and a myriad of other possible and frequently occuring problems
3. Because of the lack of organizations helping street kids in Bali, no good system is in place for the donation to get to the school or school-related expenses. Donors try to find trusted individuals to manage funds, and frequently choose teachers to handle sponsorship donations. The teachers are very underpaid, many have low morale or low interest in the work and usually have a second job. It is questionable how successfully managed the funds are.
4. Some children may get to school, but parents make them begging in the streets afterwards, at night,and frequently into the early morning hours. Police catch and abuse the children, homework doesnt get done, etc, etc.
5. Contact with the teachers and school is needed occassionally to check how the child is doing, what special attention may be needed, and if outside tutoring is needed. The normal Indonesian government elementary school has a limited curriculum, and school days are only for a few hours, so even children with parents fully supporting them do not get a good education. If the child is challenged by having parents who cannot provide good support and if education is not a priority to them, the child may need extra help outside school with tutoring. Group tutoring is inexpensive.
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COSTS TO SPONSOR A CHILD: SCHOOL AND LIVING EXPENSES
YKPA's total school and living expenses are approximately $100 USD/child/mo ($120 AUD day). This is pieced together from many small donations and sales of printed copies of the children's artwork. This amount insures the kids have nutrition, health care, good hygiene, and other normal opportunities, and covers the very low costs for staff and volunteers to make sure the child attends and learns. This amount is similar to other comprehensive programs like ours.
School costs are $20 USD/ child / month. This includes, teacher salary, books, backpack, socks, shoes, pens, etc.
Food costs $50/child/mo.
Other classes & activities expenses are $30 USD/child/mo.
We appreciate greatly any contribution you can give towards these costs.
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MONITORING THE CHILDS SCHOOL EXPERIENCE
Donors can expect that :
* Sponsored children attend school, with transportation help if needed
* Children have the tools they need to learn
* Children have a caring adult at home who supports learning and completing homework
* Frequent checks are make with the teacher about the childs progress
* The children are kept safe from abuse and violence at school, during travel and at home
* Periodically, update reports on the child are sent
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COMMUNICATING WITH YOUR SPONSORED CHILD / CHILDREN
One of our goals, is that the residential children can receive and send emails from donors. And, there are many tasks to accomplish for this to occur.
There must exist: A working computer, someone skilled in maintaining it, internet connectivity and funds to pay for it, children with enough computer contact to not be afraid, a patient person to work with children to compose an email message...then translate it into English...then have a child enter it on the keyboard.
These are many steps, and there are many important things to do for the children and organization, however, it is our goal and it has happened already.
Realistically, organization staff will give a twice-monthly report on the childs status by email and include photos. Donors are encouraged to visit the orphanage frequently to share in the childs life.
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HOW TO START SPONSORING
We consider you a sponsor if you contribute any amount towards the childs life and school expenses. If you can provide donations to cover a year, that is especially stress-reducing for us.
To start, you must choose from the following:
* Sponsor all, or part of their expenses? (see here for details above)
* Sponsor a specific child (some have higher expenses for school), or
* Sponsor all children together (your donation is applied for all children's needs)?
* Is a relationship with the child important for you or not?
* Do you want reports or not?
* Do you want photos or not?
Please send us an "I want to sponsor a child" email so we can begin the process: care4child@ykpa.org
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