Many Australians sponsor a child in impoverished countries.
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But Wollongong’s vibrant Liberian community is taking a novel new approach to help many more people in their homeland.
Wollongong-based Future of the Children (FOTC) recently launched their new web site www.fotc.today and started an appeal to: ‘Buy a teacher for one year’.
FOTC volunteer Dr Rob Goodfellow said child sponsorship was important but it was about just an individual.
‘’The individual is important but when you sponsor a teacher, you are actually in effect sponsoring 120 children, and they in turn take their new knowledge back to their families,’’ he said.
‘’So the multiplier effect is in the hundreds.’’
Mick Fernandez came up with the ‘Buy a teacher for one year’ idea.
‘’The most important thing is not yesterday or tomorrow but today. Today is what counts. That’s why FOTC’s web site is www.fotc.today,’’ he said.
The idea comes hot on the heels of FOTC’s successful volunteer public health program which saw Monique Bolus, Mr Fernandez and Dr Goodfellow travel to West Africa to teach hand hygiene, sexual health, and empowerment strategies for women and girls.
‘’These children come from communities where the average family income is just $1 a day,’’ Ms Bolus said.
These children come from communities where the average family income is just $1 a day.
- Monique Bolus
‘’Very few have the opportunity to gain an education. The FOTC school will allow countless young people to access the basic human right of education and become future leaders.’’
FOTC founder Jay Jay Ganwaye said the 120 students at the school are drawn from some of the poorest communities in the world.
‘’Funds raised go directly to paying our teachers' salaries. There are no administration costs,’’ he said.
‘’FOTC has school buildings and a community well. We have simple but clean and functioning classrooms with blackboards. And we have a small library and children's reading club.
‘’It’s simply a basic living wage for our teachers that FOTC most needs support for.
Many people sponsor a child but for the same amount of support you can pay the wages of a trained teacher in Liberia, which is just $500 a year per teacher or $1.40 a day.
- FOTC founder Jay Jay Ganwaye
‘’Many people sponsor a child but for the same amount of support you can pay the wages of a trained teacher in Liberia, which is just $500 a year per teacher or $1.40 a day.’’
Dr Goodfellow added supporters can feel confident their money is producing some really good learning outcomes.
‘’I hate that feeling that the whole world is spiralling out of control and I feel as if I can’t do anything. Well with this project, it feels as if you are doing something, and that counts for a lot,’’ he said.
Donations can be made by PayPal via the FOTC website.