How much does it cost?
You can make a huge difference to a child by donating
any amount from £15 a month, which works out at
approximately 50 pence a day. Your contribution helps
towards the basics for children so additional donations
would of course be very gratefully received.
How are my donations spent?
We believe that education is the key route out of the
cycle of poverty and a step towards a brighter future.
Without our intervention many of the children we support
would never go to school and those that do would be
unlikely to stay there. With your donations we provide
support and guidance to children by preparing them to
enter mainstream school and supporting them to remain
there, so they can reach their full potential. Whilst we
focus on education we also know that good health
improves a child’s chances of success and so we also
provide meals and healthcare initiatives too.
Your donations are pooled with contributions from
other sponsors to finance all our projects. Your
donations are used to make a difference to a greater
number of children and will ensure that all projects can
continue to benefit as many children as possible.
What do I receive when I sponsor a child?
- A profile of the child you are sponsoring within
the first month of joining the scheme.
- A photo of the child you are going to sponsor.
- Progress updates about the child you are
sponsoring. These are sent approximately every
4 or 6 months as our sponsors prefer.
- Provided you have given your consent you will
receive regular copies of our e newsletter with
updates about all our activities.
Can I correspond with my sponsored child?
We do not offer a correspondence scheme as part of
our Child Sponsorship Scheme. This decision was made to
help keep the scheme as simple as possible and to
protect the children from any pressure to reply to
correspondence or disappointment if they didn’t receive
anything. Sponsoring a child is a gift that will make a
real difference to not only children’s lives but their
families as well. We hope that sponsors will be happy to
know that they can visit the project which their
sponsored child attends and see the wonderful
environment there. Please see “Can I Visit My Sponsored
Child?” section below
Who are the children in the sponsorship programme?
All the children in the Child Sponsorship Programme
are supported by Mango Tree. The majority of our
children come with their families from outside Goa and
live in local slums or other deprived environments.
Their parents come to Goa hoping to improve their lives,
from the wealth that tourism brings, but unfortunately
their dreams are seldom realised. Most parents are
illiterate and do not speak the local language. Families
exist on the margins of society. Illiteracy, child
labour and early illegal marriage are common place.
Without our intervention many of the children we support
would never go to school and those that do would be
unlikely to stay there for any length of time.
How does Mango Tree select which children will be
sponsored?
All the children enrolled at Mango Tree projects are
from disadvantaged backgrounds. To allow us to continue
our work we need as many sponsors as possible. Our
partners on the ground in Goa work with the children
every day and will enrol children into the Child
Sponsorship Scheme. All parents are made aware of the
scheme and have consented to their children taking part.
Can I choose the child I sponsor?
You can choose whether you would like to sponsor a
girl or a boy. We support children of a wide range of
ages. However, if you would like to sponsor a child of a
particular age do let us know and we will see if it can
be arranged.
Is it possible that more than one person is
sponsoring the same child?
No. Each child in the scheme only has one sponsor.
Why don’t you show photos of the children in the
programme on your website?
As part of our Child Safety Policy (CSP) we do not
provide any information including photos relating to
sponsorship about individual children on our website.
When you sponsor a child, it is important that you read
and consent to our CSP to ensure the safety of the
children we support.
We do provide generic details and photos regarding
sponsorship on our website, but we do not give sponsors
permission to subsequently publish or distribute
information or photos of children in any form.
How does my sponsored child benefit from
sponsorship?
Your sponsored child will benefit from the continuing
programme of education, health and nutrition provided by
any of the Mango Tree projects . As children are from
disadvantaged backgrounds they lack many of the basic
social skills which would help them bridge the huge gap
from slum to school. We can overcome this by providing
pre-primary schools and then support parents to enrol
children into main stream school. Once children are in
main stream school as a result of the language
difficulty, lack of parental support and pressure to
work it can still be very difficult for children to
succeed. By providing meals and afer school classes we
can help children stay in school. We can also ensure
that children have a lot of fun too. Subject to
satisfactory attendance at school and their tuition
class we will continue to support children for as long
as they want to continue their education.
What does sponsorship mean to Mango Tree Goa?
Receiving a regular income allows us to be able to
plan and work towards the future by continuing our
purpose to improve the lives of disadvantaged children
in Goa.
How long do I have to sponsor?
We hope that your relationship with Mango Tree Goa
will continue for many years. Hopefully you will be able
to continue sponsorship until your sponsored child has
completed their education but we recognise that
circumstances can change however, and you may come out
of the scheme at any time. Regular donations are set up
by sponsors not the Charity so you can cease your
donation directly. If your sponsorship comes to an end
we will look for another sponsor for your sponsored
child
Aside from completion of education are there any
circumstances in which the sponsorship will come to an
end?
Unfortunately, on occasion children do leave projects
– their families may relocate and occasionally because
they do not wish to continue to attend school or attend
a project. In addition, the situation may arise where a
child does not wish to continue to be sponsored. If this
does happen we will inform you and ask whether you wish
to sponsor another child.
The protection of children is paramount and
consequently we take any breach of our policies
including our Child Safety Policy very seriously. In the
unfortunate event that such a breach occurs we will end
the sponsorship immediately.
Can I give a gift to my sponsored child?
All children should feel special so to ensure they
are treated equally, those sponsored and those who
unfortunately don’t have sponsors, we do not accept
individual gifts. All children’s birthdays are celebrated
and many other occasions are celebrated too. If you
would like to do something to mark a birthday and were
able to provide treats, however small, biscuits, cakes
or help towards an outing for the whole class, these
would be received with so much excitement and
appreciation by the children. However, no one should
feel it necessary to donate anything in addition to
their regular contribution. All the children
automatically receive a birthday gift, a gift at Christmas
and enjoy other treats throughout the year.
Can I visit my sponsored child?
If you are lucky enough to be able to come to Goa you
are welcome to visit any project to look around the
school and see the activities children are involved in.
Please get in touch prior to your visit. It can be such
a rewarding experience to meet and chat to your
sponsored child and see just how much difference your
contributions have made and will continue to make into
the future.
To ensure our Child Safety Policy is followed we can
only offer supervised visits to sponsored children on
the premises of the project they attend. We do need you
to contact us at least 14 days in advance so we are able
to set up the visit and make sure that it doesn’t
coincide with school holidays or festivals.
I have more questions. What should I do?
If you would like any further information about our
Child Sponsorship Scheme or any further information
about our projects please contact us at
info@mangotreegoa.org
I would like to sponsor – what do I need to do?
We would be delighted if you would like to sponsor a
child. Please get in touch by sending an email to
info@mangotreegoa.org. Let us know if you have a
preference to support a girl or a boy. We will then send
you a copy of our Child Safety Policy in relation to the
Child Sponsorship Scheme which we will ask you to read
and agree. The next step will be to set up your donation
and within a month we will provide you with details of
your sponsored child |