School fees, uniforms, one hot meal a day, and medical care as needed. When you commit to sponsor, you give toward the Hope Africa International program caring for about 450 children. You have a unique opportunity to engage with a child participating in the program, but the funds are not directly given to the child. About 85% of all sponsorship donations are sent to Uganda, about 3% are saved in a “reserve fund” for future student needs, and about 12% of sponsorship donations are used for US administration and promotion.

Primary School: Children from Kindergarten through sixth grade attend Primary School. They typically stay at home and walk to school every day from February through early December. There are three terms each year and students take a two week holiday at the end of each term, with a longer break at the end of the school year in December. All of our sponsored students attend one of our partnering private, Christian Primary Schools.

Primary 7: Children in 7th grade typically board at school due to the rigorous study which takes place into the evenings. The school year is the same as Primary School, but students take an intensive government exam in November called the Primary Leaving Examination. This determines if and where students attend Secondary School.

Secondary School: If students perform well on their Primary Leaving Examination, they may attend Secondary School for up to six years. Most Secondary Students board at their school following the same school calendar as Primary School. There are two phases of Secondary School:

O-Level: This includes the first four years of Secondary School. At the end of Secondary Four, students take another intensive government exam to receive their Ordinary Diploma. If they perform very well, they may progress to A-Level or high level alternative programs (similar to community college in the USA).

A-Level: This includes the last two years of Secondary School. At the end of Secondary Six, students take their last intensive government exam to determine if they receive their Advanced Diploma. They must have an Advanced Diploma in order to be admitted to a University.

Alternative Courses: We provide opportunities for students to take two-year alternative courses instead of A-Level Secondary School, such as nursing, primary teachers’ college, agriculture, business, tailoring, catering, mechanics, or construction.

Yes, Hope Africa International is an IRS recognized nonprofit according to section 501(c)3.

From time to time, sponsorship amounts may increase slightly, to reflect economic changes and to adequately provide for the program as a whole.

By check: Please make out the check to Hope Africa International, noting your child’s name and number on the memo line. Mail it to Hope Africa International, PO Box 762, Sisters, OR 97759.

Recurring check: You may set up a recurring check payment directly from your bank account by simply contacting your bank or using your online bill-pay through your personal bank account.

Online giving: We partner with reachapp.co for our online donation processing. Reachapp.co has strict PCI compliance in partnership with stripe.com. Click here to visit our donation page. You may set up an account for month-to-month donations or recurring donations. Please contact us if you need assistance.

Automatic giving has proven highly valuable to our sponsors, to our administration, and to the children. It safely relieves sponsors from having to remember to make their monthly donation while ensuring the child’s sponsorship continues without interruption.

For those sponsors who choose to give monthly rather than setting up a recurring donation system, we send grateful reminders by e-mail. If you do not have e-mail, you will not receive a reminder. However, each January we will mail a year-end statement to your physical address, reflecting your annual donation total for IRS reporting purposes.

Since the program depends on regular monthly support for the children, we need to receive donations with consistency. Since we do not want children to be removed from school due to missed sponsorship donations, we rely on limited General Fund donations to care for the needs of the children. If a sponsor becomes more than two months behind in fulfilling their commitment, the sponsorship will be cancelled and the child will become available for another sponsor.

We hope that you will commit to sponsor your child until he or she finishes Secondary School (High School) or an alternative program. We do not depart children from the program according to their age, as we feel it is essential to ensure they complete their education through High School, even if they are over 18 years old. However, we understand that unexpected financial challenges arise. If this happens, please call or e-mail our office. Sometimes a child’s circumstances change where they are no longer part of the program. In the case of a child departing from the program, we will offer you the opportunity to continue participating by transferring your sponsorship to another child.

Electronic letters are the best way to communicate with your child and may be sent to sponsor@hopeafricakids.com. They will then be forwarded on to our Ugandan staff after removing your personal contact information. Handwritten letters and small cards may be sent to Hope Africa International, PO Box 762, Sisters, OR 97759. Please refer to your sponsor information packet for letter writing ideas. Because these letters are personally delivered by visitors to Uganda, we ask that you refrain from giving packages or gifts. You may contact us about any monetary gifts for your child, or go to our Donate tab to see a description of gift options.

In today’s world of human trafficking, we must always demonstrate that we are protecting our children who are sponsored through Hope Africa International. Therefore, we ask that you not accept any friend requests from the child you sponsor or from their family members via social media. All communication must be monitored through our USA and Uganda offices.

We encourage sponsors to visit their children if the opportunity arises, and have found this to be a wonderful experience for both parties! However, all visits must be organized through our USA and Ugandan offices. If you plan to travel to Uganda for any reason separate from Hope Africa International, please contact us to discuss a potential visit with your child at sponsor@hopeafricakids.com or call us at 541-719-8727. All sponsors will be accompanied by a Ugandan or USA staff member for the protection of the child during any visit.

On a regular basis, email is used to keep everyone informed of current events at Hope Africa. We are also on Facebook, and we encourage you to click here to “follow” our page. You can also follow us on Instagram: @hopeafrica_kids

Please keep us updated with your latest contact information. If for some reason we need to notify you about a change with your child, you will receive a personal phone call or email.