Web-Based Orphan Sponsorship Program Launched Today

April 13, 2005

CharityHelp International (CHI), an Annapolis-based nonprofit, launched its sponsorship program for Afghan orphans today during a press conference and simultaneous webcast at the Radisson Lord Baltimore in Baltimore, Maryland.

Founder Paul Stevers explained that he began CharityHelp to support community-based, humanitarian efforts in developing countries with crucial technological components. The launch announced an internet-based sponsorship program for Afghan children in orphanages run by The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA).

Speaking live from Pakistan, RAWA member Sahar Saba explained that since its establishment in 1977, RAWA has a long history of operating schools and orphanages under very difficult conditions. RAWA operates nine orphanages for Afghan children, five in Pakistan and four in Afghanistan. A central goal of RAWA’s orphanages is to nurture thoughtful citizens with an understanding of democracy who will play important roles in a new Afghanistan.

CHI provides organizations such as RAWA with computer equipment, expertise, and startup funds to create their own online sponsorship programs.

“Small, indigenous organizations offer creative, practical solutions to the problems facing their societies. They rarely have the means to share their visions with others around the world who could lend critical financial support. CHI puts essential internet tools in the hands of these grassroots organizations so they can use this technology to help generate sustainable income for their programs and build relationships with their donors,” Stevers says.

Other speakers included Fahima Vorgetts, board member of Women for Afghan Women and director of the Afghan Women’s Fund; Sonali Kolhatkar, spokesperson for the Afghan Women's Mission and Jennifer Hartley, PhD. The launch also included a showing of Hartley’s “With Our Own Eyes,” an exhibit of art and stories of the Afghan children in RAWA’s orphanages.

CharityHelp International enables donors to sponsor a child and keep in touch via email. Through low-cost technology, internet access is now available even in remote parts of Afghanistan and and is expanding rapidly.

“By exchanging letters and photographs, donors and children can forge relationships that build bridges between our cultures,” says Stevers. CHI allows sponsors to communicate with Afghans to change lives and build real relationships. Stevers’ vision is to combine the drop in the cost of communications technologies with the ease of financial transactions, and the internet’s ability to facilitate ongoing feedback to create long-term support for orphanages and schools.

“Feedback is key for long-term support for schools and orphanages in need,” explains Stevers. “CharityHelp can create an exponetial increase in both quality and longevity of donor involvement because sponsors feel directly connected to the children and to the positive impact of their sponsorships.”