Sponsor kids with your pocket money
By Amy Fong

People in our society may often think they are leading a dull life, shopping in the same places, eating the same food, and meeting the same people. They also tend to complain about not having enough money. Is life really that hard and unbearable?

"I normally spend around MOP40 each school day for transportation, lunch and snacks," said Maria Wong, a Year 2 student of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities (FSH). "I will spend more than that when I go out with friends at weekends."

MOP40 could mean differently to various income groups in Macao. But it is more than a five-day earning for many families living in impoverished areas, for whom some of the things we consider basic necessities, like safe drinking water and nutritious food are not readily available.

Nowadays, one in every four children grows up in absolute poverty with families earning less than MOP9 a day, according to a brochure of the World Vision, an international Christian relief and development organization, which supports the children sponsorship programme to improve the livelihood of children, whose families and communities are still in the Third World.

Poor living conditions threaten the lives of millions of children everyday. About 150 million children in today's world are malnourished and a large number of them under the age of five die from diarrhea from drinking contaminated water or poor sanitation every year.

For children in these regions, an opportunity to education remains the first step to get out of destitution. Many charity and religious organizations in Macao are running programmes to sponsor children in poor areas for schooling.

Many students in the University of Macao (Umac) are active participants of these programmes. Lao Wing Ling, a Year 3 student of the Faculty of Business Administration (FBA), said, "I just sacrifice a few dollars a day for around MOP210 per month. With this amount, you can change a child's life. I joined the World Vision's programme to become a sponsor of a child from Guangxi Province in China."

Lao said that she is not the only one to do so. Many of her friends also have joined similar sponsoring schemes with different organizations, such as Caritas and Oxfam.

Lao said that correspondence is encouraged between sponsors and the sponsored children. However, her address as a sponsor is not revealed to the child as the World Vision plays the role of a middleman to deliver letters.

Usually, it may take two to three months for letters to arrive. Lao has sponsored the boy for one year, but only received three or four letters from him. "I love writing to him and it was very exciting when I got his first letter," Lao recalled.

Chu Sio Fong, a Year 4 student of FSH, also joined the sponsoring programme of World Vision this summer. She said that her family has influenced her to do so as her mother loves children very much.

According to Chu, her family sponsored a 10-year-old Indian boy two years ago through the World Vision. Now, two years later, she is so happy to have her own "boy" as she can afford the MOP210 monthly payment. She preferred to sponsor a child from her own country--China--rather than from other countries.

Chan Ka Sin, a Year 4 student of FBA joined the same sponsoring programme with Chu this summer. She said that she would have joined it earlier, but money was a factor which had postponed her decision. Now, she has found a solution to share the monthly payment with one of her classmates. They take turns to pay the monthly credit payment.

Some students participate in sponsorship programmes for children in poor communities through informal channels.

"I shared the donation fee of MOP200 per year with one of my classmates to help an 11-year-old boy in China to go to school," said Lee Keng Si, a Year 4 student of FSH who joined a voluntary group in China.

She added that the voluntary group is organized by a private philanthropist in Dongguan who always sends letters to inform them how projects are going and what activities are being organized. For example, there is an annual tour to visit children in rural areas and make contacts with new members.

Besides sponsoring children in China or other impoverished countries, Caritas de Macao, a social service organization, also offers a sponsorship scheme for local children during the economic downturn period.

The sponsorship is classified into the categories of the "General Local Child Sponsorship" and "Sponsorship with Allocation of Child".

Donation from the former category is contributed to subsidies of poor families while donation from the latter category will be delivered in full amount to families of sponsored children.

To protect sponsored children in Macao, sponsors cannot request the family of a sponsored child for anything in return and unsealed correspondence will only be allowed after a sponsor has joined the scheme for six months.@