Nicaragua Sponsor a Student

What is Sponsor a Student about?
This program is a way you can make a difference in the world by supporting a small private school in Nicaragua. This school charter is to help children of poor families who cannot afford the minimal costs of their local public school. Your financial support helps to pay teachersı salaries, provide for studentsı books and supplies, and provide for a school lunch program.

Why Nicaragua?
Millions of Nicaraguans face circumstances and challenges of everyday life where the average income per person is only $485 a year - an amount few families can live on leaving a deficit for many families to provide the most basic human services such as education, health care and sanitation for their family. A quarter of the population over the age of 6 has not completed the first grade and more than 50% of children that do attend school drop out before the fifth grade - often because they cannot afford basic school supplies or because they must work to help support their family. Those that make it to class go to schools that do not have enough desks so children must sit on the floor, or there are not enough text books so children crowd around one or use none at all. All of these factors make it difficult to combat the country's nearly 40% illiteracy rate.

Who operates the school?
There is a partnership involving the American Friendship Foundation, a small church in rural Nicaragua and many people in the greater Seattle area. Together they have developed and operate the school.

A local School Board runs the school and makes all decisions involving the school. The school complies with the rules, regulations and approved curriculum of Nicaragua Department of Education.

What specific benefits will the student receive?
The student you sponsor will receive opportunities and services that most of the world's poorest children will simply never see. These opportunities and services include the following:

Education: Your donation is paying for the teachers' salaries, school supplies, books, and school operational expenses. It may also involve additional tutoring for your student if necessary. In many cases your student sponsorship will allow the student to stay in school instead of being required to work or care for their younger siblings.

Health: The basic health of the child you sponsor will be monitored by the teachers and by visiting health care professionals. Children are taught about hygiene and how to maintain personal health. In addition, students will receive lunch at school which for some is their only real meal that day.

Community: As a separate but related program the school facility will be used to provide evening classes for the parents of your student and other adults in the community to learn new job skills. (If you are interest in finding out more about this program please contact us.)

Will I be the only person sponsoring the student I am helping?
Yes. The student you are helping has just one sponsor: you. Your letters and encouragement in their studies will be meaningful to your sponsored student.

How much does it cost to sponsor a student?
If you choose to sponsor a student the cost is only $24 per month (other payment options are $72/quarter or $288/year.) You can pay monthly, quarterly or annually in advance. We will do our best to remind you if you miss a payment. Please send support checks to:
AFF Sponsor-a-Student; P.O. Box 611, Bothell, WA 98041

In the future, we will offer ACH Bank withdrawal/transfers and on-line credit card payment options. Please do not send cash. If you do your banking on-line, you can set up an auto payment to AFF for the support of your student.

Are the students charged a fee to attend the school?
The School Board had an extensive discussion about this subject and decided to charge a nominal amount for a student to attend the school. This was done so that the families were not accepting charity but were paying to send their child to this private school. The parents of the students know that the cost to run the school is much more than they pay, and they know American Sponsors are also financially supporting the operations of the school. Their payment gives them ownership and pride that this is their school.

For the families that can not afford this small amount we provide opportunities for parents to work at the school in exchange for their child attending classes. For those families that require their children to work, to help support their families, we have implemented a ³work/study² program so that the student can go to school and work after school to provide income to the family.

What will I receive as a sponsor?
You should have already received a photo and some basic information about the student. Within the first few months, you should receive a letter directly from your sponsored student introducing themselves and their family. Annual "report cards" on your sponsored studentıs well-being and education. The satisfaction of knowing that this student will receive an education. The knowledge that you doing your part to help these children and their families escape the cycle of illiteracy and poverty.

How long should my student sponsorship last?
We hope that you will be able to continue in your support of your sponsored student until he or she completes the eighth grade; however, we recognize that sponsors' circumstances sometimes change. You may discontinue your sponsorship at any time.

What happens if I must discontinue my student sponsorship?
If you discontinue your student sponsorship, we will look for a new sponsor for your student, because your support dollars go to support the school, the student will continue to go to school.

What happens if the Student does not continue to attend the school?
Your sponsored student's circumstances may change. For example, sometimes families move out of the area or for other reasons the children have to leave AFF student sponsorship, or the student may not continue with the program. Whatever the reason, we will inform you as quickly as possible if any such circumstance affects the student you sponsor, and we will offer you the opportunity to support another student in need of your help.

How do I write to my sponsored student?
AFF is establishing a reliable mailing address for the school. For the time being if you want to communicate with your student please send your letter to the address listed below; we will forward it on to the school. AFF Sponsor-a-Student; P.O. Box 611, Bothell, WA 98041

We encourage you to send your sponsored student a family photograph and a short letter. Letters you send will usually reach your student within a few weeks. AFF will have your letters translated and then give your letter and the translation to your student. Please print clearly, do not use slang or phrases that the translators may not understand.

Please be sensitive to the poverty of your student. Therefore, do not encourage your student to visit you, or ask them what type of gift they might like, and please do not send money directly to your sponsored student.

Will my student write to me?
Your student will write to you at least two times a year. A teacher or staff person will help children who have yet to learn how to read and write. Letter writing is developmental for children as it improves their basic literacy, self-awareness and ability to put thoughts and feelings into words.

Letters sent to you from your student may take a little longer to get to you. The teachers and project workers will work with the student to write letters to their sponsors. Students who are young or slow in developing writing skills will require help of a staff member or an older student. The student's letters will be translated, and the original and the translation will both be sent to you. Communication between you and your sponsored student may require some patience. If you do not receive a reply from your student within approximately four months after you have written, please let us know and we will follow up for you.

May I send gifts to my student?
Yes. It is not necessary but Sponsors may give additional monetary gifts for their sponsored children for a special occasion such as their birthday and Christmas. Send monetary gift to AFF with a note describing which student and what the gift is for. Local project workers or teachers will purchase gifts on your behalf and make certain that these funds are used appropriately.

We ask that sponsors keep these contributions between $10 and $20 and limit their gift giving to twice a year. We may acquire a student uniform, new shoes or a new book for the student and present it to them, noting that it is from you. However, if you choose to send more than $20 we will be glad to accept this gift if we can apply it to a general ³gift fund² to be used for students who are not sponsored. Please send check to the AFF address where you send your support check, please do not send any funds internationally.

What about visiting the school and my sponsored student?
Meeting your sponsored student face-to-face can be a positive event for both of you. And if you ever wish to do so visit your student, we're here to help you. There are teams traveling to the school to participate in community development and school building projects. Sponsors may have an opportunity to join one of these trips. Please contact AFF to inquire about these opportunities.

Visiting your sponsored student may not be a simple matter, and we ask that you contact AFF at least two months in advance. However, we encourage you to consider taking a trip that is not about you sitting by a pool at a sanitized resort (not that that is a bad thing.) We want you to get out of your comfort zone, to meet new people from a different culture, to see how they live, how they care for their children, take time to sit down with them, hear their story, find out how different their lives are, and find out how much you have in common.

Giving money to support these project is great and might change your life, but going to see the school you funded, meeting the student you sponsor, drinking from a well you paid for: that will definitely change your life with new Friendships, new Purpose and new Hope.

Email us at thenextstep@affhope.org to find out how you can get involved.