Indian Orphan Sponsorship Program

Please help talented needy orphans! They need you!

For only $30 per month....which is only $1 per day, you can make a big difference in the life of an orphan:

Your contribution will cover the basic needs of the child: food, clothing, and school fees, so your child is able to get education.....and above all, a childhood! Each month, 8 dollars of the sponsorship is set aside and is given at the end of the year to the guardian to have an income-generating activity (such as chickens, goats, a sewing machine, etc.). In return, you will receive regularly letters and photographs of your sponsored child. You are also welcome to write a letter to the child. When you travel to India, you can come and visit the child, as we have a guesthouse ("Sahaya illam guesthouse")in the village where you can stay, and you can visit our many other programs.

• To get more information on sponsoring some of the children that are in READ's target area, please contact us (e-mail Koen at kkvanrompay@ucdavis.edu), so we can e-mail you a list of children that are looking for sponsorships. Alternatively, we can select a needy child for you. For children in other parts of India or other countries of the world, please visit the website of our sister organization Alliance for Youth Achievement (www.allforyouth.org).

• If you want to understand better how many of these children currently live, please take a few minutes to look at the very touching audiovisual presentation (click here to see the slide-show) or the article (click here to see the article) by Francine Orr, staff photographer of the Los Angeles Times, who visited our programs in July 2006. Most of these photographs were taken in our villages and feature children, some of whom are still looking for sponsorship
  

• Don't hesitate......you too can make an enormous difference in the life of one of these children!

In January-February 2001, our secretary Dr. Koen Van Rompay spent several weeks in the rural villages of READ and Y-NEEW. He had amazing, but also shocking experiences when he realized the low level of HIV awareness.

Together with the help of his friends, he decided to embark on a mission to raise more HIV awareness in a number of these villages. To read his inspiring story, please go here.

In December 2001, Koen went back to the villages and together with the help of Mr. Selvam, secretary of READ, they did many more HIV awareness programs. Koen also focused special attention on the destigmatization of people and families that are affected by HIV, and to educate village leaders, and leaders of the women self-help groups on the importance of promoting acceptance and out-reach for these people.

One of the issues that Koen felt was very important to discuss are the AIDS orphans. In September 2001, Koen attended the 3rd Conference on Global Strategies in Uganda, Kampala, and had learnt a lot about the many issues surrounding AIDS orphans, and ways to secure their future. Therefore, Koen asked the village leaders to help us to identify families that may be affected by HIV so we can provide a future for the children. Our efforts were paying off, and a number of people came forward to alert us that some people in their villages may be HIV-infected or may have died.

An example is this photograph, which shows a 10-year old AIDS orphan, by the name of Jesuraj (which in Tamil means "King Jesus"). After his parents died a few years ago, all his relatives turned their back to him, except for his aunt (also on the picture) who decided to take care off him. All went well until a few months ago, when her husband fell sick and lost his job. Because the family wasn't able to find the resources for his food and education, they had to make the difficult decision to send him to a hostel school, which is unfortunately far away. Supposedly, Jesuraj is often very sad and homesick, and gets ill often. Often he doesn't have a good appetite, and supposedly he thinks that he is also going to die, just like his parents. But he is aware of the financial difficulties of his foster-parents, so he does his best to accept the situation. When I was in India in December, he was back with his foster-family for the Christmas holidays (his aunt couldn't really afford paying for the bus ticket for the long ride, but still wanted to have Jesuraj come home for the holidays). Because Jesuraj was also sick at that time, we sent him to a doctor, who confirmed my suspicion that the main problem is malnutrition; the boy is not infected with HIV. Thanks to the support of Sahaya, we are bringing the boy back to his foster-parents, and have him regain his health and strength. We are extending some support to the family to cope with their difficult situation, send the boy to school, and help the husband recover from his illness so that he can soon start working again. More children will follow. Although the need for help will become larger, my recent visit has augmented my energy and dedication even more, and I know that we are definitely going in the right direction!

Koen Van Rompay