Reference no: EM133414891

Kazi's father had died, and his mother was left to support him and his 3 siblings. Thanks to a child sponsorship Kazi started receiving soon afterwards, he was able to finish high school - something that would otherwise be impossible. He did very well in school which qualified him to get free tuition and books for any future schooling. Since his sponsorship also provided him with occasional career counseling, he has now decided to continue in school and attend college to become a medical doctor.

Sponsoring a child is easy, relatively inexpensive, and tax deductible. Some charities offer sponsorship for just $22 a month; others run about $1 a day. Many also provide medical care and other types of support. Often, potential sponsors can choose the child they want to help by examining photos the charity displays on their website. The sites also usually include personal stories of the children in need. Once sponsors have chosen their child, they can develop a personal relationship with the child by exchanging letters and photos. Because sponsorship offer this personal and holistic approach, many people opt for child sponsorship over contributing to a more general child relief fund. However, a child sponsorship can be less cost effective than simply donating to a fund since it involves more overhead costs. After all, someone has to oversee the money and care that go directly to a particular family.

Another approach doesn't allow prospective sponsors to choose individual children. SOS, for example, establishes children's villages instead. These villages provide homes for children who have lost parents (a trained surrogate mother takes care of them to replicate a sort of family life for the children). Sponsors contribute a certain amount of money monthly toward the village. However, after the sponsorship starts, sponsors start receiving personal information and pictures of "their" child which still allows for the sponsor to develop a personal relationship with a particular child. SOS takes this approach because it doesn't consider it appropriate to make personal information about needy children available publicly.

1. Many families don't feel they can spare $22 a month to sponsor a child. Do you think this is true? What do you think they use the $22 for instead?

2. Do you think people should sponsor a child? What moral considerations do you see as relevant to the question?