About Voice4Thought
This educational project in Cameroon is one of Voice4Thought’s projects. V4T (www.voice4thought.org) builds bridges between the academic and artistic worlds, focusing on critical reflection on the world around us. We do this partly by providing a platform where people can express their thoughts through academic, artistic and journalistic expression.
The Academy (Voice4Thought Academy – V4T – Voice4Thought) represents our method: we offer people research skills that enable them to form a better understanding of their own environment and their position in it, and then translate that knowledge into an artistic or journalistic product.
Voice4Thought is affiliated with the Faculty of Humanities at Leiden University, among others, and is supervised by Professor Mirjam de Bruijn.
Project orphans in English-speaking Cameroon
In the development of an artistic and journalistic voice in relation to one’s own environment, we believe education plays a crucial role. Therefore, we think it is important to offer financial support to children who have ended up in a situation where they do not have the means to go to school.
This particular project started in 2009 as an orphanage project in English-speaking Cameroon. We offer children financial support to be able to go to school. This support consists of the payment of school fees, school supplies and, if necessary, an allowance for immediate needs.
Last school year (2021-2022), we were able to send 25 children to school and they all passed. We were also able to organise creative workshops in the summer to give the children an enjoyable activity during the school holidays. The children really enjoyed it and were able to forget all their problems for a while. This year, 20 more children are involved in our project.
Education Cameroon – V4T – Voice4Thought
However, the violent conflict that broke out in this region in 2016 had catastrophic consequences for the orphanage. The children became scattered across the region. V4T managed to locate the children, re-establish contact with them, pay their school fees every year and guide them as much as possible.
Partly because of the conflict, children who have lost their parents in this region often face a huge learning gap and lack the resources and prospects to finish school. Their future often looks uncertain. By enabling these children to attend school, we offer them structure and perspective, which is incredibly important, especially in times of conflict.
Sponsorship for orphans
You can contribute to this great initiative by sponsoring one of the children (you can sponsor more than one, of course) of our project. Through financial sponsorship, you can personally support a child in its educational endeavours.
What can you expect?
However, your support means a lot more to a child than just financial support. The care of a sponsor gives the child more faith and confidence in himself. This way, children know that there is someone thinking of them and that they are not alone. This makes them feel more motivated and increases their chances of succeeding.
Moreover, a sponsor bond not only benefits the child. You yourself also get a lot in return. You have a concrete and tangible connection with a place on the other side of the world and with people you might otherwise never have met. It brings a new world of life into the home. You will learn new things about a culture and way of life that may have been completely unknown to you before. It is a new story that you will write together with the child. Sponsor bonds have changed lives, both the child’s and the sponsor’s.
How does it work?
To become a sponsor of a child in our project, we ask for an annual amount of at least 250 euros to be transferred. This amount is linked to a child and it covers school expenses for a year including uniform and books. A small budget is also provided for basic needs such as food and housing. If the sponsor contributes more than 250 euros, this is used for general contributions to the project and this then benefits all children.
We would like to ask every sponsor to join our project for the duration of several years. This way, we guarantee a child a stable school time. For this, we will make an agreement with the donor, which of course can be cancelled at any time. You will then be associated with a child of the project for a number of years. We will regularly send a letter, drawing, and result of school activities. The annual newsletter about the project is of course also for the sponsors.
Donations through our foundation can be settled through the tax system. If necessary, we will provide a tax receipt for this purpose.
