"To help a single child is always a beautiful love story.”
PPL Causas
  • Social
  • Cidade da Beira, Moçambique

"To help a single child is always a beautiful love story.”

Terre des Hommes Italy (Tdh) is a non-profit organization, with 25 years of experience in the field, recognised internationally for implementing development and humanitarian aid...

  • 590

    raised

    118% of 500€

    32 backers

  • 18/05/2015

    Expired on

  • Completed

    This project has been successfully funded

Terre des Hommes Italy (Tdh) is a non-profit organization, with 25 years of experience in the field, recognised internationally for implementing development and humanitarian aid...

Terre des Hommes Italy (Tdh) is a non-profit organization, with 25 years of experience in the field, recognised internationally for implementing development and humanitarian aid projects to improve the quality of life of vulnerable children. Still inexistent in Portugal, Tdh, founded in 1960 by Edmond Kaiser in Switzerland, has reached many countries and thousands of people in the world. In December of 2014, I finished a Leonardo da Vinci internship in Milan at the Tdh headquarters. I had the opportunity to work in my field of studies and accomplish many tasks. I learned how the organization works and worked with the project managers. In February I transitioned to a field posting with Tdh, working in Beira, Mozambique.

Mozambique is among the poorest countries in the world, ranked 178th out of 187 countries in the Human Development Index. Education is a major challenge in Mozambique where only 56.1% of the population is literate, only 3.6% have completed high school and the dropout rate in primary schools is 64.6%. Since 2003, Tdh´s Child Distance Sponsorship Program has already helped more than 500 children in the Province of Maputo. The program facilitates the access to education, guarantees medical care, and offer recreational activities for vulnerable children. In 2013, Tdh expanded the program to the city of Beira where 52 children are currently enrolled but we want to expand further and reach at least 100 children in every year.

To do this we need your help. I would like to gather donations for the program. Your contributions would go directly to helping vulnerable children in Beira enrol, attend, and learn at local schools. Going to school means to have all the necessary material uniform, books, and school materials. There is also an enrolment fee that many families here cannot afford. I intend to publicize the Tdh work, raise awareness about the life conditions of these children and get together people for this cause, not only from the Portuguese community, who has a particular responsibility and affection towards the Mozambican population, but also from the international community, not only from my social and professional circles but anyone who would like to help.

This project has two benefits: Primarily, we are investing in the future of children and fulfilling their future dreams and contributing for a more fair society. I also benefit though, by undertaking this project we are making one of my childhood dreams come true and advancing my experience, knowledge, and ability to continue to do what I love and help promote education for children worldwide.

As once declared Kaiser, founder of Tdh, "to help a single child is always a beautiful love story.” With a small contribution you can make a big difference.

Keep yourself updated and access to more information. Unfortunately it is only written in Portuguese but, please, feel free to contact me for more clarification or to be updated about my present work.

 

About the author

My name is Sofia Esteves, I’m from Coimbra, Portugal and I’m 25 years old. I am someone who is drawn to the unknown. This curiosity drew me to Mozambique which I have come to realize is the right place for my next adventure.

 Everything started when I was 18 years old and I didn’t know what to put in my application form for University. I decided to study International Relations. With an untouched soul still full of a child’s naivety, I was fascinated by the courses and I believed that in this way I would change the world easily. Then one thing led to another: erasmus in England; master degree in Lisbon on International Development Studies; volunteering in Palestine; European Voluntary Service in Krakow, Poland; internship in Milan; now Mozambique.

When I entered the world of development work I quickly discovered that it was far more complex than what I imagined. In 2011, when I went to Occupied Palestinian Territories, I had one of my best experiences of my life. There I attended a work camp of refugees in the West Bank where I interacted with refugee children and explored Palestinian life and culture. The trip brought me clarity, while there I felt it was exactly where I needed to be. It was a real eye-opening experience, teaching me that the world was not so rosy, and I felt the need to move people for a cause.

I have been very fortunate and have been given opportunities to travel the world acquiring knowledge and doing interesting things. My path has had many ups and downs. Every single experience was genuine, I evolved so much and I know I accomplished many good things. However, I have felt that what I’ve done is not enough and there is so much more to do.

In these recent years, I always tried to make big changes. It was not easy at all and I realized I was actually working towards small but meaningful changes. I've concluded that to make a real difference we need to do little things but to do little things we need a crowd.

Budget and due dates

Beira is the second largest city of Mozambique and half of the population are aged between 0-18 years. The population of Beira struggles with poverty, social exclusion, and a limited access to services. Consequently, the number of vulnerable children without any support or protection is very high. Among the main problems are the childhood malnutrition and the high prevalence of HIV. As a consequence, many children become orphans and are entrusted to grandparents or other relatives, who cannot always provide for their future properly. The children often do not attend school and are forced to start working early. For the girls, the risks are even higher due to the practices of early marriage, prostitution and accidental teenage pregnancy. In 2011, at a national level, only 47.5% of the children were enrolled in primary school, and only 63% of them finished their studies. The average years of schooling is one of the lowest in the world – just 1 or 2 years. In this context, reaching the second United Nations Millennium Development Goal for this present year – that every child worldwide can attend primary school – seems impossible. Education is a key building block for human well-being and no child should be deprived of this right. Thus, I would like to invite the Portuguese and International community to participate in the following specific cause: trust in the mission of TdH Italy in Mozambique and donate to one of the pillars of the Child Distance Sponsorship (CDS) program. This fundraising has three essential elements: the payment of school enrolment, the provision of school materials, and the supply of the school uniform. These are high costs to bear for much of the Mozambican population but could be very affordable to people in the western world. The project direct beneficiaries will be vulnerable children in Beira identified by the CDS program for the 2015-2016 period which hopes to enrol at least 100 children per year into school. The indirect beneficiaries are the families of the children and the local Tdh employees. The goal is to obtain the minimum of 500€ within 90 days. With a small contribution you can make a big difference.
  • Invest with
    5€ or more

    Acknowledgment

    An acknowledgement will be made in my blog at the end of the 2015 school year (February-December).

    17 backers

  • Invest with
    15€ or more

    Newsletter

    The reward will be a newsletter about the Tdh activities developed in the city of Beira at the end of the 2015 school year (February-December).

    7 backers

  • Invest with
    30€ or more

    Newsletter + Photograph

    In addition to the newsletter, the reward will include a photograph of the beneficiary children of the program at the end of the 2015 school year (February-December).

    4 backers

  • Invest with
    40€ or more

    Newsletter + Photograph + Drawing

    In addition to the newsletter and the photograph, the reward will include a drawing made by one of the beneficiary children at the end of the 2015 school year (February-December).

    1 backer

  • Invest with
    50€ or more

    Newsletter + Photograph + Drawing + Letter

    In addition to the newsletter, photograph and drawing, the reward will include also a personalized letter written by one of the beneficiary children of the program at the end of the 2015 school year (February-December).

    3 backers

Fri, 29/03/2024 - 05:35

18/05/2015

Campaign ended

The campaign successfully raised the initial target

Tue, 12/05/2015 - 14:27

Contribuição

A contribuição feita por mim a 12/05/2015 - 13:30 é um apoio dado pela família: Zé, Maria e Catarina Pereira.

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Campaign launched

23/03/2015

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  • Sofia Esteves

    Contribuição

    A contribuição feita por mim a 12/05/2015 - 13:30 é um apoio dado pela família: Zé, Maria e Catarina Pereira.

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