SOTENI Sponsorship Program
Overview
Many AIDS orphans in Kenya are so destitute that their lives are at risk. The SOTENI Villages of Hope help more than 5,000 of those orphans and other vulnerable children. Cincinnati high school students created the Sponsorship Program in 2005 to support these orphans. Each Village of Hope identified its area’s neediest orphans.
The program now supports 36 orphans. Individuals, families and groups provide $500 for one year of support for an orphan. Each orphan is provided: school fees, tuition, uniforms and other clothing, health care, food and psychosocial support. The extended families and guardians of the orphans may also be assisted with the necessities for survival.
Sponsorship involves:
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Looking through pictures and stories of children who are available for sponsorship.
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Selecting a child.
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Sending your $500 to SOTENI International.
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Corresponding with your sponsored child.
During the year you will receive letters from your sponsored child, and you will get an update with a photo of your child from SOTENI at least once a year.
Sponsoring a child is simple!
For information, please contact Ms. Randie Marsh, SOTENI International Director, at randie@soteni.org or 513-961-2100 .
History
In January 2005, two SOTENI interns visited three Villages of Hope in rural Kenya and made a list of 30 of the neediest children in each area to be eligible for sponsorship. These children were selected based on living conditions, including the HIV/AIDS status of their parents, accessibility to food, and educational opportunities. Once the children were picked, student volunteers in the United States worked on raising money and matching each orphan to a sponsor. The program raised enough money for a full year of sponsorship for 36 children, from September 2005 through August 2006. The program continues to sponsor 36 children, but we’d love to expand it to many more orphans.
Future
SOTENI’s Sponsorship Program will work to:
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Provide material and social support on a yearly basis for the neediest orphans in SOTENI’s Villages of Hope;
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Build interdependent relationships between sponsors, orphans and others throughout the United States and Kenya ;
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And empower the sponsored children and others to lead the fight against HIV/AIDS throughout their communities.
