Bonga Town Child Sponsorship Program and Bonga Housing Project (DOB)
Bonga, Ethiopia
Co-ordinated by Sandi: sandi@worldfamilies.org.au
Individual Child Sponsorship
This sponsorship program began over 20 years ago, providing support to children identified as being at risk of not attending or completing school, hunger and malnutrition, homelessness, illness or disability, or social challenges.
About 100 kids are currently sponsored through this project, although numbers fluctuate as some age out or leave Bonga and new children at risk of malnutrition and illiteracy are identified as needing support. A portion of the child sponsorship goes directly to the child/family toward improving food security and educational support, with the remaining portion being used for community needs and development. This includes assistance to the vulnerable in the community such as those who are sick or elderly.
Over the past 20 years we have seen really positive changes in the level of education the children are achieving. In the early days many children were either not attending school or dropping out in early primary school. Now the vast majority complete primary school, and most complete grade 10. The number of young people going on to university, college or vocational education has steadily increased.
Bonga Housing and Clean Water Projects
The sponsorship program sits alongside other WFA programs in Bonga, such as projects providing funding for Inpatient care and equipment to the local hospital, medical outreach projects and preventative health screening at a local school, teacher training in Braille and provision of Braille paper and books for blind students, assisting the local school with a library, latrines and a sports oval, and building houses and funding clean water projects.
