Your questions answered

ZZF already supports over 8,400 orphaned children and their families across Somalia – thanks to the orphans and social care programme it established in the 1990s to meet the needs of some of the most vulnerable children and young people. With your support through Zamzam UK, we can expand this vital work.

The Somali Health and Demographic Survey of 2020 found that 32% of households were home to a foster child and/or orphaned children, with at least one orphan in 19% of families. For just £50 a month you can enable us to provide regular cash sponsorship to someone caring for an orphaned child alone, whether that be a sole surviving parent, another family member, or a guardian from the wider community.

The support you provide through ZZF UK enables ZZF in Somalia to pay a monthly stipend to the guardian of an orphaned child. For the purposes of our orphans programme an orphan means a child of school age (5-18) who has either lost both parents or has lost the family’s main breadwinner. You will therefore be supporting a family who are living in poverty, providing the kind of support that makes the critical difference between a child attending school and missing out. The stipend you help us provide can be used flexibly by the orphan’s guardian to meet whichever of the family’s needs are most pressing. This approach gives the family an element of choice, flexibility and practicality that respects their dignity. Our primary purpose, however, is that families should be able to cover educational costs – fees, books and uniforms – so that children can go to school.

When you become an orphan sponsor, we’ll provide a photo and basic details of the child you are sponsoring – their first name, age, the province where they live, and their focus at school. Once a year you will receive an update via email on how the child is progressing, and we’ll also provide an annual update on the impact of our orphan sponsorship, school building and education programmes as a whole.