Young female volunteers working in care situations are being offered the opportunity to ‘adopt’ a child, as part of their volunteering programme, if they have built a strong link with a particular child in the family. They will be presented with a mounted and framed photograph of them with the child, plus a pay as you go Vodafone mobile phone is given to the child funded by Projects Abroad.
As part of the scheme the mobile is remotely topped up with a minimum of £5.00 credit per month by the volunteer. This also enables the whole family to keep in contact, though it must be emphasised that the phone is for the chosen child.
Projects Abroad, the volunteer service company, that featured in last month’s Glamour Magazine with ‘famous volunteers’ Angelina Jolie and Madonna, is running the scheme.
Faye Stickings, head of social development at Projects Abroad, commented: “Over 70% of the volunteers with Projects Abroad are female, many do care work and are heart broken when they have to return to UK. They live with and completely immerse themselves within the lives of the families. Breaking that tie is always harrowing, yet The Link for Life programme changes all that.”
Each year thousands of Care Volunteers are sent by Projects Abroad to Cambodia, China, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Fiji, Ghana, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Nepal, Peru, Romania, Senegal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, and Togo.