«It's about taking time out from the stress of everyday life»
In families affected by poverty, parents often lack the strength to support their children or do things with them. Caritas Switzerland's «mit mir» project helps these girls and boys to take a break from their everyday lives. Esther Hirzel, Head of Sponsorships, explains how the programme works.
Mrs Hirzel, volunteers are involved in the «mit mir» project for disadvantaged children. What can they expect?
You become the godmother or godfather of a child from a family affected by poverty and give them your time once or twice a month. The aim is to give the child a break from their everyday life, which is often very stressful due to a variety of problems. Going to the playground together, damming a stream, barbecuing: What for many are normal childhood memories are often denied to girls and boys from families affected by poverty because their parents lack the time and resources for such activities. Moments in which they have the undivided attention of an adult carer are very rare for them.
What do volunteers need to bring with them?
We are looking for adults aged 20 and over who are firmly established in life, enjoy children and want to give us some of their time. We have students who want to get involved, adults with or without families, senior citizens. We conduct two interviews with all interested parties to find out more about the person, their motivation and their everyday life. For child protection reasons, we also check the criminal record. Then we look at which child the person might be a good match for. The person should live close to the child, as a regular commitment should be possible.
How time-consuming is a sponsorship?
Sponsors commit to spending eight hours a month with the child. The children are between three and twelve years old and a sponsorship lasts three years. It is good to see that seven out of ten completed sponsorships continue informally, i.e. contact continues to take place without our support. In a survey that we carried out with the Zurich University of Applied Sciences, we asked sponsors, parents and the children themselves about their development since the start of the sponsorship. It was striking that half of the children reported that they were now much more confident at school and enjoyed going there more than before: if a child has experienced something, they also have something to talk about at school.
