The children we sponsor

For over a decade Swimbridge School has sponsored two Tibetan refuge children living in a Save the Children home in northern India. Now that these two have grown to adulthood we have taken responsibility for two other children, care of Action Aid.

Atilat Abaagri (below) was born in 1995 and is one of a family of 4. She attends school and lives in Yarigu, Ghana, where her family have a small plot of land on which they grow millet, beans, groundnuts and vegetables. They keep a few goats, chickens and guinea fowl. Atilat's house is made of mud and thatch and there is a bore hole providing clean water half a km away. Most of the year is very dry - only those with access to water can grow anything during the drought which can last from October to June. This very severe and unreliable climate is one of the factors contributing to the extreme poverty of the people here.

Sanjay Singh was born in 1993. He also attends school. He is in a family of three children living in the Sidhi district of Madhya Pradesh, India. Low incomes and lack of employment mean that many families, like his, have high debts. There is little healthcare in the area. During the summer months his family have to travel up to 2 km to fetch water.

Sanjay's family depend on agriculture or the forest to earn an income and feed themselves. Crops like rice, maize, kodo and kutki (types of millet) are commonly grown although there is very little spare to sell at the market.
(Click on Atilat to see Sanjay)

At harvest time each year the Swimbridge school community give donations towards these two less fortunate children, bringing their gifts, as an altar service, to our Harvest Service, in place of traditional food offerings. Each year we need to raise £400 or more. It is our way of trying to help others. We wish we could do much more. Further fund raising continues with various sales, sponsored and other events. We welcome further donations at any time to help us with this work. Alternatively you could sponsor a child through Action Aid: www.actionaid.org