Orphan care
Sponsor an orphan
19% of Somali households are home to at least one orphan
3.6 million children are out of school
Half of children aged 5-14 in central and southern Somalia work to help feed their families
Zamzam Foundation supported the families of 8,411 orphaned children in 2024.
If you sponsor an orphan in Somalia through us, your regular donation of £50 a month will enable the orphan you support to go to school and ensure that their guardian can meet the family’s basic needs.
Orphans are mentioned 23 times in the Qur’an, which emphasises the responsibility of all believers to care for orphans in need. Our orphan care programme is a practical response to hard economic reality: children who have lost one or both their parents are more likely to be living in poverty, and less likely to get the education they need.
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. We extended our support to 532 new orphans in 2023, and enrolled 75 more of our orphans in school.
Financial assistance is the main support we give. Our donors enable us to provide regular cash sponsorship to those caring for an orphaned child alone, whether that be a sole surviving parent, another family member, or a guardian from the wider community.
The money can be used to meet whichever of each family’s needs are most pressing, an element of choice that respects their dignity, but our primary purpose is to fund educational costs – fees, books and uniforms – so that children can go to school. Orphans who live near Zamzam health facilities and schools can access free education and healthcare. In 2024 we also provided grants or loans to 20 families to support income generation and increase self-reliance.
8,441
orphans supported across Somalia
1,387
more children enrolled in our orphans programme in 2023
Your donation of £50 per month pays a monthly stipend to the family of an orphaned child to support the child’s education and help meet the family’s basic needs
Success story
Sacdia, 37, has lived in a poor neighbourhood of Mogadishu all her life. Thanks to our orphans and social care programme, she has been able to send her seven children to school and establish a small shop to earn an independent income.
“Zamzam’s sponsorship of my children’s education has relieved me of the financial burden of school fees, allowing my children to pursue their studies without hindrance,” she says. “With the shop provided by Zamzam, I have a stable source of income to support my family’s daily expenses.”
