Sponsor a Child

Young Afghan boy at the Allahoddin Orphanage

PARSA is beginning a program in partnership with the Ministry of Social Affairs to reach out to the orphans living in Afghanistan’s government institutions to provide a unique program for the most vulnerable of these children. A key component of our programs with Afghan children is connecting them with an adult or child in another country. Through the "Pen Pal" and "Sponsorship" programs, we are able to communicate to these children a special care and love that we can do no other way. There are 8,000 children in Afghan orphanages around the country. From our experience with Allahoddin Orphanage last year, these children have been forgotten. With minimal supervision, no activities, decrepit facilities, and a system rife with corruption, these children have little hope for their future.

PARSA is working with the Afghan Director of Orphanages to develop two orphanages into model orphanages for the government. We will do this by working with 105 children, providing intensive one-on-one loving adult care and group activities designed to help children with behavioral problems, learning disabilities, depression, or physical disabilities. At the same time, we will be training government staff to implement this model program.

Our program will be conducted by our professional staff of ten people, including a children’s specialist from the United Sates and consists of life skills training, social skills, psychosocial therapy, medical care, creative activities, tutoring, games, and sports. Each child is evaluated separately and will be watched after by one of our staff. Most importantly, PARSA advocates and watches over the child in a social welfare system that is still sadly lacking in good systems of caring for these very vulnerable children.

We invite you to support PARSA in this pivotal year of program development by sponsoring one of our children at $25 dollars a month or $300 for a year. This will allow us to complete this pilot program so that it can be replicated in other Afghan government institutions caring for children.

Sponsoring a child will help fund PARSA's Well-Being Clinic and our staff, as well as provide supplemental medical care, clothing and other necessities dependant on each child’s needs. We will introduce you to your child and they will write a monthly letter which we will send you along with our monthly report. Each sponsored child will receive a box with a lock for personal possessions with the name and picture of their sponsor.

Please email Marnie Gustavson, Executive Director, if you are interested in participating in this sponsorship program.

I am personally working in the orphanages each week and know the children by name and by story. There is nothing that I enjoy more than introducing Afghan children to their sponsor by letter. Your donation will provide a strong foundation for PARSA this year as we implement this groundbreaking program that provides one-on-one care for these children, and as we challenge the Afghan government to make changes in these institutions so that each child is known and has an adult who cares about his or her future.

Thank You!

Marnie Gustavson
Executive Director