Child Sponsorship

Ebrima is in his sixties and has not worked a formal job in years. He has six children, and the family of seven lives together in a compound just outside Brikama. For a long time, the garden at the back of the house was their main source of income, but without a reliable water supply, it could only produce during the rainy season. The rest of the year, Ebrima found ways to manage.

That changed after his daughter Mariama was enrolled in ChildFund’s child sponsorship programme. Through her sponsorship, a borehole was installed at the family compound. For the first time, Ebrima could water his garden all year round.

Before, we depended on the rains. When the rains were good, we were fine. When they were not, we struggled. Now we farm every day.”  Jallow said

Today, the garden runs consistently. Ebrima grows okra, bitter tomatoes, lettuce, and other vegetables. What the family does not eat, they sell at the local market. The money from those sales goes toward school fees for all five of Mariama’s siblings, household expenses, and day-to-day needs. It is not a large operation, but it is steady and steadiness is what the family needed most.

Herbert Head, a U.S. national, has been Mariama’s sponsor since 2017. She was 8 years old when the sponsorship began. She is 16 now.

This visit to The Gambia was his second. He spent an entire day at the Jallow compound. He and Mariama talked about school. She is doing well. They talked about what comes next for her. Herbert listened. 

Mariama knows the role the sponsorship has played in her family’s life. She has grown up aware of it. At sixteen, she talks about her future with clarity. She wants to continue her education. She wants to do something with her life that reflects the care that has been invested in her.

Sponsorship in ChildFund’s model is built around a real relationship between a child and a sponsor. Over eight years, Herbert and Mariama have exchanged letters. He has followed her progress. She has grown up knowing his name.

When he walked into the compound this year, it was not the first time Mariama had seen him, but it was the first time she was old enough to have a real conversation with him as herself. They spoke for a long time. She told him about her studies.

For the Jallow family, the borehole is the most visible sign of what the sponsorship has meant. But underneath it is something harder to photograph a father who can provide for his children.