Sponsorship
The Sponsorship Program plays an integral part in Saint Andrew School in Ngong Cameroon’s fundraising efforts. At the present time over 450 young people attend Saint Andrew School in Ngong at the high school level. Through this program the students have personal connection to their sponsors in the United States.
Sponsors make a commitment to donate a set amount of money which will be used to help provide them food, shelter, and the opportunity of an education.
How It Works
Individuals who choose to be sponsors are asked to donate $30 monthly (or $15 if they are students themselves). This is only a suggested amount—those who have the means are encouraged to give more, and lesser amounts are graciously accepted from those sponsors who are unable to send the suggested amounts. Sponsorship donations can be sent monthly, quarterly, annually or at whatever interval is convenient for the sponsor.
All sponsorship donations go into the general fund that supports all of the students at Saint Andrew School in Ngong. In this way, each student receives benefits equally with no distinctions made between those children who have more supportive sponsors and those who don’t.
Why Assign Students to Sponsors
If all sponsorship donations go into the general fund, the question is sometimes asked why individual students are assigned to our sponsors. The primary reason this is done is to give sponsors a personal link to the mission of the School and to provide the children a link through their sponsors to another part of the world. Students are grateful that someone has a special interest in their well-being and progress in school. If a sponsor chooses to correspond with a sponsored student, the sponsor can develop a personal relationship. Students read and write in the French language. The child will learn about life outside of their country, and the sponsor will learn about the realities of life lived in poverty and how they affect their student’s view of the world.
How To Become A Sponsor
Anyone interested in sponsoring a child should notify the sponsorship coordinator at rlandrigan@costellolandrigan.com or via postal mail at the following address:
Sponsorship Coordinator
Saint Andrew School in Ngong Cameroon Inc.
P.O. Box 685
Sudbury, MA 01776-0685
If the interested individual has a preference with regard to age or gender of a student, this should be specified in the correspondence. If they already know the name of the child or young person who they would like to be assigned to they should inform the coordinator. After an assignment is made and the sponsor has been entered into the database, a confirmation letter will be sent to him/her. New sponsors will receive a letter with some personal information about their child and, if possible, a photo of the student.
Sending Gifts
Sponsors are asked not to send gifts for their sponsored children. It is cost-prohibitive both due to shipping costs and due to customs fees in Cameroon to ship gifts.
Sometimes sponsors wish to give monetary gifts to their students on special occasions, such as birthdays or Christmas. Little as the amount may be, this type of gift may cause serious problems between those who receive money and those who do not. For this reason, personal monetary donations cannot be accepted for delivery to a particular child and should not be sent to the student personally. Sponsors who wish to remember their children on a special occasion with an extra gift may either donate to the general fund.
