I already sponsor one of the children. They're at home. You don't have any actual costs for that now, do you? So why an emergency fund?
That is a very good point and a fair question!
In total we have 850 children in our schools. Just over 300 children of these are sponsored by one of 'our' sponsor parents, these are orphaned and/or disadvantaged children. The other 550 children have parents. They pay school fees and are not the responsibility of Kinderhulp Afrika. However...the schools both need revenue to exist. Because there is no school now, these parents are not required to pay school fees.
The fixed costs remain. We also have responsibility for the salaries of our entire workforce, because they too have families who have to eat and they too have to pay their rent. Unfortunately, there is no social security benefits and a government aid, as is the case in the Netherlands.
A small list of our monthly costs:
• Maintenance and security
• Fixed charges such as insurance/ taxes/ internet/ electricity etc.
• Payment of 70% of the salaries and pensions of our staff (almost 100 men/women)
• Exploitation costs of the clinic taht remains open.
In order to be able to pay all these costs, the contributions from our current list of donors is insufficient and after a reduction of all the running costs there is still a deficit of € 5000,- per month.
Food
Where it was required, we have already supported families, where 'our' sponsor children live, with a financial contribution for food. However, the contribution for a sponsor parent is based on one child. The financial contribution we are now giving them is to help the entire family.
For the first few months, we were able to finance this. Most families still managed to get by and did not need immediate support, so we could provide for those few families who did need it.
As time goes by and the lockdown continues the number of families in need of help has risen to 100 out of 300 families. That is why we are now using the emergency fund to support these families, so that we can make sure that all of them have food.