Your Sponsored Child

In addition to letters from your sponsored child, we will send you relevant updates about circumstances affecting your sponsored child and an annual letter from your child’s project. You'll have a better understanding of your sponsored child's culture and life. It's quite likely that your vision of God's kingdom will expand, and you may even decide to visit your child. 

The amount of time or days your sponsored child spends at their local child development centre will depend on the country and community they live in. A unique aspect of Compassion International's programmes is that they are run in partnership with local churches and implemented by people from the local community. Each church partner has the freedom to contextualise Compassion International's programmes in ways that meet the needs of their particular community, while still following Compassion International's general guidelines. We call this 'freedom within a framework.'

For example, in Kenya, six- to eight-year-old children attend the Compassion International child development centre for eight hours each Saturday. They are unable to come during the week as they are busy with school and chores. Additionally, because the distance many of them have to walk, it would be impractical for them to attend more frequently. In Bangladesh, this is different. Six- to eight-year-old children in Bangladesh visit the Compassion International centre six days a week, for five hours a day, from Monday through to Friday and eight hours on Saturday. Schools in Bangladesh don't generally start until 10:30am, so children go to the Compassion International child development centre before and after school. This is just one example of the variety of ways a Compassion International child development centre can contextualise its program to fit the community they work in.

We do our best to send an updated profile, including a new photo of your sponsored child, every 18 months. Occasionally this might take longer, depending on the resources and capacity of the local team who are working in the community your sponsored child lives in. If you have not received an updated profile for the past 18 months, feel free to contact our team on 0800 888 777 or by emailing info@tearfund.org.nz. 

This is normally due to cultural reasons. For example, parents in some countries spell their children’s names as they’re pronounced. When they child gets older and more educated and learns the English spelling of their name, they may start spelling it that way.  

In some countries, children may be given a new name when christened or at baptism, which they may choose to start using. It is also not uncommon in some countries to call themselves their last name rather than their first name, as culturally they ‘look back’ and pride is taken in tribal or ancestral names. Or, it could be as simple as a nickname.  

If you would like to know, you could always ask your sponsor child or contact us by emailing info@tearfund.org.nz and we can find out.

We suggest noting what name your child uses in their letters to you, and to use that one when you are communicating with your child, as that is most likely the name they are most comfortable with being called.

In many cultures, birth dates are not considered to be of great significance and sometimes birth certificates are not available. A mother and father may not remember exactly what day their children were born – only the year and perhaps the month. In other situations, the child may live with extended family who do not know.

There could be any number of reasons for this, often they are cultural ones. For example, parents in some countries spell their children’s names as they’re pronounced. When they child gets older and more educated and learns the English spelling of their name, they may start spelling it that way. In some countries, children may be given an new name when christened or at baptism, which they may choose to start using.  

It is also not uncommon in some countries to call themselves their last name rather than their first name, as culturally they ‘look back’ and pride is taken in tribal or ancestral names.

If you would like to know, you could always ask your sponsored child or contact us by emailing info@tearfund.org.nz and we can find out.  

We suggest noting what name your child uses in their letters to use, and to use that one as that is the name they are probably the most comfortable with.