How do you interest someone in becoming a sponsor for a child in your program?
How do you make your program more interesting to this potential sponsor than the tens of hundreds of other child-sponsor programs? How do you convince someone that the needs of your kids are great enough to warrant their attention, and their money?
The usual routines, which I’ve seen used, are to take photos of children when they’re looking especially woebegone, poverty-stricken, or sad. And offer those children up to be sponsored. You describe the economic climate of the area you’re serving, focusing on how desperate and without resources it is.
You emphasize how poor, and how without all-the-things-that-children-merit your kids are. You emphasize how important your project is to the future of these children.
I didn’t think about any of these things as I wrote my letter to my friends and family asking them to donate or become a sponsor. I just wrote about how hard life is for some families here in San Pedro La Laguna, especially for single mothers, or women who’ve taken in the child of another family member (daughter, sister, brother). And how appreciative the moms are for the relatively small basket of food we give them every six weeks; how excited the kids are to have new pants, shirts and shoes for Feria. I wrote about our classes to teach the children to draw and paint, encouraging their imaginations and creativity while increasing their self-esteem, as well as future potential earning-power in this town known for its artists.
I talked about the life these kids lead—helping their mom carry wash to and from the lake, where the family bathes; carrying firewood from the mountains to feed the cooking fire; living in one room with several family members. Very few kids in this pueblo use outhouses or fetch water from a community tap, as occurs in the nearby pueblo of my other project. But toilets can be makeshift structures behind a curtain off the kitchen or patio; water in the tap is cold and not really clean. There’s mold on the walls of the rooms in the rainy season, and leaks in the roof. (Heck, I have those in my rented house!)
I wrote about the things that touch my heart. And I took photos of the kids that delighted me: Romeo hunched over his drawing board seated on top of a rock by the lake; three girls sitting in a boat while they painted; a boy in rapt attention while our director showed him a drawing technique.
I love these kids. They are as bright and sweet and sometimes sad, or as pesky as any kids anywhere, and they deserve an outing at times, a refreshment, a chance to stretch their wings. They deserve to learn and be appreciated.
I hope that love comes across.
I hope it’s enough.
Mira Talbot-Pope is currently volunteering with Ayudame a Pintar Mi Futuro. For more on her adventures, check out her blog. For a different take on the ethics of poverty marketing, read “Photo Project Puts Poverty Into Perspective.“
Latest posts by mirapope
- When it Comes to Fundraising, Be Persistent - July 13th, 2010
- Be the Change You Want to See - December 11th, 2009
- Farming Practices — Changes are Coming! - November 24th, 2009
- Environmental Crisis, Community Opportunity - November 10th, 2009
- Culture of the Shaman - October 23rd, 2009
- Finding a Volunteer Situation that Fits - September 24th, 2009
- Money, Money, Money - September 3rd, 2009
- Adjustment - August 26th, 2009
- Projects and More Projects - August 11th, 2009
- Living at Lago Atitlan - August 7th, 2009
