Frequently Asked Sponsorship Questions

We are very careful when choosing children for our sponsorship scheme. It is not a quick or easy process as we have to make sure that we select those children who want to be helped and are willing to abide by the program's rules, i.e. that they must not be taking drugs.

The process begins with our Regional Director who makes contact with the children on the streets, and starts to build a relationship with them from there. This is a gradual process and one that is done by sitting down and sharing meals with the children on the street over the course of a number of weeks. Once we have an idea of the child's character from the Regional Director's observations, we go on to do a fully comprehensive interview which enables us to understand their background and future desires. If they pass this interview stage, we then put their profile up on our website to find a sponsor for them.

After finding the child a sponsor, our Regional Director goes to their relatives and local councillor to get legal permission to take the child off the streets and into our care. If we receive this permission we can then confirm the sponsorship and take the child off the streets.

Before they take up their places at boarding school full-time, each child must go through an assimilation period to help them to adjust to life within a home and school environment again. This period is spent living with the Regional Director who ensures that they receive care and counselling whilst they take their first steps back into the education system as they start to attend day school. The length of time taken for each child to adjust during this period will vary depending on the individual and how long they have spent on the street. When we are satisfied the child has adjusted properly we will then put them into boarding school, allowing them to concentrate all of their efforts on their studies. As the child gradually becomes more settled we will then look to place them with caring relatives or loving foster families for the holidays, with part of their sponsorship fees helping to meet their welfare costs.

At S.A.L.V.E. International we want to make a long-term, sustainable commitment to these children's lives, so we are not willing to take on too many children at once. We want to make sure that each child receives the individual support they need to help them to adjust to their new life off the street. We also want to ensure that we are selecting children for the program who are committed to turning their lives around. In becoming a sponsor, you are making a huge monetary sacrifice and we want to make sure that your donations are not wasted and that they will always go to where they are most useful and appreciated.

S.A.L.V.E. International aims to give the children we work with as much help as possible to turn their lives around. At boarding school a child is better able to concentrate and receives much more attention from their teachers, which is especially important when a child has been left out of the education system and is still struggling to catch up.

Sponsoring a child is a big commitment so we would like you to think very carefully before deciding to do so. The most important thing when taking on a child's sponsorship is to be financially stable, as this is a long-term commitment for the future. We also hope that over the years a strong relationship can be built between all of our children and their sponsors. To aid this, we ask you to write three letters a year, especially special occasions such as birthdays and Christmas; this must be something that you are willing to commit to also. But these are small things to do when you consider the enormity of how far your support will go. Your help will completely change a child's life, giving them a hope for the future that they just don't have at the moment. If you are ready for the challenge, sponsoring a child is truly an amazing thing to do.

As a sponsor we expect you to be fully committed to the child you take on.

This means that we expect you to make your payments on time, based on the payment plan you agree with the charity. Currently there are two payment options; either you pay one lump sum a year, or you make payments three times a year (1st January, 1st May, and 1st September). If you delay in these payments, you are stopping your child from returning to school.

We also expect you to write to your sponsored child three times a year, especially at Christmas time and around the time of their birthday. It is also acceptable for you to send them a small gift on these occasions; however we discourage gifts at other times of the year in order to stop the child from becoming spoilt or arousing jealousy in others.

Your sponsored child will be so excited to receive any letter you send to them. You can write to them about anything you want, but a good starting point might be to tell them about your home-life, work, and family. Remember, you come from a different country and background from them, so it will be interesting for them to learn all about it. Send them pictures of you and your family which they can keep as they will very proudly show them around to their class-mates. But the most important thing is to let them know that someone out there cares for them and wants them to do well. It doesn't have to be a long letter; just something to let them know that you are thinking of them.

Once you have decided to sponsor a child, you will receive a welcome pack as you enter the S.A.L.V.E. scheme. As a sponsor you will receive three letters a year from your child, together with their school report at the end of each school term, and a photo once a year so you can see how they are progressing and growing up. The charity itself will also send out three e-mail newsletters per year to let you know how S.A.L.V.E. is doing and where our efforts and plans are currently focused.

We have done a comprehensive cost breakdown so that you can see exactly where your money goes. Currently, sponsorship costs are just £35 per month for primary education and £40 per month for secondary education. This is to be paid either yearly or three times a year (1st January, 1st May and 1st September). As you can see, this really isn't a lot of money to sacrifice to completely turn a child's life around. Sponsoring a child means that you may have to give up a round of drinks at the pub each week; surely this is not much to ask to give a young child their life back.

Primary Education: This works out as being three instalments of just £140 a year. Or to look at it another way, that's just £35 a month, £8.75 a week, or £1.25 a day.

Secondary Education: This works out as being three instalments of just £160 a year. Or to look at it another way, that's just £40 a month, £10 per week, or £1.43 a day.

There is also an initial start-up fee of £80 in addition to the money for sponsorship. This helps to cover some of the costs of initially getting the child off the street, and goes towards buying them the bigger one-off items that are needed for their new lives at school.

Please note: If there are any unexpected extra costs whilst you are sponsoring your child - such as medical bills - they will always be covered by our emergency fund which is provided through additional fundraising.

Yes that would be absolutely fine. Our main hope is that the child can build a relationship with you because it is important for them to realise that there are people out there who love and care for them and want them to succeed in life. The number of sponsors is not important as long as everyone involved realises the commitment they must show to the child.

We are not able to set an age limit on the sponsorship, as most of these children will be starting school at a later stage than they should be, and thus will be finishing at a later stage too. Whatever their age, we would like to see all of the children in our program finish their O-Levels in Senior 4. Following this, we would then like them to go on to complete either A-levels or vocational training depending on their chosen career path. After that, if you would like to continue to sponsor your child on to university or further education you are more than welcome to, and we will be happy to help you with any questions about this. However, sponsoring your child past senior school level is in no way expected.

We want to see all children in our program taken up to the equivalent of A-levels. Throughout their time at secondary school we will provide all S.A.L.V.E. children with career guidance that will enable us to assess how they should continue their education after their O-Levels. If we feel that a child is more suited to academics they will continue on to do their A-Levels. However, if a child is of a more practical nature, we would prefer them to move on to a vocational qualification; something that will enable them to gain employment once they have left the education system for good. Our main aim is to see these children become happy, self-sustaining adults who will be able to take care of themselves and of those around them as they move towards their brightened futures.

Yes, of course you can! If you would like to come and meet your child in person and to see the work that S.A.L.V.E. is doing in Uganda then we would certainly be able to accommodate this. There are lots of hotels in Jinja where you would be able to stay whilst you are visiting, and your child would undoubtedly enjoy being able to meet their sponsor at long last! However, this is in no way a requirement of the program, and whether you come and visit or not is entirely your decision. The most important thing in sponsoring a child is that you maintain contact with them three times a year; this is what shows them that you care about them.

We appreciate that there may be certain circumstances that affect you being able to sponsor your child. If this is the case and you are no longer able to keep up with your payments then we understand. All we ask is that you give us as much warning as possible so that we can try to find a replacement sponsor for your child. If you stop your sponsorship suddenly then it is more difficult for us to find a new sponsor and your child may not be able to continue at school. Whilst we have an emergency fund that can cover the child's costs in the short-term, this is not large enough to support a child for a prolonged period of time. Thus, the more notice we get if you wish to terminate your sponsorship the better.

We have an in-country employee, Mike Asiya, who runs things on the ground for us and liaises with the children, schools, relatives and foster families. As a trained counsellor and with experience of working with many international NGOs, Mike is well-equipped to cope with any problems that may arise with the children in Uganda. Close contact is always kept between Mike in Uganda and the trustees in Britain, ensuring that problems are solved together and things still run smoothly even when this occurs.

Secondary school is more expensive than primary school so the cost of sponsorship does go up when your child moves from one to the other. If you feel this may be a problem in the future, please consider sharing the responsibility of sponsorship with you friends or family. If this is not possible, then we are more than happy for you to contact us and we will try to find your child a second sponsor to share the costs with you.

Although it is possible to find each child a family who is happy to love and care for them in their own homes, it is not possible for our foster families to meet the child's costs themselves. Uganda is a poor country with large families, but there is a generosity of spirit amongst its people to help those who are in need. However, what stops most people from doing this is a simple lack of funds. Foster families are only able to take on the commitment of a child if reasonable welfare costs are provided for them. Thus, S.A.L.V.E. International includes holiday welfare costs in its sponsorship fees, making fostering a possibility for those families who have always wanted to help but have never had the means to do so.

In the unlikely event that a child decides to leave the sponsorship program, it is the job of our Regional Director to sit down and seriously discuss the matter with them, in order to ensure that they understand the implications of their actions. It is S.A.L.V.E. International's policy that once a child has left the scheme they will not be allowed back onto it, thus their decision will have far-reaching consequences. If the child does ultimately decide to leave the program, their sponsor(s) will be immediately informed and they will be asked whether they would like to support another child or to stop payments altogether. It is highly doubtful that such an event will ever occur in reality, but if a child does feel that it is the right thing for them to do, we can not stop them from leaving.

There are many reasons why extra fundraising is essential for S.A.L.V.E. International. Firstly, we are not just a child sponsorship scheme, as by ploughing funds into the school we send our sponsored children to, we hope to benefit a whole community of children by improving educational facilities for all.

But there are also other reasons why we need your help. Extra funds are desperately needed if we are to keep S.A.L.V.E. International fully operational. Although we offer a comprehensive sponsorship scheme that can take a child from street to school, there are many other hidden costs that the sponsorship program doesn't cover. For example, funds are currently needed to help set up a contingency fund. This will be used in case of emergencies, such as a child suddenly becoming extremely ill; with this in place we would immediately be able to provide the required medical support for them. There are also costs involved in the interview and relationship-building process with the children, as before taking a child onto the S.A.L.V.E. program we need to gain their trust. This is a gradual process and one that is done by sitting down and sharing meals with the children on the street, something that of course requires funds. Even when we have selected the children for the program, there are further costs involved. For example, every child must go through an assimilation period before they are taken into school, a time when S.A.L.V.E. must fund food and housing costs with only the partial aid of a sponsor. And finally, we also need to cover ongoing administrative costs such as the web site and our in-country staff's wage.

As you can see, running a charity can be a difficult business, and it is impossible for our sponsorship costs to cover everything. Any fundraising that you can do to help us would always be gratefully received. S.A.L.V.E. International wants to change the lives of hundreds of children living on the streets of Uganda, but we can not do this without your help. Please get involved and make our dreams of making an education for all possible.

Fantastic, you want to become a sponsor!

Firstly, we ask you to read the profiles of our children in our Sponsor a Child section. If you think you would like to sponsor one of these children please get in touch with us, as we will start the sponsorship process from there. Once the decision is made about which child you would like to sponsor, we will obtain legal permission from the child's relatives and local councillor for us to take the child into our care. Only once this has been done can we then confirm your status as sponsor. Finally, when everything is in place, we will then be able to take the child off the streets and into our program.

If you are interested in becoming a sponsor but all of the children profiled on our website are currently being supported, then please still get in touch. We are always in the process of finding and interviewing more children for the S.A.L.V.E. scheme so if you register your interest with us, we will make sure that we get back to you as soon as we can to let you know about new children we hope to include in the program.