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CHINA • INDIA • INDONESIA • MALI • MYANMAR (BURMA) • PHILIPPINES • THAILAND
 Grace Haven is a government-registered Christian orphanage that cares for orphans and children whose families are so poor they cannot provide for them. Each year, abandoned children are brought to Grace Haven by desperate relatives and neighbors. Today, more than 600 students in nine Grace Haven homes receive assistance to attend school, as well as nutritious food and a loving home environment.
Although our family has not known the Lord Jesus, from your loving kindness I have known that God is a living God!
-Peng Zhi Mei, sponsored child in Myanmar (Burma) After accepting Christ at Grace Haven, many children go on to Bible school and then return to their country to work as church planters, evangelists, and teachers. Teams of children from Grace Haven have traveled to various mountain areas and even to the borders of China to share the Gospel.
 In coordination with the local government, school officials and our partners identify children from the neediest families to receive sponsorship help. In the remote mountainous villages of China, children walk to school early in the morning. Many will walk over two hours to the nearest one-room school that offers education up to sixth grade. While tuition is free, fees for uniforms, books, and supplies quickly add up and are beyond the reach of many parents. Very few villages have their own secondary school, so older children must attend town schools which are further away and more expensive.
The society has a bright future because of you. I have an ambition to make our village a better place to live for our people, a pillar for our country.
-Cai Dong En, former sponsored child in China Secondary school (junior high) students are especially in need of sponsorship. Where elementary age children live at home and are able to share meals with their family, junior high students often live in boarding schools far from home. If there is insufficient support for them, they often go without meals or abandon their education altogether. Some travel to the cities to find work or return home to work with their families as laborers. Sponsoring junior high children has proven to be a successful way to equip young Christians who can then help build the church in their home areas.
 Our sponsorship programs in India enable very poor children to attend school. Many of the children are from the poorest of the poor social classes, including the Dalits or "untouchables." Our partners work with Christian families as well as Hindu and Muslim families to meet the costs of educating their children. Most sponsored children live with their families and attend government schools.
Many of the parents are non-literate and unable to help with their children's schoolwork so the ministry workers tutor the children. Part of the tutoring time is spent teaching children from the Bible and another part is spent in Bible clubs and Sunday school programs. Along with reading and writing, the children are taught cleanliness and hygiene, a pressing need in an area where poverty and illiteracy have long prevailed.
Special programs are held for the parents, especially for the mothers. Extracurricular activities such as games and sports competitions, essay writing, singing, preaching, and Bible quizzes are used to help the children grow in all aspects of their lives.
 Our sponsorship programs in Indonesia were started to meet a wide array of needs, but all have the same purpose: to provide an education for poor children who could not otherwise attend school, and to share the love of Jesus with the children and their families. One program is for Muslim children who lost one or both parents in the December 2004 Tsunami in northwestern Indonesia.
Another program is for the children of church planters. The ministry wants to create an environment where God's faithful servants can bring up their children in the faith and yet not be disadvantaged because of their call to ministry. Sponsorship eases the financial and emotional burden for these church-planting families. The children attend government schools which operate year round.
A third program cares for children in the remote jungle villages of West Kalimantan. Obtaining an education is important to parents, but considered a luxury by many of them. Sponsorship makes an education and a brighter future possible for these children.
 Together with our ministry partner in Timbuktu, we helped construct elementary schools in two villages and for the first time ever, desert nomads in the area are sending their children to school! Besides attending school, the children enjoy improved health through better food and medical care, and receive clothing and school supplies.
Children are also sponsored at Timbuktu's Elijah House - an outreach center for orphans and children living in extreme poverty. At the center, children receive two meals each day, an outfit for those who have only tattered clothing, and help to register for public school. Bible classes are held weekly. The children also enjoy games, videos, books, and special programs. Several children have come to know the Lord through this outreach.
Grace Haven is a government-registered Christian orphanage that cares for orphans and children whose families are so poor they cannot provide for them. Each year, abandoned children are brought to Grace Haven by desperate relatives and neighbors. Today, more than 600 students in nine Grace Haven homes receive assistance to attend school, as well as nutritious food and a loving home environment.
Although our family has not known the Lord Jesus, from your loving kindness I have known that God is a living God!
-Peng Zhi Mei, sponsored child in Myanmar (Burma) After accepting Christ at Grace Haven, many children go on to Bible school and then return to their country to work as church planters, evangelists, and teachers. Teams of children from Grace Haven have traveled to various mountain areas and even to the borders of China to share the Gospel.
 Since 1980, our Sponsor A Child program in the Philippines has cared for thousands of needy children. Filipino children are required to pay for tuition, uniforms, books and school supplies, but for poor families who are barely able to secure two meals a day for their children, educating them is a remote dream.
I knew that there was someone who was my sponsor and friend.
-Marife Javillo, sponsored child in the Philippines Through sponsorship and our partner's other community development programs, families are able to send their children to school. Through parents' rallies and a weekly Bible study which at least one parent is required to attend, many fathers and mothers have responded to the Gospel. At least 20 churches have been established through the sponsorship ministry, and a number of sponsored children have gone on to university for theological study and are now in full-time ministry.
 Eking a living out of the land, many parents in northern Thailand struggle to provide food for their families. Sometimes children must work in the fields, dashing their hopes of ever attending school. But the Sponsor A Child program enables more than 1,000 children throughout North Thailand to attend school.
I was once a sponsored child, given the opportunity to develop my potential. Now that I can serve Him, I can also be a channel of blessing to others.
-Tittiwa, former sponsored child in Thailand, now Bible school graduate and ministry worker in Southeast Asia Sponsorship was often the initial strategy that opened these villages to a Christian witness. Today, there is a church in each of the villages that participate in the sponsorship program. In addition to sponsorship, local church planters use literacy training, tutoring, Sunday school, vacation Bible school, and other special activities to reach the children and their families with the Gospel. When their primary education is complete, many children are helped to enroll in high school and Bible school. Ministering to both physical and spiritual needs eventually brings the students full circle as many become church planters among their own tribal people.
Through our Sponsor A Child program, you can change the life of a child and impact the child's family and community too. What's more, you will be blessed as you build a relationship with your sponsored child.
Your sponsorship provides a child with the gift of education and an opportunity to hear the Gospel. Sponsored children are supplied with whatever they need to attend school including tuition, school supplies, textbooks, and uniforms. In some areas, sponsorship also includes benefits such as nourishing meals, transportation, and medical care.
You will be my example in supporting poor families. I will never forget you.
-Li Ling, former sponsored child in China A sponsored child is a grateful child. Many grow up to know the Lord Jesus personally and go on to serve Him the rest of their lives.
The higher the education the children receive, the more opportunity and influence they will have as adults. This will have long-term benefits for the Church in the areas where they live. As a partner leader in West Bengal, India, put it...
"Sponsorship has become a vehicle to unlock doors to families and communities. I could write an entire book of stories just around the ministry of Sponsor A Child!"
For $25 a month, you can change the life of a child forever.
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