Surin Foundation Child Scholarship Program

Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” (Luke 18:16)

1. Objectives and Purpose

The Surin Foundation Child Scholarship Program is a holistic approach to child sponsorship run on Christian principles, and which involves the participation of the child’s family. Besides providing for basic needs such as food, education and clothing; it is also concerned with the child’s career development, as well as seeking to identify and develop the child’s gifts so that the child may achieve his/her full potential.

From a Christian perspective, we believe that God has provided everyone with certain abilities and gifts that if given an opportunity to be expressed, practiced and developed, allows the person to reach his/her fullest potential. Such gifts might be in the area of academic studies such as Maths, English, Science, Arts, etc, or may fall outside these traditional disciplines, eg. dancing, singing, crafts. Whatever their giftings are, we are always on the lookout to identify and develop.

All this is done in a loving Christian environment where the child is make aware of God’s love and guidance in life, given constant reassurance of their worth and value.

2. Activities

• Private after-school tuition to assist with their homework and academic studies (run 4 times a week by our live-in Christian worker)
• Privileged access to programs run by visiting short-mission teams (incl. English camps)
• Special vocational training for children to develop their gifts. Eg. drama, art, hairdressing… etc. We rely on volunteer missionaries to help keep this cost low. However, at times we will call in locally paid or voluntary practitioners to conduct this training where we see beneficial.
• Preparation for special performances / concerts where the children perform drama, singing, Thai dancing… etc. During these performances parents, teachers and villages leaders are invited to observe the children’s creativity and potential. A number of parents have already commented on their surprise in seeing their child’s unbeknown abilities.
• Christian spiritual development through optional Sunday-school style programs run twice a week that encourage the children to explore a relationship with Jesus.

In conjunction with these activities, we expect the parents to be involved in the child’s development. Our workers visit each child’s home on a monthly basis to discuss the child’s development with the families. Care is also provided to the families in emergencies – such as accidents that require hospitalization. Sometimes rice or food hampers are given to them when needed.

Parents are regularly invited to attend and assist the children in the programs. They have usually responded by helping to prepare meals for the children. Their participation has been very positive.

3. Selection Criteria

The selection of each child in the scholarship program is complicated and ultimately decided by prayer.

Essential

• Consent and participation of parents or guardian.
• Willingness of child to participate in the activities of the program.

Important

• Movement trends – eg. Whether the parents are available to participate in the program or are generally traveling outstation for work. Also, whether the family is a long-term resident of the area.
• Ability to build relationship with the family - the relationship with the parents is a very sensitive issue in the selection because some parents have been known to spread ill-conceived rumors of such programs in the past.

Also a factor

• Family history, background
• Age – the optimal age to start program and benefit most from it is grade 5-6.

4. Estimated cost per child

As the program is still in its early stages, the following figures are only estimates and will be adjusted over time:

• Interested sponsors may also enter the program on a part-sponsorship arrangement. We suggest a minimum donation of $35 per month to make this scholarship program sustainable.
• The Surin Foundation will make the arrangement to cover the gap in the monthly sponsorship per child.

5. How sponsorship works and what the sponsor can expect

• All donations are pooled into a collective fund which is then allocated according to the needs of each child. As every child has different level of needs, we find that it is impractical to adopt a “World Vision” type of sponsorship where one person can sponsor one child and ensure all the funds go that child. We also feel that this gives an unfair and unhealthy focus to a particular child if not all children are sponsored. However once the number of scholarship children increases, we may split the children in several groups so that sponsors only correspond with children within an adopted group.
• The sponsor is made aware of all the children covered in the fund. Biographical details for all children will be provided. Regular updates from both the children and our local workers will be made available on a bi-monthly basis.
• The children are made aware of all the sponsors.
• The sponsor may initiate letters to the group as a whole. The sponsor may also correspond with individual children within the group if they write back to him/her. To avoid creating a perception of favoritism, any gifts should only be sent in consultation with the Surin Foundation committee.
• Our general policy is to complete the scholarship program for each child subsequent to their graduation of their high school education. Further support beyond this stage (or if the child drops out of school prior to this point) will be considered on a case-by-case basis and sponsored under a “special” scholarship arrangement.
• We strongly welcome all sponsors to make a trip to Surin during the child’s scholarship term to visit the children in person. Moreover, we encourage you to keep these children in your prayers.

6. Standards and Practices

The Surin Foundation is a registered entity (ABN 80 624 250 428), which seeks to achieve the highest reporting and accountability standards in its projects and operations. All paid and volunteer workers are obliged to undergo a rigorous background and police checks, as well as attend ongoing accountability feed-back sessions. We are appalled by the incidents regarding child-abuse (sometimes even by those professing to be “Christians”), and we make it our utmost determination to stamp out such practices. Honest and accountable usage of our sponsors’ donations is another of our top priorities.

Finally we encourage ongoing suggestions and feedback to improve the scholarship program for both children and sponsors.

-> To support a child through the scholarship program please email enquiries@thesurinfoundation.org

-> To download a copy of this guide (Word Version) click here Click here (24kb ZIP)

Last updated: 1 October, 2006